Projects

To support Lunch and Learn sessions for municipal department of public works crews in the lower Quinnipiac watershed for best practices in stormwater pollution prevention; enforcement of public access site at Little River, a Quinnipiac tributary at Lowe's on Route 80 in New Haven; education of phosphorus control; and monitoring of pollution and diversion permits.

To support educational programming and volunteer events at the Quinnipiac Meadows and Long Wharf Nature Preserves and as well as to support the process of acquiring land adjacent to Quinnipiac Meadows.

To support start up staff to expand public access to rowing and other non-motorized watercraft, to grow participation in the annual dragon boat regatta, and to maintain a partnership with the University of New Haven, which will offer programs in environmental education to the general public.

To offer a short course in river processes to local members of conservation/inland wetland commissions and environmrntal activists.  The course will cover the basic hydrologic, geomorphic, chemical and biological processes that govern stream exosystems, and how they are perturbed by human activities.  Participants will receive the scientific tools that they need in order to understand and critically evaluate environemntal data on the Q River.

To support the grassroots organization identified in the Quinnipac Watershed Action Plan and continue to organize volunteers toward implementaing the plan's actions.  To harness the combined efforts of a large pool of citizen volunteers, clubs, civic roups, shcools and businesses, which hav eparticipated at least one year in a QRWA river activity.  To use our conservation, recreation and education events and programs to increase our volunteer ranks.  To continue to train and guide these volunteers toward reducing the point source and nonpoint source pollution that enters our waterways.  These volunteers will educate landowners and builders whose activities have a direct impact on water quality and habitat health in tributaries and main rivers.

To support funding for two aspects of the Quinnipiac River Conservation and Development corridor Project. RPG will develop an inter-municipal agreement between the three lower river communities that will include land-use guidelines and a tax sharing agreement.