Projects

To support the measurement of methyl mercury in the Quinnipiac River and the New Haven Harbor. The work will also provide direct information on safety of local finfish and shellfish.

To support the implementation of a short course in river processes for environmental activists and decision-makers.

To support the continuing and extension of the successful 2005 Safe Grounds Campaign reducing non-point source pollution from lawn pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.

Funds will be used to support the improvement of of water diversion and instream flow policy on the Quinnipiac River through advocacy and public education.

To support the development and adoption of an intermunicipal agreement with the lower river towns regarding land use guidelines and tax sharing.

To support the organization and implementation of QRWA Stream Buffer Initiative to encourage land use practices that minimize adverse impacts on the watershed and increase public access to the river and its tributaries.

To support the salaries for two part-time Student Conservation Assocation interns who will work on improvement of water quality through community outreach.

To support the creation and development of the Organic Land and Turf Handbook for school, municipal, and commercial groundskeepsers to manage lawns and turf without the use synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

To support investigation of the various stresses that may be contributing to the extensive loss of vegetation in the Quinnipiac tidal marshes and begin to gather data on the relative importance of sub-surface compaction, decompositon in causing elevation loss in this ecosystem.

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.