Projects

To retain services to photograph the Quinnipiac River from New Haven to Wallingford.  The photos will be used by RGP, Yale University Coastal and Watershed Study Center, and the University of New Haven for academic, economic development and planning purposes.  The parties will be using the information for public education about the marshes and the interrelationships with the marsh.  RGP will be utilizing the photos to assist in the implementation of the Quinnipiac River Conservation and Development Corridor project (QRCDC).

To support educational activities and access improvements at the Quinnipiac Meadows Preserve.

To help design and build a bicycle/hiking bridge over the Quinnipiac River.

To continue to work on scientifically validated Stream Team assessment program, to redesign the program to use a larger poll of personnel who will learn to perform rapid assessment  in the field to collect baseline and annual data, develop a bioassessment protocol for the salt marsh in the lower river that can be performed by teams, and enlarge citizen "eyes on the river," the Adopt-the-River program, but reorganizing adopters so that they are convened together at least once per year to learn skills of river protection and restoration and to report progress to officials.

To test the hypothesis that Cytec is discharging into the Quinnipiac a large amount ot polymeric formaldehyde which a) has not been accounted for in the permitting process; b) becomes bioavailable over time; c) has great potential to accumulate in sediments and organisms.

To analyze and report on a comparison of effluent monitoring data to permit requirements for industrial National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit holders in the Quinnipiac River Watershed.

To support the project entitled Bioaccumulation of Sediment Contaminants by Benthos of the Quinnipiac River.  This proposed research is an investigation of the sediment contaminant load of two sites in the Quinnipiac River and the availability of the contaminants to the benthic organisms living in them.

To support the project entitled Comparison of Sediment Contaminants in the Branford River and the Quinnipiac River and their effects on the Benthic community.  This proposed research is an investigation of the sediment contaminant load of five sites in the Quinnipiac River and three sites within the Branford River.

In collaboration with Quinnipiac River Watershed Partnership members to set up a written protocol for handling specific types of pollution problems, including references for notifying the appropriate authority.

To continue to develop the Stream Team volunteer water quality monitoring programs as a force for river conservation, and to further analyze data collected in both 1999-2000 grant years.