Save the Sound Dispatch

By Melissa Pappas and Katie Friedman     What are living shorelines? How can they save our coastal communities? Save the Sound’s New York ecological restoration program manager, Katie Friedman, shares her knowledge of this nature-based solution. Q: Can you explain the concept of a living shoreline and its purpose? Katie: In an urban area where we want to stabilize the coast or protect infrastructure from high wave energy or erosion, people typically build hard structures out…

By David Seigerman, clean water communications specialist Off the beaten paths, patches of Opuntia humifusa are preparing to bloom. Bright bursts of yellow will pop this summer from spiked green pads that look like a beaver’s tail crossed with a stegosaurus’. Yes, cacti grow around Long Island Sound’s shores, particularly in two sections of West Rock Ridge State Park, a 1,691-acre open parenthesis of green space spanning New Haven and Hamden, CT.   And Annalisa Paltauf isn’t…

By David Seigerman, clean water communications specialist The vast majority of freshwater fish in the U.S. are contaminated with toxins called PFAS, and eating just one of those fish may be equivalent to drinking PFAS-tainted water for a month.   © savethesound.org They are called “forever chemicals” for a reason. A couple of reasons, actually. The first is marketing. Acronyms tend to be ineffective when it comes to messaging; just ask any parent struggling to decipher a text…

By David Seigerman, clean water communications specialist There are better ways to spend your time than watching grass grow. But believe it or not, there are worse ways, too. Like waiting for grass to grow and being unable to watch. It’s that particular brand of torturous tedium that awaits Rob Vasiluth over the next several months. “I can’t wait for June,” said Vasiluth, founder of SAVE Environmental, which is working with Save the Sound, the Cornell Cooperative…

By David Seigerman, Clean Water Communications Specialist Dr. Caterina Panzeca was unfazed by the technical aspects of collecting water quality data in Westchester Creek. Her initial concern was the early morning timing. “Wrangling college students, at that hour, over the summer . . .” Dr. Panzeca said, not needing to finish her thought. “But the students were actually super excited to get up.”’ Of course they were amped and ready to get on the water. If you’re…

The fall of 1972 was a time for inauspicious starts. Particularly on Long Island. The New York Islanders debuted that year and suffered through one of the worst seasons in National Hockey League history. A young musician from Hicksville hit the road for Los Angeles, where he toiled in a piano lounge and took notes. And on October 18, 1972, the Clean Water Act became law, ambitiously seeking in its first stated goal, “that the discharge of…

By Melissa Pappas, Save the Sound Ecological Communications Specialist Not too long ago, millions of river herring swam through Connecticut’s rivers each spring. These silver highways of fish making their way back to the place they were hatched were showing signs of rebounding after decades of decline. Last year, Jon Vander Werff, Save the Sound’s fish biologist, counted almost 200 alewife, the larger of the two species of river herring, in a trap at Konold’s Pond on…

By David Seigerman, clean water communications specialist     At its ribbon cutting back in April, the John and Daria Barry Foundation Water Quality Lab gleamed with possibility. But like a racehorse in a stall or boat tucked safely in its slip, some things can’t fully be appreciated while they are at rest. This summer, Save the Sound’s new lab facility—the state-of-the-art centerpiece of our new office space in Larchmont, NY—is humming with activity, alive not only…

By David Seigerman, clean water communications specialist Drinkable, Fishable, Swimmable.   Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? Straightforward, unassailable, as fundamental as those other guiding principle triplets: “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” or “Truth, Justice, and the American Way.” It seems the least we can expect from the water that we drink, pull food from, play in, and sail on, is that it be clean and safe. That’s what the Clean Water Act (officially, the Federal…

By Kathy Czepiel, lands communications specialist, Save the Sound   Last fall, we wrote about a 2021 scientific dive off the coast of Plum Island, NY. Now the results are in, and they provide a deeper understanding of findings from an earlier dive while documenting 126 species of plants and animals beneath the surface of Long Island Sound. The report, Survey of Plum Island’s Subtidal Marine Habitats, was prepared by the New York Natural Heritage Program (NYNHP)…