Seatuck receives $10K grant to improve wildlife

Seatuck Environmental Association is one of 12 local nonprofits that has received a grant to improve wildlife through the Long Island Sound Stewardship Fund at the Long Island Community Foundation.

LISSF announced April 21 that Seatuck will receive a $10,000 grant to improve the connectivity of Gabler's Creek and enhance wildlife passage into Aurora Pond.

Gabler's Creek is a small coastal stream that drains a watershed in Douglaston and Little Neck and terminates at Udalls Cove, located at the eastern end of Little Neck Bay. According to a press release, along its path to the Long Island Sound, water passes through several manmade culverts and a dam that are not designed for wildlife passage. Together the structures combine to restrict the ability of fish and other species to move up or down the creek. The dam is a barrier to migratory river herring seeking freshwater spawning habitat and the small roadway culvert forces river otters to cross the road and risk getting hit by vehicles.

Seatuck’s grant is a small portion of the $203,500 funds awarded to nonprofits to improve the health of the Long Island Sound. Other award-winners included nonprofits such as Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Friends of the Bay Inc., Groundwork Bridgeport in Connecticut, and more. The grants will support organizational capacity building; piloting tools and strategies to improve environmental factors; and cleaning waters, restoring habitat, sustaining wildlife; and engaging the public in restoration and protection of the health of the sound.

“This is the fund’s third round of grants, bringing our total investment to nearly $900,000,” said Long Island Community Foundation executive director David Okorn.

“The grant recipients have made incredible strides towards reducing nitrogen loads, restoring habitat, improving water quality, and educating the public about the Long Island Sound,” Okorn said.

The Long Island Sound Stewardship Fund was established in 2018 to support projects that address pressing challenges and provide for a healthy, productive, and resilient Long Island Sound, now and into the future