State and federal natural resource trustees are seeking public comment on a draft restoration plan and environmental assessment (EA) for the Lordship Point Gun Club and Raymark Industries cases in Stratford, Conn. The draft plan and EA address natural resource impacts from hazardous waste releases at the two sites, and identify activities to restore the health of the local ecosystems and communities.
The Trustees include the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). A copy of the plan can be secured through the https://www.darrp.noaa.gov/ and a hard copy of the document is available at the Stratford Public Library.
Deadline for submitting public comments is Dec. 11. The Trustees also have scheduled a public informational meeting on the draft plan and environmental assessment Monday, Nov. 19 at Audubon Connecticut, 1207 Prospect Drive, Stratford, Conn.
Details on the restoration planning effort will be shared at the meeting and public comments also will be welcomed. Comments received by the deadline will be reviewed and considered by the Trustees in preparing and releasing the final restoration plan.
The Trustees are proposing a set of salt marsh salt marsh
Salt marshes are found in tidal areas near the coast, where freshwater mixes with saltwater.
Learn more about salt marsh restoration projects at the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, Great Meadows Marsh Unit in Stratford. This salt marsh, near where the Housatonic River meets with Long Island Sound, is the largest salt marsh complex in Connecticut.
The marsh provides natural benefits such as filtering water, protecting coastal communities, and providing habitat for fish and wildlife. The proposed restoration is expected to enhance these benefits by increasing and enhancing areas of the marsh area impacted in the two cases.
The preferred restoration projects will provide cover, feeding, and spawning habitats for fish and shellfish, feeding and breeding habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife, and increased storm and flood protection for local communities.
Since the two case sites are located close to one another and their releases resulted in similar natural resource injuries, the Trustees are leveraging approximately $1 million in settlement funds, including Housatonic River case Trustee Council funds, to coordinate cost-effective restoration actions at both sites.
During the development of the restoration plan, the Trustees coordinated with agency staff, town officials, and local conservation and natural resource organizations to identify a number of potential restoration activities for the two cases. They also conducted numerous site visits to collect information.
