Annual Awards to Support the Health and Restoration of the Quinnipiac River

[The Community Foundation for GNH]

The Quinnipiac River is home to an array of aquatic plants and animals, as well as waterfowl like the white heron. Learn more about The Quinnipiac River at www.thequinnipiacriver.com

Grants Support Research into the Sources and Effects of River Contaminants an Anti-Pollution Public Education Campaign, and the Continued Development of a Recreational Trail along the River's Edge.

New Haven, CT (March 28, 2016) – The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven is pleased to announce that $117,700 in grants has been awarded from the Quinnipiac River Fund to support 8 programs that study and restore the river and surrounding ecosystem, provide education and improve recreational access. 

The River flows 40 miles from west of New Britain southward to Plainville, Southington, west of Meriden, Cheshire, through Wallingford, Yalesville, North Haven and into New Haven Harbor.

“The Quinnipiac River historically had many industries on its banks that discharged their waste, metals and chemicals into it, so it is now taking much effort to get the river clean once again,” said Nancy Alderman, chair of the Quinnipiac River Fund’s advisory committee. “The grants for this year will once again contribute to the ongoing work of restoring the river’s health.” 

Grants and distributions from the Quinnipiac River Fund are recommended each Spring by the advisory committee consisting of Alderman, President of Environment and Human Health, Inc.,  Gordon Geballe, Associate Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and Roman Zajac, Professor, Department Chair of the University of New Haven’s Department of Biology & Environmental Science. Committee recommendations are brought to The Community Foundation’s Board of Directors for approval. Since being established in 1990, the Fund has distributed $2 million in grants. 

Learn more about the Quinnipiac River and projects supported by the Quinnipiac River Fund, along with the history of the river and recreational opportunities at www.thequinnipiacriver.com. 

2016 Quinnipiac River Fund Grants
Organization	Description	Total Amount Awarded
New Haven Land Trust Inc.	to support educational programming, improving trail and sign infrastructure, and organizing volunteer events at Quinnipiac Meadows/Eugene B. Fargeorge Nature Preserve and Long Wharf Nature Preserve as well as  land acquisition work at Quinnipiac Meadows Nature Preserve.	$15,000
Quinnipiac River Linear Trail Advisory Committee	to support the purchase of additional benches along Phase III of the trail which will add 1.25 miles to Fireworks Island as well as graphic art designs for the informational sign to showcase history, natural history, and location information.	$5,000
Quinnipiac University	to support the study of  plasticizers and other chemical pollutants from industrial point sources in Wallingford and North Haven with an emphasis on the pollutant's impact to indigenous fish populations in the Quinnipiac River.	$24,000
River Advocates of Greater New Haven	to support Lunch and Learn sessions for municipal department of public works crews in the lower Quinnipiac watershed for best practices in stormwater pollution prevention; enforcement of public access at an abandoned, neglected Quinnipiac River site at Lowe's on Route 80 in New Haven; education of phosphorus control; and monitoring of pollution and diversion permits.	$20,000
University of New Haven	to support the study of several sites along the Quinnipiac River to determine whether endocrine disruptors are present and then trace their source.	$11,500
University of New Haven	to support the study of  benthic algae to detect seasonal variation in species composition, as well as testing copper content in situ algal samples and conducting mesocosm copper uptake experiments to test the bioremediation potential of various algal species.	$12,000
Yale University	to support the study of sediment accretion and elevation change in the Quinnipiac marshes, and for a wildlife-exclusion experiment to test the hypothesis that herbivory is preventing vegetation from recolonizing mudflat areas.	$13,500
Yale University	to support the study of the risk of runoff from artificial turf fields into the Quinnipiac River's watershed.	$16,700

The Quinnipiac River Fund is a component fund of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. It was established in 1990 by a court settlement of litigation between the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, the Natural Resource Defense Council and the Upjohn Company concerning wastewater discharges from Upjohn’s plant in North Haven.  The settling parties agreed that distributions from the Fund were to be used “to improve the environmental quality of the Quinnipiac River and the New Haven Harbor and the watersheds of these water bodies, and otherwise to benefit the environment of these resources.” 

Thanks to the generosity of three generations of donors, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven awarded over $30 million in grants and distributions in 2015 from charitable assets of more than $500 million and composed of hundreds of individually named funds. In addition to its grantmaking, The Community Foundation helps build a stronger community by taking measures to improve student achievement, create healthy families in New Haven, promote local philanthropy through www.giveGreater.org® and The Great Give®, and encourage better understanding of the region. The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven’s 20 town service area includes: Ansonia, Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, Derby, East Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Madison, Milford, New Haven, North Branford, North Haven, Orange, Oxford, Seymour, Shelton, Wallingford, West Haven and Woodbridge. For more information, visit www.cfgnh.org or follow The Foundation on Facebook (www.facebook.org/cfgnh) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/cfgnh).

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