Section 320 of the clean water act authorizes the administrator of the EPA to convene management conferences to develop comprehensive conservation and management plans for estuaries of national…

Section 320 of the clean water act authorizes the administrator of the EPA to convene management conferences to develop comprehensive conservation and management plans for estuaries of national significance that are threatened by pollution, development, or overuse. The agreement provides funding to the research foundation of suny stony brook for national estuary program to support implementation of the NEP comprehensive conservation and management plan (ccmp) and EPA strategic plan goal 5: ensure clean and safe water for all communities and objective 5.2: - protect and restore waterbodies and watersheds to improve the water quality, protect the natural habitat and living resources, and support sustainable human uses in the estuary. This award will provide salary and fringe to the peconic estuary partnership program office as well as support the ongoing and new projects. These projects include alewife monitoring, fish passage projects along the peconic river, and eelgrass monitoring throughout the peconic estuary watershed. Additional funding will also be provided to support a peconic estuary mini-grant program and develop a wildlife conservation strategy for river otter and horseshoe crab conservation.activities:the projects included will support activities that address the key challenges facing the estuary including assessing trends in water quality, habitats, natural resources and uses; coordinating implementation of the ccmp by the NEP, along with the state, federal, local agencies, stakeholders, ngos, citizens, partners, and others; and monitoring the effectiveness of activities conducted under the management conference approved ccmp and annual workplan. The activities to be performed but are not limited to under this cooperative agreement are to develop a ccmp tracking system, develop a finance plan along with additional ccmp required components, continue education and outreach efforts, continue to distribute information and tools developed in the peconic estuary critical lands protection strategy and climate ready action plan to municipalities within the watershed and work with the east end towns to implement climate resiliency actions, develop a strategy plan with suffolk county and identify communities in the high need area for septic improvement efforts in conjunction with the suffolk county subwatershed wastewater plan, and conduct alewife monitoring on the peconic river. Additional funding will also be provided to support a peconic estuary mini-grant program to engage the peconic estuary communities to take action towards the 2020 ccmp goal of clean water and develop a wildlife conservation strategy for river otter and horseshoe crab conservation.subrecipient:two subawards will be covered under this award. The subawards are: 1) wildlife conservation plan - $30,000: PEP will work with seatuck to carry out 2023-2024 otter monitoring and develop a conservation plan for otters in the peconic watershed. The plan will work with nysdec and other partners to develop a series of actions and recommendations for otter conservation. This initiative will also see the coordination of a new horseshoe crab conservation plan and seatuck will develop a stakeholder group to work with cornell cooperative extension, stony brook university, nysdec and others to gather data and make initial recommendations for moving forward. 2) PEP mini-grant - $75,000: PEP will put out an application call in fall 2023 for projects focused on the 2020 comprehensive conservation management plan goal of clean water. This mini-grant program will provide funding for a project to engage the peconic estuary communities and empower them to take action towards clean water and healthy habitats in the watershed and prepare for a changing climate.outcomes:the anticipated deliverables and expected outcomes of this award are the continuation of water quality monitoring in surface and marine waters within the peconic estuary, education and outr