ABSTRACT

Since the Wetlands Restoration Program (WRP) was started, partnerships have always been involved in all our projects. To foster this partnership, a Wetlands Restoration Steering Committee was formed to give priority to those projects which had at least one or more partners with funding. Partnerships were important to the WRP because of the lack of general state funds for our program. In order to keep the Wetlands Restoration Unit (WRU) funded, many grants were applied for and many partners were asked to contribute to wetlands restoration. Our first partnership project was started when the WRP was still doing mosquito control work. This project was called the Mumford Cove Marsh Restoration project in Groton, CT. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in the Stewart B. McKinney National Fish and Wildlife Refuge was involved in this restoration with funding, manpower and equipment. This was a dredged site that bred mosquitoes. The project goal was to restore twenty acres into salt marsh. Many feet of material were to be excavated and dozed off the marsh to create low marsh, high marsh and ponds and creeks. The work was started in 1989 and was finished in 1993. Since that time many projects have had many partners involved. Another project was in the Fletcher Creek Marsh in the Silver Sands State Park in Milford, CT. This project involved funding from many sources such as the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), the CT Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) - Office of Long Island Sound Programs through their Long Island Sound Clean Up Fund account, and the USFWS Challenge Grant program. Another project with different partners was the Hammonasset State Park Marsh Restoration project in Madison, CT. The Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was involved in this ten-acre marsh restoration project through their NPS 319 Grant funding. A dike was removed and new channels were installed to allow salt water to penetrate the degraded salt marsh. At another site in Hammonasset State Park called Meig's Point, the DEP Parks and Outdoor Recreation Division, the Madison Audubon Society, Long Island Sound Clean Up Funds was involved in this three-acre marsh restoration site. The WRP's Phragmites Control projects have an extensive list of partners which include The Nature Conservancy, the Connecticut Audubon Society, the Branford Land Trust, the Stonington Garden Club, private citizens, and others. People and groups are very interested in helping to promote good restoration projects once they have seen the results of a nearby project. Signage at each project and media coverage should be done to promote each restoration effort. Finally, the WRP has just received a USFWS Challenge Grant for an OMWM and Phragmites Control project on Nott Island in Lyme, CT. The most important factor for receiving this grant was that we had partners involved. The partners involved in this project will be the Connecticut Waterfowl Association, Ducks Unlimited, DEP Office of Long Island Sound Programs, The Nature Conservancy and the Connecticut Duck Stamp Program. It takes time to foster these relationships, but it is well worth the effort.

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