SoundBites Summer 2025

SoundBites ACTION FOR OUR REGION’S ENVIRONMENT

IN THIS ISSUE • • • •

When Rivers Flow Free Youth Rising for Climate Action Relay Swim Across the Sound Hands-on Green Jobs Initiative

Latest with Leah

Our Beaches, Our Responsibility Each summer, thousands of us return to the beaches that make Long Island Sound so special. Whether you’re wading in at Hammonasset or launching a kayak from Orchard Beach, clean water makes those moments possible.

Our newly released 2025 Long Island Sound Beach Report shows both progress and areas of concern. Many beaches continue to earn high marks, but others have seen their water quality decline, especially after heavy rain. That’s because during storms, pollution from roads and overflowing sewers is swept into the Sound.

These storms are becoming more frequent and intense—and the consequences are clear.

These failures lead to more lost beach days—when beaches close due to unsafe conditions. In 2023 and 2024, nearly 10% of potential swimming days were lost across the 200+ beaches in our Report.

Still, there’s hope. Thanks to community support and targeted investments, many beaches have improved. We know what works: upgrading wastewater systems, reducing runoff, and restoring natural ecosystems that filter pollution.

See what you can do and how your beach scored at SoundHealthExplorer.org.

Thank you for being part of this work.

Overall, failure rates are rising, driven by climate change and aging infrastructure. In the western Sound (Westchester County and New York City), failures jumped from 14.9% to 20.8%. Suffolk West (the eastern shore of Cold Spring Harbor to East Setauket) rose from 8.7% to 12.1%. Connecticut West (Fairfield County to Woodmont Beach in West Haven) increased from 10.9% to 15.6%, and Connecticut East (South Street Beach in New Haven to Stonington) rose from 7.1% to 10.3%.

Leah Lopez Schmalz President

Waters That Shaped a Watchdog Meet Allison Rugila, our new Associate Soundkeeper protecting the western Sound Watershed Association, and, 15 years later, to the helm of Save the Sound’s Terry Backer IV, docked in the East Basin of Mamaroneck Harbor. Allison recently joined our team as Associate Soundkeeper, diving immediately into her role as scientist, policy advocate, on-the-water watchdog in the western Long Island Sound, and occasional boat mechanic.

Photo by Mark Liflander

A traditional component of Orientation Week at St. Mary’s College of Maryland is Volunteer Day, an opportunity for onboarding students to get involved with local service projects.

“They say, ‘Pick something that you want to do, and see where it leads,’” says Allison Rugila.

Orientation Week 2010 led Allison first to the St. Mary’s River

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She never envisioned herself in such a role until she joined that watershed association in Maryland, whose mission is to “protect, improve, and promote the sustainability” of a small Chesapeake Bay tributary. She started by helping local homeowners participate in the Marylanders Grow Oysters program, which provides spat-on-shell (oyster larvae affixed to discarded shells) for stewards to raise in cages during their most vulnerable months.

Alison stayed on to become the oyster restoration program director, watching generations of pencil-point sized larvae grow into mature oysters. From there, she earned a MA in Applied Ecology and a PhD in Ecology and Evolution from Stony Brook University on her way to joining our Soundkeeper team.

“That experience essentially set me on this trajectory,” says Allison.

See where it leads, indeed!

Published August 2025 by Save the Sound. All rights reserved.

Articles in this newsletter may be reprinted with permission • avandine@savethesound.org Front Cover Photo Credit: Richard Madonna • Contributors: Killian Duborg, Josh Garskof, Laura McMillan, Betsy Painter, David Seigerman, Anne Urkawich, and Amanda VanDine.

Youth Rising for Climate Action The next generation of advocates are shaping policy at the Connecticut Capitol Young people face the most significant impacts of a changing climate. Their futures hang in the balance, and their voices are critical in the fight for a safe, healthy region. Nowhere was that more visible than on Earth Day in Hartford. More than 50 high school students joined together for a day of hope, advocacy training, and climate action organized by Sunrise Movement Connecticut and Save the Sound's Doherty Institute for Climate and Resiliency, with support from the Connecticut Coalition for Climate Action. Sharing their personal stories, the youth met with legislators to emphasize the urgency of ending the State’s delayed climate action and getting back on track toward our emissions reduction goals.

Among the speakers were two alumni from last year’s inaugural class of Save the Sound’s Environmental Justice Ambassadors: Melissa Bernal and Melissa Rodriguez. They delivered powerful calls to action rooted in their own lived experience, like relying on outdated public buses to get home after extracurriculars, surrounded by the stench of gasoline and exhaust, because

their families couldn’t always pick them up. The ambassadors program empowered them as advocates for environmental justice in their communities. This legislative session, that training was put to use, and alumni (pictured below) spoke at press conferences, strategized with youth across the state, and met with legislators to push for policies that would make a difference in their neighborhoods.

The momentum generated by youth advocacy worked. By the end of session, a pair of climate and resilience bills passed into law that will keep us all safer from the impacts of climate change and plan a path toward stopping greenhouse gas emissions at the source. Thanks to the hard work of youth advocates, discounted bus passes will be available for young people, seniors, and veterans.

This session was a step in the right direction for Connecticut to reclaim its role as an environmental leader in our region, largely thanks to the leadership of young people.

Want to protect Long Island Sound and take the lead? Become a Cleanup Captain. Help launch the 2025 Connecticut Cleanup, rally volunteers, track trash, and keep marine life safe from debris. Cleanups run from mid-August through October, and we’ll provide everything you need.

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The collapsed Stump Pond Dam, shown here after the August 2024 storm, has sparked calls from advocates to restore the Nissequogue River’s natural, free-flowing state. (Courtesy Office of Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine)

Allison Remy Hall, our New York foundations manager, stan knee-deep in the Hutchinson River during an assessment.

When Rivers Flow Free How barrier removal, new mapping tools, and community action are reshaping our watershed

ArcGIS Online Prioritization Tool

“Dam removals make headlines and they’re the result of years of work. Site visits, mapping, assessments, and planning all set the stage for real change.”

Megan Lung New York Ecological Restoration Project Manager

The health of rivers and streams depends on their ability to flow freely, transporting water, nutrients, sediment, and organisms from headwaters to estuaries—a principle known as the River Continuum Concept. This ecological framework helps us understand rivers as connected systems, where each segment supports species and natural processes that maintain watershed health. This connection also works in reverse, with the return of migratory fish cycling nutrients from the ocean to the freshwater streams. When barriers like dams and undersized culverts interrupt this flow, they disrupt fish migration, fragment habitats, hinder sediment transport, and diminish water quality.

Our landscapes have been altered, and in many places degraded, for centuries.

Creating lasting positive change will take both small and large collective actions. Though our dam removal and river restoration projects get most of the attention, Save the Sound is working in many other behind-the-scenes ways to get our region’s rivers free flowing again.

Westchester Stream Barrier Inventory: Save the Sound is identifying and assessing human-made obstructions on rivers throughout Westchester County that drain to the Sound. Supported by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency, this is the first step in addressing these disruptions and restoring free-flowing rivers. By mapping and sharing data on over 350 road-stream crossings, the Westchester Inventory empowers local agencies and conservation groups to prioritize which barriers to remove first for the greatest impact on restoring aquatic connectivity in our region. And this database will support river restoration well beyond the streams themselves—to the banks, floodplains, and entire watersheds.

Prioritization Tool: All of this data needs an accessible place to live. Later this year, Save the Sound, Seatuck Environmental Association, and The Nature Conservancy, will debut an interactive online prioritization tool (pictured middle left) that ranks hundreds of culverts and tidal crossings throughout

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Our stream barrier technicians, Sarah and Nicholas, collecting measurements on a culvert in Westchester County, New York.

Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk Counties. Based on ecological, resilience, transportation, and infrastructure criteria, the tool helps identify which barriers should be addressed first. While designed for dam owners and municipalities, it will be publicly available, with webinars and trainings to follow.

Stump Pond Dam Advocacy: Beyond ecosystem benefits, restoring connectivity also boosts resilience to storms and flooding by enabling waterways to behave more naturally. When heavy rainstorms hit, water backs up behind dams and poorly designed culverts, increasing flood risks upstream and sometimes causing dangerous breaches or infrastructure failures—as seen in the 2024 collapse of Stump Pond Dam at Blydenburgh County Park in Smithtown on Long Island.

Suffolk County has allocated an initial $6.6 million to rebuild the dam in order to re-create the pond that was used for fishing and recreational activities. But Save the Sound is encouraging officials and the public to consider a different path: allowing the Nissequogue River to return to its natural, free-flowing state. Choosing restoration over reconstruction would improve habitat for native species like brook trout and river herring, enhance flood resilience, and boost water quality for nearby communities. While many memories are tied to the old dam, this is a chance to create new ones alongside a healthier, more connected Nissequogue. The free-flowing river would offer all sorts of new and different recreational and fishing opportunities for park-goers to enjoy.

To support this vision, Save the Sound is teaming up with partners on a public awareness campaign, led by the Seatuck Environmental Association, to highlight the ecological, safety, and community benefits of letting the Nissequogue River recover naturally. Through educational materials, public forums, and community conversations, the coalition aims to build broad support for a future where the Nissequogue flows freely, benefiting wildlife and people for generations.

Follow along on Save the Sound’s Instagram and Facebook for #StreamScienceSaturdays and #FreeTheRiverFriday to learn more about aquatic connectivity and the Nissequogue’s hopeful future.

© Seatuck Environmental Organization

nding

From headwater streams to Long Island Sound, every barrier that's removed opens the door to healthier rivers. On the Nissequogue River, the failure of an old dam has allowed water to flow more freely again, benefiting fish, wildlife, and local communities—and reminding us how powerful reconnection can be.

Marked by the Tides An annual relay swim across Long Island Sound with a mission to give back As the sun rises over Long Island Sound, the first swimmer is already in the water. A bright neon swim cap cuts through the rolling swells, with an inflatable buoy in tow and a fishing boat carrying the other swimmers nearby. A midsummer breeze drifts through the air, and the horizon brightens as land awaits in the distance.

Artists Laurie Olinder and Bill Morrison wait their turns to swim from the boat. For them, the Sound is more than just a view from their Riverhead summer home on Long Island’s North Fork. It’s a place of renewal and joy. “We swim every day we’re here,” Laurie says. “It’s a beautiful body of water with its tides and shifting currents that never fail to amaze me.”

More than 15 years ago, Bill gazed across the widest stretch of the Sound and wondered: could they swim all the way across? With family and friends forming a relay team, they began what would become an annual tradition, the Big Swim. Covering roughly 18 to 20 miles from Orient Point, New York, to the Old Saybrook coastline in Connecticut, swimmers rotate every 20 minutes,

The Big Swim, July 2019

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The Big Swim, July 2024

working with the tides, cheered on by hand-painted signs, bells, and peanut butter sandwiches packed for the journey. Last year, they did two Big Swims, and the youngest participant was just 12.

Another year, teammate Caroline Matthews completed the entire crossing solo without ever touching the boat.

Since 2020, the Big Swim has also raised funds for Save the Sound. “What better organization, really?” Laurie says. “Your mission fits perfectly with what we love and want to protect.”

By turning their passion into action, Laurie and Bill have found a meaningful way to give back and hope others will, too. “Donate.

Pick up trash. Learn to swim in all temperatures,” Bill says. “It’s deeply reassuring to feel that singularity in nature.”

At the end of the Big Swim day, as the six relay swimmers climb up a rocky beach, welcomed by curious strangers and the earthy scent of shoreline, they celebrate more than just miles crossed.

They celebrate connection: to place, to purpose, and to the waters that carry them forward.

The Swim, August 2024 2025 6 | Big SoundBites Spring

From Classroom to Culvert Students learn hands-on environmental science training, learning to assess fish passage barriers This past spring, Save the Sound expanded its hands-on green jobs initiative, continuing its collaboration with Ella T. Grasso Southeastern Technical High School in Groton, Connecticut, and welcoming a new partner, Three Rivers Community College in Norwich. The goal was to teach more students about how built structures impact fish migration and to provide experience collecting field data using the North Atlantic Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative protocol for tidal culverts.

The students learned how outdated, undersized, and poorly designed culverts, which are common across the Northeast, can block migratory fish like alewife and sea lamprey, disrupt ecosystems, and increase the risk of local flooding during heavy rains. They saw firsthand how restoring these structures is critical to improving aquatic connectivity, ecosystem health, and climate resilience.

a fieldwork session. This structure gave students a chance to explore environmental career paths while building practical skills. The program launched at Three Rivers in April and continued with Ella T. Grasso in May. Students worked in teams at nearby sites—a box-shaped culvert and a bridge—chosen for their accessibility and suitability for large groups.

The real-world settings offered a safe and accessible environment for applying their newly acquired skills. Several students took their lessons even farther, however, and identified problem culverts near their homes.

Students from Three Rivers Community College collect measurements of a bridge crossing Mill Cove in Gales Ferry, Connecticut.

This initiative not only provides students with valuable ecological knowledge and technical training but also deepens connections between Save the Sound and local educational institutions, laying the foundation for new partnerships and a growing network of environmental leaders.

At both schools, the training was delivered in two parts: a classroom lecture and

Senior students from Ella T. Grasso Southeastern Technical High School after completing a successful field training day.

Standing Up for Climate Commitments New York’s missed deadline is failing communities and undermining progress When New York passed the Climate Leadership and Protection Act in 2019, it set the state up as a national leader in greenhouse gas reduction and other climate-related goals. But as explained in a lawsuit filed this spring by several sister environmental organizations, New York has not followed through on its promises, and the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation is violating its legal obligations under the Climate Act by failing to release regulations to ensure compliance with the Act. Save the Sound, Environmental Defense Fund, and Riverkeeper joined together to submit an amicus—or “friend of the court”—brief in support of the lawsuit.

The Climate Act requires the State to issue rules and regulations that “ensure compliance” with the Act’s mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 60% of 1990 levels by 2030, and to 15% of 1990 levels by 2050. But that deadline has come and gone without State action.

In addition to cutting the emissions driving climate change, such regulations would reduce utility costs, bring economic benefits, and protect public health. Under a program like cap-

and-invest, for example, New York would set an economywide limit, decreased annually, on greenhouse gas emissions. Polluting parties would need to purchase allowances representing a “right” to emit a certain amount, and the state would invest the profits from those allowances in initiatives to further speed our transition to a green economy. Despite having already drafted a cap-andinvest program that was expected to be released to the public in January 2025, the Department of Environmental Conservation has reversed course and failed to do so.

“DEC’s continued failure to release the cap-and-invest regulations to ensure compliance with the Climate Act makes it more difficult by the day for New York to succeed in meeting its greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals,” says Dara Illowsky, our New York staff attorney. “The agency has also failed to fulfill the mandate to prioritize rules and regulations that address the long history of environmental burdens disproportionately imposed on disadvantaged communities by maximizing reductions of other harmful air pollutants in these areas.”

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INSIDE More than 15 years ago, Bill (third from right) and his wife, Laurie (second from left), gazed across the widest stretch of the Sound and wondered: could they swim all the way across? Find out the answer on page 6.

Now through September 15, your gift to Save the Sound will go twice as far to protect the waters you love. Every dollar you give will be matched dollar-for-dollar to support your Long Island Soundkeeper and other vital programs safeguarding local rivers, beaches, and wildlife. Visit savethesound.org/match.