No check in the mail yet, but... $1 million-plus from GE settlement

CORNWALL BRIDGE — The Housatonic Valley Association (in association with the Sharon Land Trust and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection) will be the recipient of more than $1 million in grants for projects to enhance the Housatonic River basin.

The selection process took about two years; 11 projects (of 27 total) are in Region One towns.

Elaine LaBella, HVA’s land protection director, gave details of the three projects. In Sharon, the Housatonic Valley Association (HVA) and the Sharon Land Trust will be able to obtain conservation easements along River Road on 27 acres owned by John and Sharon Frost; and on a 5-acre parcel belonging to Connecticut Light and Power.

The combined parcels include wetlands, what LaBella called “productive hayfields� and about a quarter mile of riverfront.

“The Frosts are interested in creating a trail for fishermen,� LaBella said.

The total cost of the project will be about $1 million — $740, 468 from the grant and the balance to be raised by HVA and the Land Trust.

In West Cornwall, a deteriorated fishway  — a structure that allows trout to escape the high water temperatures of the Housatonic in summer and go into the cooler water of the tributary — will be rebuilt.

Vegetation along the riverbanks in this area will also be restored. The HVA will work with the state environmental agency on the $73,000 project.

And farther downstream, at an area known to anglers and boaters as The Bend, there is an ambitious plan to create a parking area, a wide pathway, install composting toilets and build a platform for fishing (“or sitting,� added LaBella).

“The entire thing will be wide enough for the fire department to get the Zodiac [emergency rescue] boats down. And with the platform, someone who can’t wade can still get a line in the water,� said LaBella.

The grant for improvements at The Bend is $226,586; LaBella cautioned that it all needs to go through local, state and federal permitting processes before any plans are finalized.

The grant money comes out of the October 2000 Consent Decree that created a partnership between General Electric, the commonwealth of Massachusetts,  the city of Pittsfield, Mass., the state of Connecticut, the federal Department of the Interior, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Justice and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

While the purpose was to remediate (that is, clean up) contamination, most notably from PCBs, from GE’s Pittsfield plant into the river and surrounding areas over a more than 30-year period, money was also set aside for repair of natural resource damage.

Connecticut’s share was administered by the Connecticut SubCouncil of the Natural Resource Trustees, with a mission to “restore, rehabilitate, replace or acquire the equivalent of the natural resources and their services that were injured or lost� as the result of pollutants released into the Connecticut section of the river.

The process of accepting and evaluating proposals began in January 2007. More than 90 organizations applied for a share of the funds.

Other successful applications in Region One include: Dam work and a fish passage on the Blackberry River in North Canaan (administered by the DEP); wetlands restoration along Carse Brook in Sharon (Sharon Audubon); a car-top boat launch on the Housatonic at North Kent Road (town of Kent); a study of waterfowl and migratory birds (Schaghticoke Tribal Nation); a boat access ramp (Schagticoke Tribal Nation); increased regulations enforcement at Bulls Bridge in Kent (DEP); conservation easements on 200 acres along Salmon Creek and the Housatonic in Salisbury (The Nature Conservancy); and habitat improvement along Salmon Creek in Salisbury (Trout Unlimited).