Brockport wins $1.2M grant to study shoreline wetlands
A $1.2 million federal grant to The College at Brockport will fund continued monitoring of the crucial wetlands along the Lake Ontario and Lake Erie shorelines.
The five-year grant, part of a broader initiative to study coastal wetlands of all five Great Lakes, will pay for Brockport scientists to assess animal and plant life, water quality and other characteristics of the wetlands. Many forms of life, from tiny invertebrates to sizable fish and water fowl, call the wetlands home.
The scientists will monitor the wetlands and evaluate ongoing and future restoration projects.
The new grant, announced Thursday, is an extension of a previous five-year study period. Funding is provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
“Coastal wetland monitoring is a critical tool to help measure the overall health and vitality of the Great Lakes and the countless species in its waters and on its shores,” said Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, who helped lead the fight for the grant and is co-chair of the Great Lakes Task Force.
“Wetlands provide enormous environmental benefits, and help in alleviate harmful effects of climate change, such as protecting against flooding and potentially dangerous storm surges,” said Judith Enck, the EPA regional administrator. “This Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding will be used to gather data that will help identify areas where wetlands need better protection, allowing for more targeted preservation and restoration efforts.”
One local example: A sizable wetland habitat restoration project is slated for Braddock Bay in Greece.
Development and other factors have stressed wetlands throughout the Great Lakes Basin, but those on the Lake Ontario shoreline have been the particular focus of concern.
Experts believe the long-standing plan for regulating Lake Ontario water levels — they can be raised or lowered by adjusting flow through a huge dam on the St. Lawrence River — has harmed wetlands by tamping down the water's natural rise and fall. Some wetlands have been lost and others left dominated by a single plant species, cattails.
A proposed new plan to allow some additional variation in water levels is pending before federal officials in the United States and Canada.
The funding to the Brockport college is part of a $10 million grant to Central Michigan University, which is coordinating wetlands monitoring work by about a dozen universities and government agencies.
The College at Brockport, part of the State University of New York system, will do all monitoring along the 330-mile shoreline of Lake Ontario in the United States. It will monitor some wetlands on Lake Erie as well, EPA officials said.
SORR@DemocratandChronicle.com