New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos on Thursday announced that more than $855,000 has been awarded to help communities in the Hudson River Estuary watershed.
The money will go toward improving water quality, increasing flood resiliency and conserving natural resources. The grants will support projects to help remove dams and mitigate culverts to restore habitats for the American eel and river herring in tributary streams of the estuary. Grant recipients include Riverkeeper; the Open Space Institute for work toward removing Sloan Dam; the town of Esopus in Ulster County; and Hudson Valley Arts & Science in Westchester County for the design and permitting for removal of a dam on the Sprout Brook in the town of Cortlandt. The dam is the first barrier to fish migration from the Hudson River tide line.
