SoundWaters sets sail on new educational program with $100K EPA grant

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing a $100,000 grant to SoundWaters Inc. of Stamford, which will be used to provide students from disadvantaged backgrounds, along with their family members, with the opportunity to participate in research projects conducted from aboard the SoundWaters, the organization’s 80-foot sailing schooner.

The program, dubbed Sound Families, will take the form of a collaboration between SoundWaters and five partner organizations spread across Norwalk, Stamford and Greenwich.

According to Michael Bagley, vice president of programs at SoundWaters, the funds will be used to provide two-hour sailing cruises on the schooner out of Stamford Harbor in order “to learn a little bit about the Sound, to have the experience of being on a sailboat, and to not only learn a little bit about the sound but ideally leave inspired and empowered to make a difference in the environment within their communities.”

“We like to think of them as ambassadors,”Bagley added, “They go back to their communities saying, ”˜Hey, here’s what we just experienced. Here’s what we learned.'”

The grant will also allow SoundWaters to operate their schooner for 23 two-hour trips, each with as many as 40 passengers. Bagley said he expects five to seven families per trip while the EPA estimates 805 children and adults will be able to take advantage of the program over the course of two years.

“The trips will involve using a trawl net to collect fish and marine life that are living on the bottom of the Sound,”Bagley continued. “When we bring up the net, we share what we know about what we caught and explain what is down there. We’ll also do some water quality analysis— they will take water samples and look at what signs are good and what’s bad in the water. Depending on the season we might collect microorganisms that live in the Sound and look at them through microscopes.”

“Throughout,”he added, “there is a general conversation about what is Long Island Sound and how do we live next to it. We’ll discuss what are some things that we can do that are good for it, and what could create adverse conditions. We are trying to generate those kinds of conversations with people.”

Bagley stressed that the chance to sail on the trip is itself an exciting opportunity.

“We love having the awe and wonder of seeing this thing, and for our Stamford guests it may be something they’ve seen before from here at Cove Island, but now they get a chance to come on board and be part of it,”he said.

While the schooner is an environmentally friendly means of transportation— it doesn’t require fossil fuels to sail— it does require a trained crew to safely operate, even before educational instructors are factored in. Additionally, a portion of the funds will go to the five partner organizations ,which include the Boys & Girls Clubs of Stamford and Greenwich, the Future 5 program for Stamford High School students, and the Riverbrook Regional YMCA, which has branches in Norwalk and Wilton.

“A good portion of the money goes to our partners,”Bagley explained. “The EPA recognizes that if we want to find, recruit and transport them to our docks for free that requires administrative and logistical work. We can compensate those organizations for their assistance in making that happen.”

The first voyages funded with the grant will start in mid-September, with several more before the end of the sailing season in October. Voyages will resume in the spring of 2023.

“The Connecticut coast is something like 97% private,”Bagley noted. “It’s very difficult to access Long Island Sound if you don’t own property that is adjacent to it, have a boat, or a friend who has that. Norwalk is fortunate to have Calf Pasture, and we’re fortunate here to have Cove Island and a few other parks, but for the most part access is pretty difficult. If you live in even certain parts of Stamford, downtown, or up north, it might seem like it’s in a whole other universe. Our mission is to make sure that everybody in the region knows about the Sound, appreciates it and understands how they can impact it.”