A round of federal funding will be used to help create CT environmental jobs.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell recently announced that several important environmental projects in Connecticut have been approved to receive $4 million in federal stimulus money. That funding will be used to enhance and preserve ecosystems along the Naugatuck River and the Long Island Sound shoreline.

Of the funding, $2.5 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will be used to build a fish bypass around the Tingue Dam on the Naugatuck River in Seymour. Another $1.5 million from NOAA will be used to help restore 108 acres of tidal marsh and open habitat at Rocky Neck State Park in East Lyme and the West River in New Haven.

"Restoring and preserving these fragile ecosystems are a sound investment for our environment and the surrounding communities," Rell said. "Our rivers and coastline are irreplaceable natural resources. The projects will generate jobs quickly in construction and strengthen local economies."

The passageway around the Tingue Dam would remove an in-stream barrier to diadromodous fish, or fish that move between salt and freshwater. The project will help restore access to 29 miles of essential habitat for American shad, alewife, blueback herring and American eel.

The state Department of Environmental Protection is working in partnership with the Connecticut Fund for the Environment on a culvert replacement project at Rocky Neck State Park. The improvements will make it easier for herring to swim upstream to spawn. In a separate project, three tidal gates will be replaced on the West River in New Haven.

Labels: CT environmental jobs