Skoufis announces state funding for four projects
Senator James Skoufis is touting $148,554 in grant funding awards to four area projects within New York State’s Hudson River watershed communities.
Among them, $12,000 for a “waterfront park natural resource inventory and assessment” by the Village of Highland Falls, helping to develop a master plan for land owned by Scenic Hudson.
The grant, Mayor Joe D’Onofrio said, will help in the first phase of designing a passive park on the ‘Aloe Property’, a piece of land just south of Walgreens that overlooks the Hudson River. The LA Group, the village’s grant writing firm, prepared the application.
The grants are funded by the State’s Environmental Protection Fund and administered by the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Hudson River Estuary Program.
“I am thrilled to see our local communities proactively responding to the realities of climate change through this series of innovative projects,” Skoufis said. “Recent storms have reminded us of the fragility of our systems and infrastructure, and we must do all we can to prepare our communities for our new climate future, as well as building sustainable recreational opportunities for locals and visitors alike.”
Announced last week, the other funding will enable:
— A regional-scale vulnerability assessment by River-keeper, which will define climate-related vulnerabilities to water bodies in area municipalities ($50,000).
— An Ulster County county-wide natural resources inventory and municipal toolkit ($46,554).
— Milton Landing Park’s accessible kayak launch, a project by the Town of Marlborough encouraging local and regional recreational enjoyment of the river ($40,000).
