The Environmental Protection Agency has named Nicole (Nikki) Tachiki as the new director of the Long Island Sound Partnership, a program that oversees efforts to improve water quality in the Sound.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced Tachiki’s appointment at the Port Jefferson Village Center on Thursday during a meeting with state lawmakers and local leaders focusing on the future of the Long Island Sound.
“We needed to make sure we got the right person to do this,” Zeldin, a former representative of Long Island’s 1st congressional district, said. “Growing up on Long Island, I saw firsthand what the Sound means to the families and communities that depend on it. Protecting it has always been personal for me.”
“We Long Islanders know that we need good, clean, safe drinking water and a great environment, and that comes with a responsibility,” Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville), co-chair of the Congressional Long Island Sound Caucus, said at the event.
Tachiki has served as the acting director of the EPA’s Long Island Sound office since 2025 and has worked at EPA Region 2—serving New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and eight Tribal Nations—since 2019 as a life scientist and helping with planning and funding. She succeeds Mark Tedesco, who retired in April 2025 after 30 years of leading the program.
“I am excited and thankful to represent EPA in our work to better the Sound and the millions in its watershed as I begin the role of director,” Tachiki said.
The program funds projects focused on water quality, habitat restoration, pollution reduction, research and public education. Tachiki said the partnership will be guided by its updated Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP), which is built around four core themes: clean waters and healthy watersheds, thriving habitats and abundant wildlife, sustainable and resilient communities and an informed and engaged public.
“Not a single leader or a single organization drives the success of this program,” Tachiki said. “It’s the hundreds of hours of work each member puts into the program each year.”
Tachiki also discussed plans with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection for a hydrodynamic water-quality model that could help officials determine how much nutrient pollution must be reduced to meet water-quality standards throughout the Sound’s watershed.
“It’ll have a lot of important implications in helping us set new numeric targets,” Tachiki said.
The model is expected to be completed this fall.
Officials also pointed to recent water-quality grades from environmental organization Save the Sound as additional evidence of where work is needed.
“Having good grades is something we’re always going to be excited for,” Tachiki said.
The partnership will continue its 10-year CCMP and set priorities for the next fiscal year in the fall, after the management committee meets in October.
Lily Miller is a reporter with The SBU Media Group, part of Stony Brook University’s School of Communication and Journalism’s Working Newsroom program for students and local media.