On Saturday April 4th, the Connecticut Land Conservation Conference was held in Middletown, drawing hundreds of Connecticut Conservation and Land Trust volunteers and members from around the state. The conference was a wonderful opportunity for conservationists to connect and meet peers from around the state as well as to see and hear about the great work that is being done around the state for conservation. Not to mention, it was a huge showoff of Middletown and our convenient central location, University resources and generally enjoyable destination town. I heard from many attendees how enthused they were to be travelling to Middletown for this event.
The Conference featured twenty-five workshops on a a range of topics directly affecting citizens and environments across Connecticut, as well as keynote speaker and an introduction to the Connecticut Land Conservation Council (CLCC), featuring enhanced member services and grants. Of course there were also many displays including brochures on organic land care and organic farming just to name a couple.
Especially poignant was the well-represented work of The Bridgeport Land Trust. The BLT had wonderful presenters on Community Gardens (Bridgeport has dozens!) and the Ash Creek Sand Spit Sanctuary preservation. Christine Cook and her colleagues from Bridgeport had an excellent presentation with amazing photos of wildlife, flora and fauna all found right in Bridgeport, and tales of engaging neighborhood kids in some good old-fashioned digging in the dirt.
The Keynote Presentation was delivered with skill and humor by Russ Brenneman, who participated in the formation of the first land trusts in CT, drafted the CT conservation easement law, and served as president of the CT Forest and Park Association. He has been a Trustee of The Nature Conservancy and was a founding member of the Great Meadows Land Trust. He currently teaches environmental law and policy at Trinity College and is of counsel to the law firm of Murtha Cullina LLP.
Representatives from Land Trusts in the towns of Southbury, Branford, and Canton had nice presentations on how they have engaged the community about the preserved land in their towns. Their work has spanned countless events which all looked like a load of fun while connecting people with the land and the towns.
The Middletown Conservation Commission is hard at work on many such events as well. More information is always available at http://www.middletownplanning.com/ . Click on "Conservation" at left to go to the Conservation Commission's page.
2 comments:
Thanks for this interesting report - I didn't even know about this event.
Thank you for posting Karen. I also attended, mostly to shop for new ideas that we might incorporate into the city Plan of Conservation & Development. I found many.
Morning sessions were devoted to things on paper: procedures. It was basically "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Conservation Easements but were Afraid to Ask." One session instructed citizen volunteers on how to monitor open space lands, another led participants step-by-step through how to file tax reports. Experts from all over the state led sessions.
Afternoon sessions looked at the plants and animals. One illuminating session was called "Is your town Farm-Friendly?" Joann Nichols from the Farm Bureau shared examples of how, often a town's Plan of Conservation & Development says "we want to preserve the rural character of the town" but their zoning ordinances make farmers jump through all sorts of hoops.
At the end of the afternoon,several workshops showed people how to use the Internet to assist their investigations. John Rozum of the UCONN Land Use Education Center (just down the road in Haddam) demonstrated how people can create their own inventory maps using the NEMO website and state databases. This may sound mind-numbingly boring to most of you, but when he clicked a few buttons, suddenly it was just like "CSI" but for wetlands and trees. I hope we can invite John to come share this presentation here in Middletown sometime.
The best part of the day was a point somewhere during the morning of events when this feeling came over me: Yes, CT is behind the times. Yes, we're sometimes alarmingly clueless. We haven't invested in a state-wide public transportation, we haven't got a state planning department to advise cities and towns about sustainable practices, and we are slow to change.
But as I listened to the urgent questions being asked from people wanting to improve some aspect of farming or land conservation in their town, I realized, yeah, we got on board late, but I think CT could get with it really fast IF we pay attention right now. The state legislature has put forward a Smart Growth Platform this session. That's an amazing first step. Perhaps the state will lead the way after all? Perhaps CT will make local food production viable and a priority. No Farms, No Food. Combined with focusing new development along transit lines, especially in our downtowns, we might be able to reverse the ravages of poor land development practices and return (just a little closer) to the traditional pattern of town and country.
If it is true that the Internet/Web was dreamed up by ten people, I wonder if those several dozen CT residents gathered last Saturday will be the catalysts for what CT could become. It was exciting to sit among them.
Post a Comment