Join Rockfall on 3/22 for our Annual Symposium

Coming up next week on March 22nd, The Rockfall Foundation and the UConn Climate Adaptation Academy host a symposium on:

Site Development Considerations for Changing Weather Patterns

Case Studies: What Works, What to Watch Out For, and How to Encourage Success

Join us for a discussion on progress in eco-friendly commercial development and an exploration of completed projects including a LID residential development, a pervious pavement parking lot, and a municipal stormwater upgrade. We'll discuss both the long- and short-term challenges and successes of development and investigate several case studies. 

The Jordan Cove Subdivision in Waterford is now 15 years old with multiple homeowners and expiring deed restrictions; we’ll examine how this worked and apply that information going forward.
We’ll also learn about what’s been done on the UConn campus in Storrs (pervious parking lot and more) including lessons learned and whether maintenance is an issue or not; and we’ll have a return visit from Giovanni Zinn in New Haven to get a progress report on the green infrastructure he discussed at the 2016 Symposium, including how it has fared in both drought and flood conditions. Finally, we’ll hear about successful sites nationwide and how our regulations and mindsets may need to be adjusted in order to foster site development that works with our changing weather patterns.

Who should attend: Local elected and appointed officials; planners and zoning enforcement officials; architects; developers; engineers; landscape architects; educators; students; Planning, Zoning, Wetlands and ZBA board and commission members; and all concerned with our changing weather patterns and how best to design for them.

Symposium Program: 

8:00 – 8:30          Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:30 – 8:40          Welcome – Tony Marino, Executive Director, The Rockfall Foundation
8:40 – 9:10          Introduction – David Dickson, Co-Director CT NEMO
9:10 – 9:50          Residential Subdivision: Jordan Cove, Waterford’s LID Subdivision, 15 years later – Michael Dietz, Co-Director CT NEMO
9:50 – 10:35       Municipal Stormwater Management: New Haven’s Green Infrastructure/LID and How It’s Working – Giovanni Zinn, City Engineer, City of New Haven
10:35 – 10:45     Break
10:45 – 11:30     The UConn Experience:  Maintenance, Issues, and Benefits –  Michael Dietz, Co-Director CT NEMO
11:30 – 12:15     Commercial:  National Case Studies and a Toolbox that Encourages Developers to “Do the Right Thing” – David Sousa, Planner & Landscape Architect, CDM Smith
12:15 – 12:45     Panel Question & Answer Session with David Dickson, Michael Dietz, David Sousa, and Giovanni Zinn

1:00                      Lunch (Optional)

March 22nd, starting 8:30am.
Location:
UConn Middlesex County Extension Office
1066 Saybrook Road
Haddam, CT 06438

Register online here

UConn Master Gardener Program Accepting Applications for 2015

The UConn Master Gardener program is now taking applications for 2015 class beginning in January 2015 at the Middlesex County Extension Center in Haddam.

 

Students enrolled in this program receive training in an extensive range of horticultural and environmental topics, including botany, plant pathology, entomology, integrated pest management (IPM), herbaceous and woody ornamentals, edibles, turf grass, invasive plants, and diagnostic techniques for the home gardener.

 

Following formal classroom instruction, Master Gardener students receive hands-on training in the Extension offices or the Bartlett Arboretum; they are supervised in researching a broad range of horticultural questions, including identifying insects and plants, diagnosing plant diseases, and providing sound cultural recommendations.  In addition, interns engage in a wide range of community outreach projects. Examples include community gardens, horticultural therapy, educational booths for programs ranging from Earth Day celebrations to agricultural fairs, and working with the CT Invasive Plant Group, just to name a few.

 

Please see our website for additional information. 

UConn Extension Master Gardeners Available for Garden Questions

Do you have questions about your vegetable or flower garden, about something in your yard, or what you’ve seen along a roadside or trail? University of Connecticut Master Gardeners are available to answer your questions!

Stop by or call the Master Gardener Office at University of Connecticut Middlesex County Extension Center on Route 154 in Haddam.

Insects should be secured in containers with lids. Plant specimens can be in a plastic bag or loose. Please bring a clump of turf for lawn questions.

Both healthy and damaged sections of plants help with diagnosis. Also be prepared to describe the growing conditions, fertilizer or pesticide applications, and other environmental questions to help resolve your question.

Master Gardeners also give advice and offer printed information about improving soil, good gardening practices, weed and unknown plant identification, and information about environmental threats such as emerald ash borer, Asian longhorned beetle, and mile-a-minute vine.

The Master Gardener Office at the Middlesex County Extension Center at 1066 Saybrook Road in Haddam is open Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm. Stop in at the office, call 860-345-5235, or email.

Submitted by Gail K Reynolds, Master Gardener Coordinator, Middlesex County

Randy Edsall to Speak at Chamber Breakfast

From the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce

UConn head football coach Randy Edsall will be the guest speaker when the Chamber holds its monthly member breakfast meeting on Thursday, August 27, 2009 from 7:45 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Cromwell. The breakfast is sponsored by People’s United Bank.

As Randy Edsall enters his 11th season as the head coach at the University of Connecticut, he continues to see the positive effects of his first decade in Storrs as the program has blossomed from a major college football newcomer to a team that has made three bowl appearances in the past five years.