UConn CLEAR

Land Use Commissioner Training Opportunities

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Bruce Hyde presenting at Land Use Academy

As we are approaching the January 1, 2024 deadline to complete the initial four (4) required credits of the land use commissioner training under the CGS Sec. 8-4c, I am excited to share a number of upcoming opportunities for our commissioners to obtain the required credits. I am listing the most immediate opportunities below and providing a link to our CT Land Use Commissioner Training Calendar CT Land Use Commissioner Training (google.com) where you can find training information and registration links (when available). Feel free to share the link to the calendar with your commissioners.

September 21, 2023: Land Use Commissioner Training – CRCOG (1.5 credits-virtual)

The Capital Region Connecticut Council of Governments (CRCOG) will host the CLEAR Land Use Academy – Basic Training, Legal Requirements and Procedures, Roles and Responsibilities, which provides 1.5 hours of credit toward the state required land use commissioner training. Presented by Renata Bertotti, AICP, Assistant Extension Educator in LU Planning and Climate Resilience, UConn CLEAR & CAHNR Department of Extension.  Session will be presented online over ZOOM, be open to all and start at 7:00 p.m.

September 28, 2023: Land Use Commissioner Training – SCCOG (1.5 credits – in-person)

The Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments (SCCOG) will host the CLEAR Land Use Academy – Basic Training, Fundamentals of Reading Plans, which provides 1.5 hours of credit toward the state required land use commissioner training. Presented by Renata Bertotti, AICP, Assistant Extension Educator in LU Planning and Climate Resilience, UConn CLEAR & CAHNR Department of Extension.  This session assists commissioners with developing plan reading skills including understanding scale, topography, hydrology and stormwater. Participants learn to translate what is on the plans to what it will look like on the ground. The in-person session will start at 6:30 p.m. at 5 Connecticut Avenue, Norwich, CT 06360. The attendance is limited, future sessions may be held if there is interest.

September 30, 2023: Land Use Commissioner Training – NVCOG (4 credits – in person)

The Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments will host the CLEAR Land Use Academy Basic Training – The Legal Requirements & Procedures, Roles & Responsibilities and The Fundamentals of Reading Plans which will cover three (3) credits of the required CGS Sec. 8-4c training. Presented by Renata Bertotti, AICP, Assistant Extension Educator in LU Planning and Climate Resilience, UConn CLEAR & CAHNR Department of Extension. At the same event, Jocelyn Ayer, Director of the Litchfield County Center for Housing Opportunity, will present a session on Fair and Affordable Housing Policies, which will cover one (1) credit on Fair and Affordable Housing Policies as required by State Statute. Registration details for this in-person event will be provided in September.

October 12, 2023: Land Use Commissioner Training – SCRCOG (4 credits – in person)

The South Central Regional Council of Governments will host the CLEAR Land Use Academy Basic Training – The Legal Requirements & Procedures, Roles & Responsibilities and The Fundamentals of Reading Plans which will cover three (3) credits of the required CGS Sec. 8-4c training. Presented by Renata Bertotti, AICP, Assistant Extension Educator in LU Planning and Climate Resilience, UConn CLEAR & CAHNR Department of Extension.  At the same event, David Fink, former Policy Director at Partnership for Strong Communities and SCRCOG Regional Housing Consultant, will present a session on Fair and Affordable Housing Policies which will cover one (1) credit on Fair and Affordable Housing Policies as required by State Statute. This will be an in-person event conducted at location TBD, from 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., and the attendance will be limited. Session will be recorded.

October 28, 2023: Land Use Commissioner Training – UConn CLEAR @ Middlesex County Extension (4 credits – in person)

The UConn Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR) will be running an all-day Land Use Academy on Saturday, October 28, 2023, at the UConn Middlesex County Extension Center located at 1066 Saybrook Road, Haddam, CT, 06438. This will be an in-person event at which the four (4) credits of the required CGS Sec. 8-4c training will be provided. Renata Bertotti will present the Land Use Academy Basic Training – The Legal Requirements & Procedures, Roles & Responsibilities and The Fundamentals of Reading Plans, which will cover three (3) credits of the required CGS Sec. 8-4c training, and Mark Branse, a distinguished attorney from Halloran Sage, will present a session on Fair and Affordable Housing Policies which will cover one (1) credit on Fair and Affordable Housing Policies as required by the State Statute. We plan on recording this session and posting it on CLEAR website for those who cannot attend. The Academy will begin at 9:00 a.m. Registration will be available here soon: https://clear.uconn.edu/lua/

November 16, 2023: Land Use Commissioner Training @CRCOG (1.5 credits – virtual)

The Capital Region Connecticut Council of Governments will host the CLEAR Land Use Academy – Basic Training, Fundamentals of Reading Plans, which provides 1.5 hours of credit toward the state required land use commissioner training. Presented by Renata Bertotti, AICP, Assistant Extension Educator in LU Planning and Climate Resilience, UConn CLEAR & CAHNR Department of Extension.  This session assists commissioners with developing plan reading skills including understanding scale, topography, hydrology and stormwater. Participants learn to translate what is on the plans to what it will look like on the ground. Session will be presented online over ZOOM, be open to all and start at 7:00 p.m.

Contact Renata.bertotti@uconn.edu for more information on any of these trainings.

UConn Extension Internship Application Deadline Extended

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woman with UConn shirt smiling, and navy blue & green text over a green background

The application deadline for our summer internships has been extended to March 26th. 

Get paid while learning and working in a career-oriented role. We offer internships in the following disciplines:

  • Food
  • Health
  • Nutrition
  • Sustainability
  • Research
  • Agribusiness
  • Youth Education
  • Community Development
  • Marketing

Click here to view internship descriptions.

Most of these roles are for an average 18-20 hours per week over the 10 week summer period with some requiring a bit of weekend and/or evening hours, although these circumstances vary by position. Some of these positions for employment are contingent upon the successful completion of a pre-employment criminal background check.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to intern with us this summer!

Click here to apply.

 

CLEARscapes Fall/Winter 2022 Now Available!

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UConn CLEAR has released the Fall/Winter 2022 CLEARscapes newsletter. The latest edition discusses program updates, the new Local Watershed Assessment Tool, the Stormwater Utilities Project, and more.

Check it out here: clear.uconn.edu/clearscapes-fall-2022

people looking into storm drain

CT Trail Finder and Avenza Maps Webinar

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WEDNESDAY, December 7, 2022 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Trail Mapping for CT Trail Finder with Avenza Maps

Cary Chadwick & Emily Wilson, UConn CLEAR

Connecticut Trail Finder is a free, interactive mapping site designed to help Connecticut residents and visitors find publicly accessible hiking, walking, snowshoeing, mountain biking, cross-country skiing, and paddling trails across the state. It is a critical resource for trail managers, allowing them to provide the public with up-to-date, comprehensive information about their trails through individual trail listings that allow users to view a digital trail map, get essential information, submit trip comments and photos, and connect with other users. But what is the best way to collect trail data these days? This webinar will focus on Avenza Maps, a free mapping solution for iOS and Android devices. The broad features of the app will be demonstrated in the context of trail mapping for managers and trail stewards whose overall goal is to collect information to share broadly with the public through the Connecticut Trail Finder website.

REGISTER

 

A trail sign in the woods, bridge in the background

CT Trail Finder and GIS with Courtney Andreozzi

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Courtney AndreozziGreetings! My name is Courtney Andreozzi and I am honored to be the GIS intern for CT Trailfinder for Summer 2022. I am a rising senior at UConn studying Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) with a minor in Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

During this previous school year I worked in conjunction with UConn’s CLEAR and Joshua’s Land Trust to add local trails to CT Trailfinder, and am excited to continue and expand my work through UConn Extension. In addition to using ArcGIS Pro to edit and analyze trails to be added to the website, the GIS work I am doing is assisting in building Connecticut’s first statewide layer of trails that are collected from a variety of land managers. Besides my interests in conservation, GIS, and finding local opportunities to get outside (especially since being affected by Covid), I am passionate about mental health visibility and advocacy, being active in the UConn chapter of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness).

CT Trailfinder itself provides accurate, trail manager approved information on publicly accessible trail systems that can be quickly updated; increasing awareness and access to outdoor resources to all audiences, especially those that are not traditional trail users. With more than 200 postings and more than 1000 miles of trails already mapped on the website, this opportunity has opened my eyes to just how many opportunities there are across the state for both traditional and nontraditional trail uses (e.g. cross country skiing, bicycling, equestrian, paddling, etc.). I hope to also contribute to the site’s development of trailside services that will help connect the trail resources to the local communities. I am delighted to be able to contribute my skills in GIS to encourage others in Connecticut to find trail systems appropriate for their interests and explore all of the beautiful publicly accessible land around them.

Learn more about CT Trailfinder at https://www.cttrailfinder.com/

Are you a land manager? Learn how you can add your trails at https://cttrails.uconn.edu/trailfinder_add/

Updated App, New Rules & Soggy Summer: Time For a Rain Garden

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rain garden
Coneflower and blazing star are in bloom in the rain garden behind the baseball field at East Lyme High School.

Story and photos by Judy Benson

July’s wet weather may have dampened plans for beach days and barbeques, but it’s also a reminder of an environmental problem homeowners can help solve in their own yards.

The excess of rainfall—about twice the amount normally seen so far this month—means more stormwater tainted with lawn chemicals, oil and gas residues and other pollutants has been entering our streams, rivers and Long Island Sound. The polluted runoff flows off roads, driveways, roofs and parking lots into storm drains that carry it directly into our waterways, untreated, sometimes resulting in high bacteria counts that recently closed swimming areas at Ocean Beach in New London and Rocky Neck State Park in Niantic for a few days.

“A lot of people think stormwater goes to a treatment facility, but most of it just drains directly into a water body,” said David Dickson, faculty member and extension educator for UConn CLEAR (Center for Land Use Education and Research).  “Runoff is one of the top water quality problems, especially here in Connecticut.”

But it’s also a problem where small-scale efforts with muscle and a shovel can make a big difference. And thanks to a recently updated, user-friendly app and the added motivation of new state requirements for stormwater—set against all the recent rainfall—there’s no better time for individual action than right now.

Dickson and his colleagues at UConn CLEAR are proponents of rain gardens, an elegantly simple, relatively inexpensive solution that can also enhance outdoor spaces for both people and wildlife. This is basically a bowl-shaped area planted with native grasses, shrubs and flowers tolerant of both extreme wet and dry conditions where runoff is channeled and absorbed into the soil, filtering out pollutants along the way.

Over the past four years, more than 45 rain gardens have been installed at schools, town halls, museums and other public spaces throughout New London and Windham counties, led by the Eastern Connecticut Conservation District. Judy Rondeau, assistant director of the ECCD, quickly ticked off some examples: gardens at East Lyme High School, the Mystic Art Association, Whalen’s Wharf in Stonington, the Groton Social Services Building and the Lebanon Historical Society among them, all collecting runoff from adjacent roofs and pavement.

Sue Augustyniak built this rain garden on the property of of the William A. Buckingham Memorial as her service project for the Coastal Certificate Program.
Sue Augustyniak built this rain garden on the property of of the William A. Buckingham Memorial as her service project for the Coastal Certificate Program.

One of the newest rain gardens in the region can be found at the William A. Buckingham Memorial in Norwich. It was built by Master Gardener Sue Augustyniak as a service project for the Coastal Certificate program, a joint offering of Connecticut Sea Grant, the UConn Master Gardener Program and the Long Island Sound Study. The garden collects water that had been running off the historic home property onto the road, with pussy willow, sweet pepperbush and other plants gracing the shoulders.

“It’s helping keep the Thames watershed clean,” she said. “It’s a great way to help my own community.”

Rondeau encourages people to visit one of the local gardens.

“Seeing them can give people an immediate understanding of where the water’s coming from,” she said, adding that plans are in the works for another 20 rain gardens over the next year.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to get some in this summer, if it ever stops raining,” she joked.

But rain gardens in public places are only part of the solution. Rondeau and Dickson are hoping to spur interest among homeowners to build rain gardens in their own yards. The gardens would not only help solve water issues on their own properties but would also help the cities and towns where they live. Starting this year, all but the most rural towns in the state are required to divert 1% of runoff away from pavement and out of storm drains each year.

“A very easy way to do that is to push rain gardens,” said Rondeau. “It’s a way individual homeowners can make a bit of a difference and beautify a corner at the same time. But even if you don’t like gardening, you can just put in a grass garden. It functions the same.”

So how do you build a rain garden?

David Dickson spots a skipper butterfly and several bees pollinating on the flowers in the rain garden at East Lyme High School on July 12.
David Dickson spots a skipper butterfly and several bees pollinating on the flowers in the rain garden at East Lyme High School on July 12.

That’s where the newly refurbished rain garden app, co-created by Dickson and his CLEAR colleague Michael Dietz, comes in. Launched nine years ago with funding from Connecticut Sea Grant, the updated app is now a web-based tool usable on mobile phones, desktop computers and everything in between. It gives step-by-step guidance on choosing a site, calculating the size, testing the soil, choosing plants and digging the hole the right way to the right depth.

“Especially with some of the heavy, flashy rains we’ve been getting, it’s important to divert as much of that water as possible,” said Rondeau. “It will relieve stress on the storm drain system and direct the water to where it will infiltrate into the soil.”

The free rain garden app can be found at: https://nemo.uconn.edu/tools/app/raingarden.htm.

Judy Benson is the communications coordinator for Connecticut Sea Grant. 

UConn CLEAR Stormwater Pond Retrofit Workshop

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Swan LakeUConn CLEAR is holding a Stormwater Pond Retrofit Workshop that will demonstrate how to retrofit existing dry and wet stormwater ponds and bioretention areas to allow for infiltration and/or better pollutant removal. The workshop will be presented by nationally-known expert Dr. Bill Hunt from North Carolina State University on Monday, July 26, 2021, from 9 am to 3 pm at the Mystic Marriott Hotel in Groton, CT.
 The workshop will cover:
– Introduction and retrofit motivations
– Retrofitting dry ponds for volume reduction & pollutant removal
– Retrofitting bioretention for volume reduction & nitrogen removal
– Retrofitting wet ponds for pathogen & nutrient removal
– Field sessions on retrofitting existing structures 
 
Workshop description: The Stormwater Control Measures (SCMs) we design today are not the same as the Stormwater BMPs we placed in the ground 20 years ago. As such, lots of our older SCM infrastructure is dated and can be made to work better with simple retrofits. The motivations and types of SCM retrofits will be discussed, with a focus on dry detention, wet detention, and bioretention. The audience will learn that simple, cost-effective retrofits have the potential to greatly improve an SCM’s performance without increasing maintenance costs. In the afternoon we’ll be visiting several sites in the field.
 
REGISTRATION is $25 and covers coffee and lunch
Note: This will be an in-person workshop and attendance will be capped to maintain appropriate social distancing!

This program is part of the CLEAR MS4 Support Program, funded by CT DEEP.

Register at s.uconn.edu/registerclear

Socially-Distanced Community Conservation Partnerships

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Over the past four years, the University of Connecticut Conservation Training Partnerships program has engaged more than 220 high school students and adult volunteers in applying innovative geospatial technology to address real-world conservation issues, resulting in over 70 local environmental projects throughout the state. Due to COVID-19, the program transitioned to an online format this past year.

The UConn Conservation Training Partnerships team, Nicole Freidenfelds from the UConn Natural Resources Conservation Academy, Laura Cisneros, Dave Dickson, and Cary Chadwick of our UConn CLEAR program, members from the UConn Natural Resources & the Environment department and the UConn Neag School of Education, created a presentation on the program’s transition to virtual instruction.

The presentation, “Socially-Distanced Community Conservation Partnerships”, won Facilitators’ Choice at the 2021 STEM for All Video Showcase.

Congratulations UConn CTP Team!

Click here to watch the presentation.

UConn CLEAR Webinars in May

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WEDNESDAY, May 12, 2021 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Experimenting with Climate-Adaptive Forestry Practices: Challenges and Opportunities
Christopher Riely, Sweet Birch Consulting, LLC
Following a brief overview of general forest climate adaptation strategies, this talk will present one experimental project begun in Scituate, Rhode Island, in 2015, when Mr. Riely helped manage 13,000 acres of forestland buffering the reservoirs for Rhode Island’s largest water utility. Site work included planting both native tree seedlings and non-native species projected to be adapted to future climate conditions, such as shortleaf pine and sweetgum. To assess deer impacts on one site, half the seedlings were planted inside a large exclosure fence. While foresters monitor early results, the project has provided significant educational value through engaging public audiences and a professional community of practice. This webinar is the 3rd of the series Finding the Right Trees for the Right Time, sponsored by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation.

REGISTER

WEDNESDAY, May 19, 2021 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Building Capacity for Conservation: Engaging Local Teens
Nicole Friedenfelds and Amy Cabaniss, Natural Resources Conservation Academy (NRCA), UConn Dept. of Natural Resources and the Environment
Have a great idea for a conservation project in your community or land trust, but not sure you have the staff power, technical know-how, or energy to carry it out? Wouldn’t it be great to connect with local youth in that effort? Tune in to this webinar to learn how the UConn Natural Resources Conservation Academy (NRCA) is engaging high school students in wildlife monitoring, water quality, promoting pollinators, outdoor recreation, and other environmental projects in communities throughout Connecticut. NRCA faculty will share insights on ways to build capacity for your organization through youth engagement. Through this webinar, you’ll learn about tangible projects that can help address local environmental needs and hear directly from teen and adult participants about their experiences in UConn NRCA programs and the community actions they carried out.

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WEDNESDAY, May 26, 2021 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Introducing Connecticut Trail Finder
Kimberly Bradley, UConn Department of Extension and Trails Program Coordinator, PATHS (People Active on Trails for Health and Sustainability) Team
The State of Connecticut has a vast number of open space and outdoor recreational opportunities, however information for trail users can be inconsistent, inaccurate, and difficult to find. The Connecticut Trail Finder, currently in development through UConn Extension, will be a free, interactive mapping website designed to help Connecticut residents and visitors explore trail and outdoor recreation opportunities, trailside services, and events across the state. Connecticut Trail Finder will compile trail manager approved trails with the goals of becoming the primary trails data source for the State of Connecticut and connecting users with trail management organizations and resources. This webinar will provide an overview of the resource to trail users, exploring the current and developing features of the website, and provide information for trail and land managers on how you can add your trail systems to the Connecticut Trail Finder.  The Connecticut Trail Finder is funded through generous support from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Department of Transportation.

REGISTER