Connecticut spending $10M to preserve more open space, combat climate change

HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut’s climate has warmed two to three degrees in the last century, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In response, the state is ramping up measures to increase its open space to 673,210 acres in an effort to ease the effect climate change will have in the next several decades.

Last Friday, the State Bond Commission approved an additional $10 million to provide supplemental funding for the municipal open space grant-in-aid program. The grants are authorized under the state’s Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition Program, which is administered by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

“Open space is vital to environmental protection and a bright economic future for our state,” Gov. Ned Lamont said in a news release. “This program is an important component of preserving some of our state’s best and most beautiful land, and by partnering with our municipalities and nonprofits we can ensure that these valuable resources are preserved in perpetuity for generations to come.”

Approximately 500,000 acres — or around 781 square miles — of land in Connecticut is designated as state or local open space protected wildlife areas, according to the DEEP. That number is approximately two-thirds of the way toward the state’s goal of having 673,210 acres designated as open space.

The program is intended to protect wildlife habitats, offer recreational opportunities and serve as a buffer and adaptation to climate change. Recipient projects are required to supplement the state funding with matching funds or other grants, and the land being purchased must be protected by a conservation and public-recreation easement that will ensure the property is forever protected for public use and enjoyment.

“Ten million dollars is a great win, but the truth is we’re going to need a lot more for the state to fully meet its goal,” said Amy Paterson, executive director of the Connecticut Land Conservation Council. “We have to significantly ramp up our investments in land conservation to make a profound impact on the state’s climate crisis.”

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, public lands can sequester carbon and make ecosystems and communities more resilient to the impacts of climate change. Ecosystems such as forests, grasslands and wetlands are natural and efficient carbon sinks, capturing and storing carbon in roots, plants and soils.

“Nature-based climate solutions are essential as one of the multipronged efforts to combat climate change,” Paterson said. “Conserving lands helps to defend against flooding and erosion since forests act as natural filters. Trees also help to purify the air and reduce pollution. This makes our communities safer.”

But it’s not just the state’s robust park system helping to preserve open space. Local land trusts play a huge role in helping to mitigate the effects of climate change.

“We have 130 land trusts in the state, which have collectively conserved over 204,000 acres,” Paterson said. “There’s almost one in every region of the state with most towns having one as well. We’re in the top three states in the country with the most land trusts.”

In the northwest corner of the state, the Cornwall Conservation Trust enrolled 375 acres of its forested preserves in the Wildlands Partnership — an initiative of the Northeast Wilderness Trust. The NWT engages local land trusts across the Northeast in wilderness conservation and operates in six states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

“This land will now be permanently forever wild,” said Sophi Veltrop, NWT’s outreach manager. “The land will not be logged or harvested, and no motorized or mechanized vehicles like cars or bicycles will be allowed. Only foot traffic will be permitted for people to enjoy the land.”

The recently added forever-wild easement includes the 200-acre Greyledge Preserve, 100-acre Nancy Nauts Dobbs Preserve and the 75-acre Red Mountain Preserve. The protections permit those properties to evolve through natural processes without intensive human management. Invasive pest and plant management will still be practiced along with some basic upkeep.

The 375 acres in Cornwall is the second forever-wild designated property in Connecticut through the NWT. In 2012, Alison Orr-Andrawes donated 85 acres of land in Falls Village to the Wilderness Trust, protecting a mix of forest habitats including a mountain stream, rocky outcrops, quiet glades and majestic oak and hemlock stands.

Veltrop said the hope for these forever-wild designated areas is that they will eventually turn into old-growth forests, which are usually denoted as being over 120 years of age. Currently, Connecticut harbors around just 675 acres of standing old-growth forest in 25 sites across 13 towns with the majority in the northwest corner of the state.

“Open-land conservation is critical in this day of age,” Veltrop said. “We have seen a great rebounding of forest land since the late 1800s when the majority of the state was clear cut. “But the story isn’t over. Only about 1 percent of forests are old growth in the Northeast. So we really need to restore that part of the landscape back to our open space. We will continue to work hard to ensure more land is forever wild.”

TNS