Visit Part 1: The Connecticut’s Changing Landscape Story Why did we make a story map? Because a story map is visually appealing and catchy, is easy to understand AND information rich, guides the reader while allowing for exploration and is an interesting, multimedia experience. The goal of this blog (Part 2) is to share some of the “how” when creating […]
Part 1: The Story of Connecticut’s Changing Landscape
Connecticut’s Changing Landscape CLEAR has been creating and sharing land cover for decades. Our websites and methods for slicing and dicing and displaying the data have evolved along with technology. One thing has remained constant through the versions – the maps (now up to six dates covering 25 years) are a rich set of information with […]
CLEARscapes – Fall 2015 Edition
In This Issue CT’s Changing Landscape LID in Connecticut Land & Climate Program Updates Water Program Updates Geospatial Training & Technology Updates Land Use Academy Award (View Newsletter as pdf)
A Brief Departure from the Hallowed Halls
With the summer pretty much behind us (sorry, but it’s true), the Center puts its nose back to the grindstone and, among many other things, turns its attention back to the blog. Except for me. My nose will not touch whirling pumice this semester, because I’m going on sabbatical leave. For those of you not […]
More Than Just a Picture? The Basics of Remotely Sensed Imagery
July 28, 2015 Presented by Dan Civco, Professor, Department of NRE, UConn Director, Center for Land Use Education And Research (CLEAR) and James Hurd, Research Associate, Department of NRE, UConn Director, Laboratory for Earth Resources Information Systems (LERIS) We have all seen remotely sensed imagery, and many of us use imagery as a background layer […]
The Big Picture of Climate Adaptation in Connecticut
June 16, 2015 Presented by Mark Boyer, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor, Political Science, UConn and Melanie Meinzer, Graduate Student, UConn When confronted with the demands of global climate change, why do some towns move the climate adaptation agenda forward in their communities while others seemingly get little accomplished? To answer this question, we look at […]
A House with One Room
A white-eyed vireo perches high on a tree branch scanning the understory below. She’s searching for the perfect place to raise her young. The nesting site must match the shopping list inside her head: lush, impenetrable thickets of young trees and gnarly shrubs. She needs young trees at least three feet high, filled with nooks […]
Want to Make a Real Difference in Nepal? Be a Digital Volunteer!
By now, you’ve heard about the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck the country of Nepal on April 25. As of today, it has tragically claimed over 5,000 lives. Shortly after the quake, chaos and confusion engulfed the capitol city of Kathmandu. Landmark building and temples, some in world heritage sites have been destroyed and city […]
Using the Aquaculture Mapping Atlas for Fun and Profit
April 21, 2015 Presented by Cary Chadwick, UConn CLEAR and Tessa Getchis, UConn Aquaculture, Shellfish Management Shellfish aquaculture is a large and growing part of Connecticut’s agriculture sector but site selection is a major challenge. Farmers cultivate oysters, clams and scallops in designated areas of Long Island Sound. Those sites are considered public property and […]
Land Use Academy wins award from CT Planners
CLEAR’s Land Use Academy has won the 2014 Education Award from the Connecticut Chapter of the American Planning Association. The Academy, created in 2007, provides basic training for municipal land use commissioners on roles and responsibilities, legal requirements and site plan reading, as well as advanced training on emerging topics. As we all know, land […]
The Human Pixels of CLEAR
CLEAR is a communal entity, kind of like a coral reef or The Blob of classic science fiction fame. We are much less extensive than either of these examples, however, allowing you the inestimable opportunity to get to know a little more about each of the human pixels that make up the CLEAR image. You […]
Cece & Sully Super CNN Sibling Celebrants!
Last Friday Cary Chadwick’s children Cece and Sully quite literally became CNN’s national poster children for National Siblings Day (4/10). Check it out!
Happy Spring!
Just when all hope seems lost (those of us stuck in the snow and frigid temperatures all winter long), I offer a reminder of what’s to come!
Natural Resources Conservation Academy (NRCA)
March 17, 2015 Presented by John Volin & Laura Cisneros, UConn Department of Natural Resources and Environment, College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources UConn’s Natural Resources Conservation Academy (NRCA) is a new transformative program that engages high school students in land use and natural resource conservation in an exciting and meaningful way for the […]
Digital Storytelling at CLEAR
Not long ago, I joined the CLEAR water team and began to look at the presence of LID (or low impact development) in Connecticut, as a response to the reality of increased stormwater runoff in our state. When tasked with my first blog post (and knowing I was fated to follow the poet Andrew Kinlock), I decided […]
GIS & Poetry? | Speaking of Connecticut’s Hydrography
If you have not already heard, CT DEEP became Steward of the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) and CLEAR has agreed to take the helm to update Connecticut’s hydrography. The NHD is simply a spatial dataset that represents the lake and river features across the country. All in all, we are excited that we will soon […]
The Climate Adaptation Academy is looking for Input
The Climate Adaptation Academy (CAA) is developing a list of challenges that municipalities and residents are facing as a result of climate change, and we need your help. CAA is a partnership between Connecticut Sea Grant and UConn’s Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR) and was developed after talking to a variety of […]
Update on the Emerald Ash Borer in Connecticut
February 10, 2015 Presented by Nancy Marek, UConn Extension Forestry and Chris Donnelly, CT DEEP Urban Forestry Coordinator The emerald ash borer is a small, shimmering green, non-native insect that kills ash trees. Learn about the biology of the pest, how to identify an ash tree, what efforts are currently being used to control and […]
Where Are We? Winter Fun With Maps
I don’t know about you, but I am starting to feel the first tendrils of the winter blues creeping in. While we haven’t had much snow (yet), the cold has certainly kept me inside more than I’d like. With football season ending and March Madness still a ways off, I’m on the lookout new distractions. […]
A Map in an App: Drainage Class for 25 States
The Rain Garden App In case you haven’t heard, a couple of years ago, NEMO (David Dickson and Mike Dietz) created a cool smartphone app that is all about building rain gardens. It is full of background information including what a rain garden is, how it works, pictures of existing rain gardens and even videos about how […]