The UConn Stormwise program recently tweeted a link to a very cool time lapse video of a forest created by filmmaker Samuel Orr. Samuel took 40,000 still images from his front window over a 15-month time period and created a short film that shows how a forest changes throughout the seasons. The video is called […]
This winter will end…right?
“Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious and quaking swamps. When, formerly, I have analyzed my partiality for some farm which I had contemplated purchasing, I have frequently found that I was attracted solely by a few square rods of […]
Data for All: Connecticut’s Push Toward Open Information
Connecticut is getting on board with the open data movement that’s sweeping federal, state and municipal governments across the nation. Thanks to Governor Dannel Malloy’s recent announcement of Executive Order 39, the state of Connecticut will soon be launching the new Connecticut Open Data Portal which will serve as an online repository for data collected […]
Touring UConn’s Green Infrastructure – from your Desk!
Anyone who has been to the UConn campus in the last few years has likely noticed a lot of changes. Beautiful new and renovated buildings are remaking the campus. Along with those changes are a lot of more subtle changes that you might not notice – namely the integration of green infrastructure. As discussed in […]
A Climate Adaptation Academy for Connecticut
Modeled after CLEAR’s highly successful Land Use Academy, we are embarking on a new forum for land use officials and other interested professionals, a Climate Adaptation Academy (CAA). The CAA, sponsored by Connecticut Sea Grant and CLEAR, with funding from NOAA/National Sea Grant is envisioned to be an exchange of information, issues, experiences and solutions. […]
Climate Change: Beyond Dispute or an Attempt to Redistribute Wealth?
On Friday Governor Dannel Malloy and UConn President Susan Herbst, along with a host of federal and state officials, announced the creation of the Institute for Community Resiliency and Climate Adaptation. Located at UConn’s Avery Point Campus, the Institute is a collaboration between UConn and CTDEEP and its mission, in broad terms, is to coordinate […]
CT ECO: Shedding Some Light on Connecticut’s Lidar
Light Detection and Ranging – sounds fancy and highly technical, right? That’s because it is! In a nutshell, Lidar data shows the elevation of the earth’s surface. But the cool parts are what Lidar looks like, shows, and how people are using it. Why am I blogging about Lidar now? Two reasons – the […]
Connecting Sustainable Woodland Management and High School Technical Arts Programs: An Initiative Creating Educational Opportunities for Local Wood Utilization
-Article written by Tom Worthley, UConn Extension Forestry- During a conversation in 2010 between myself and a teacher from the industrial arts department at Haddam-Killingworth High School, the suggestion was made that the School District could continually grow, harvest and process a portion of the annual lumber needs for the shop class from part of […]
Water Please, Hold the Pharmaceuticals
The medicines that we all take are prescribed with the goal of improving our health in some way. Unfortunately, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals that we use are finding their way into our nation’s waterways, impacting aquatic life, and potentially threatening our health. There are two ways medications are finding their way into our water bodies, […]
GPS “Apposphere” – Navigating Smartphone Data Collection Apps
December 17, 2013 Presented by Cary Chadwick and David Dickson, UConn CLEAR A simple search for “GPS” apps in the Apple App store or on Google Play will return thousands of results for free or low cost mapping apps now available on your smartphone. So where do you start? This webinar will start to answer […]
CLEAR’s Geospatial Training Program Goes Global
When an email from Dr. Yahaya Umar at the Nigerian Defence Academy came across my desk last July indicating interest in CLEAR’s hands-on workshop on Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, I was initially a bit skeptical. Why would anyone from the other side of the world want to travel all the way to UConn to […]
LID vs Green Infrastructure
If you deal with stormwater issues or land use planning, chances are you have heard the phrase “green infrastructure” mentioned a lot recently. It is rapidly replacing “Low Impact Development” (LID) as the phrase du jour in the stormwater biz. But before we all go willingly adopting this into our lexicon, we must first ask […]
Keep Your Butts Off Our Beaches
Recently a columnist in a local Southeastern Connecticut newspaper wrote about the things that bug him when driving. It included the usual gripes that we all have—people driving slowly in the passing lane, failure to use turn signals, merging on the highway with little consideration of the traffic already on the highway, able-bodied people parking […]
Where in Connecticut?
Connecticut (and the rest of the world for that matter) looks so different from above than from the ground. I spend a good deal of time looking at aerial imagery of Connecticut including different color combinations, times of year (leaves or no leaves) and different years to see change. There are many places that I […]
Gull Island Habitat Management Project
November 7, 2013 Presented by Juliana Barrett, CT Sea Grant & Joel Stocker, UConn CLEAR Great Gull Island, owned by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), has two species of terns nesting on the island: the Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) with 9,500 pairs and the Roseate Tern (S. dougallii) with 1,300 pairs. This represents […]
Connecticut Shoreline Resiliency Fund
Last week, on the one year anniversary of SuperStorm Sandy, Governor Malloy announced the creation of the Connecticut Shoreline Resiliency Fund. This fund is for state residents whose homes or businesses are subject to flooding allowing them to obtain low interest loans to elevate homes and flood proof businesses. With no income limits defining eligibility, […]
Green Roofs Blossom in America’s Cities
City parks and stock exchanges are not the only place to find large expanses of green these days. Green roofs are starting to become part of the cityscape in many of the larger cities on both the East and West coasts. The reason? Green roofs provide a host of environmental benefits: they increase energy efficiency, […]
What are the chances Halloween will be ruined again?
“Dad, is Halloween going to be cancelled again this year because of the weather?” It’s not a pleasant thought for kids dreaming of bags full of candy. Well, we are approaching the end of October, and for those of us who have been in Connecticut for the past few years, it seems appropriate to discuss […]
CLEARscapes – Fall 2013 Edition
In This Issue Teens Master Mapping at UConn’s Natural Resources Conservation Academy Smartphones & GPS On the Track of Nitrogen Program and Project updates on a new riparian tool a new GTP class rain garden app update recently won awards (View Newsletter as pdf)
Teens Master the Art (and fun!) of Mapping at UConn’s NRC Academy
The Natural Resource Conservation Academy (NRCA) is an innovative program in conservation and land use planning for a select group of Connecticut high school students. The Academy starts with a week-long field course at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. Throughout the week, students interact with UConn faculty and learn about mapping and geospatial information, […]