Outreach

Role of Riparian Buffers in Watersheds and in Your Landscape

April 17th, 2023 1:00-2:00PM Presented by: Juliana Barrett and Chet Arnold; UConn CLEAR Emeritus In this presentation by Juliana Barrett and Chet Arnold we will explore what riparian buffers are and why they are a critical component of both our coastal and inland communities. Riparian buffers play a critical role in water quality and watershed protection, provide […]

Black Lives Matter

CLEAR unequivocally stands with the Black Lives Matter movement and related efforts to address inequality in how we treat, include, reach out to, think about, understand, support, and listen to members of the Black community.  

Teen-Adult Power = BIG Collective Environmental & Community Impacts!

When we think of environmental education (EE), we might think of connecting youth to nature, increasing student academic achievement, and developing the next generation of environmental stewards. These are all excellent and proven benefits of EE. But EE that specifically empowers youth and adults towards environmental action in their community can also lead to direct […]

Is your water safe to drink?

If you are like most people, as long as water comes out of the tap, you don’t give it much thought. If your water is supplied by a water company, stringent testing is required by law, and you will periodically receive results of the testing. If you are one of the 40% of Connecticut residents […]

Teen-Adult Conservation Projects Contributing to Town’s Sustainable CT Efforts

Every year, UConn’s Natural Resources Conservation Academy supports ~50 teen-adult partnerships as the teams embark on a common goal: to tackle an environmental issue that is relevant to their community. These intergenerational conservation efforts span an incredible range of topics (e.g., mapping, invasive species, restoration, soils & agriculture, wildlife & fisheries, public outreach, and water […]

CLEARscapes, Just the Facts

The latest edition of CLEAR’s newsletter, CLEARscapes, is now online for your viewing pleasure (embedded below, or link to the pdf here). Our CLEAR newsletter is one way we connect with Connecticut towns and communities, by highlighting all the cool things happening here at the Center. Once or twice a year we publish a newsletter […]

CT GIS Day is November 14 in Hartford

Next week is Geography Awareness Week and the CT GIS Network is celebrating by hosting the annual CT GIS Day on Wednesday, November 14 at the Hartford Public Library. This event is free and open to the public and will include a full day of activities including presentations from mapping professionals from across CT and […]

The Slow Storm: Tree Mortality in Connecticut from Invasive Insect Pests

Tom Worthley, UConn Associate Extension Professor, Forestry recently wrote a compelling report (below) on Connecticut’s tree mortality rates, and how and why they are dying. You don’t need to go far to see what Tom is talking about. Just outside our windows here at the UConn Cooperative Extension building in Haddam, we were all saddened […]

One CAP Cohort Finishes and Another CAP Cohort Joins the Fold

I continue to be impressed by our Natural Resources Conservation Academy (NRCA) Conservation Ambassador Program (CAP) students. We said goodbye to our 2017-2018 CAP cohort at the 12th Annual Connecticut Conference on Natural Resources, where they graduated as our newest Connecticut Conservation Ambassadors. The students presented their work during a poster session, and described the […]

Dealing With Storm Damaged Trees

On May 15, 2018, late in the afternoon, a striking example of one of those “severe weather events” we see quite often these days passed through my neighborhood in Higganum. Severe winds, downpours, lightning and thunder all were part of a wicked and deadly storm that ripped limbs from and uprooted trees, downed powerlines and […]

Another win for rain gardens

It’s well known that rain gardens are great for infiltrating stormwater but people may not realize that they also help destroy common stormwater pollutants. Several studies have found that rather than accumulating pollutants in their soils, rain gardens tend to biodegrade them instead.  One study (LeFevre et al., 2011) investigated petroleum hydrocarbon levels in 58 […]

Invest in map layers, make them accessible and work together – a cost saving combination

Mapping layers acquired by CLEAR through the MS4 project + making them available on the CT ECO website = big benefits for users including a surprise savings of at least a half million dollars for the state.  Whoa. Read the full story written by Tyler Kleykamp, Chief Data Officer at the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management where he explains the series […]

The Myth of the Lazy Teen

A friend of mine recently told me that they thought all teenagers were lazy. Raise your hand if you’ve ever thought this before. Anyone? Bueller? Don’t worry, it’s okay if you have. I won’t tell anyone. I personally think teens get a bad rap. High schools often start in the seven o’clock hour, course loads […]

That Sound You Hear is the Hatching of Conservation Projects!

Last week saw the successful launch of the Conservation Training Partnership program, the goal of which is to develop and carry out local conservation projects around the state powered by teams of high school students and community volunteers.   The CTP is an outgrowth of the Natural Resources Conservation Academy, the week-long program for high school […]

Urban Forestry Work of UConn Natural Resources Conservation Academy Student Recognized By City of Hartford

Now in its sixth year, UConn’s Natural Resources Conservation Academy (NRCA) has worked with over 115 teens throughout Connecticut on 10-month individual conservation projects that have directly benefited their local community and environment. NRCA students present their conservation work to over 300 environmental professionals at the Connecticut Conference on Natural Resources, and graduate from the […]

Legal Issues in the Age of Climate Adaptation: Four New Legal Fact Sheets

A number of questions were raised at Legal Issues in the Age of Climate Adaptation, a conference held by UConn CLEAR’s and Connecticut Sea Grant’s Climate Adaptation Academy in late 2015. The Marine Affairs Institute & RI Sea Grant Legal Program at Roger Williams University School of Law reviewed the questions, which came from the audience […]