Agriculture Commissioner Steven K. Reviczky has announced that the State Bond Commission approved $5,000,000 in funding on Monday for the Connecticut Department of Agriculture’s new Farmland Restoration Program. Authorized by Public Act 11-1, this voluntary program provides matching grants of up to $20,000 for restoration activities that increase the state’s farmland resource base for agriculture, with an emphasis on prime and important farmland soils and on human and livestock food production. It is expected that the program will be able to work with over 250 farms. Click on this environmental headline for more on this story.

Two north central Connecticut legislators are pushing for the creation of a select committee that would focus solely on agricultural issues — an area that they say deserves heightened awareness right now. The Hartford Courant reports.

When asked how he felt about the major decision he and his wife had made to give up this spectacular property’s development rights in a rapidly developing town, Peter Cooper said: “This gift is a dream which has been many years in the making….”

A dean of New Milford’s farmers and his wife, Beth, 88, to whom he has been married 65 years, still live in the home they built in 1953 alongside the original farm homestead that dates back to the 1840s.Nanci G. Hutson of the Danbury News-Times reports.

This time, the issue is that the developers’ forest land has been appraised at an amount lower than that of the state’s piece, with the scenic river view, a mile or so away. So, what now? Closed-door talks are said to be underway between the developers and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
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The 32-acre Skaats Farm at 420 Clubhouse Road has been preserved by the Connecticut Farmland Trust in conjunction with the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s Farm and Ranchland Protection Program. Click on this environmental headline for more of this story from CT Farmland Trust.

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), the U.S. Forest Service, the Simsbury Land Trust (SLT) and Town of Simsbury have announced completion of a Forest Legacy Conservation Easement on 73-acres of Tulmeadow Farm, Simsbury. The easement, acquired for $2.8 million, is the final phase of an effort to protect 260 acres of
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Register today for our Getting Started in Organic Farming Conference to be held Saturday, January 28, 2012 at the CT Forests and Parks Association in Middletown, CT. The Getting Started in Organic Farming Conference draws both beginning farmers who choose to farm organically and established farmers who are converting their operations to organic.

Finding the proper balance between protecting sensitive habitats on conservation land and giving the public an opportunity to enjoy those lands is one of the thorniest issues conservation organizations deal with. At the Aspetuck Land Trust’s 1,009-acre Trout Brook Valley Preserve, Connecticut Audubon Society’s conservation scientists are working to help find that proper balance. Located
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The Connecticut and Long Island chapters of The Nature Conservancy today welcome Chantal Collier as director of the Conservancy’s Long Island Sound Program, which is dedicated to ongoing revitalization of a crucial urban estuary. Collier most recently oversaw the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Coral Reef Conservation Program for seven years, where she successfully increased the program’s visibility and funding.

Residents packed the Town Hall community room Tuesday for a town meeting at which they voted overwhelmingly to buy the Plymouth Reservoir from the Connecticut Water Co.

The town and the Connecticut Department of Agriculture have purchased development rights for 164 acres of farmland, preserving two adjoining properties on Phelps and Quarry Roads.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced Monday that is has partnered with the Nature Conservancy to add an 80-acre parcel in Chesterfield to the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. The Conte Refuge was established in 1997 to conserve and protect the abundance of native plants and wildlife that thrive in the
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The Aspetuck Land Trust announced plans in October this year to work with the Connecticut Audubon Society to develop an adaptive management and conservation strategy for the Trout Brook Valley Preserve. The objective is to gather information to help ALT maintain Trout Brook Valley in a natural state while simultaneously supporting its public use goal encouraging passive recreational use and enjoyment of the property. Click on this environmental headline to read more on this story from Twan Leenders, Conservation Biologist with the Connecticut Audubon Society.

Stamford, Connecticut is getting a grant to plan a “Health and Wellness District” around the Stamford Hospital, which shows that some of the most interesting grants were made for innovative efforts by individual communities rather than regional authorities. In the Kansas City region, a grant emphasizes older suburbs: the 19 member communities of the area’s
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Commissioner James Redeker, Smart Growth and Connecticut’s Department of Transportation: Thursday, December 1, 2011 6:30-8:00 PM, 45 Church Street, New Haven, CT. For more on this story, visit: 2011 Speaker Series Registration: Redeker, ConnDOT – 1000 Friends of Connecticut. Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin share via
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The protected area of the Silvio O. Conte Fish and Wildlife Refuge has grown, and the public will gain enhanced access in a place of significance to American naturalist history, with transfer by The Nature Conservancy of 96 acres of land to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The transfer includes a 40-acre parcel in East Hampton that contains a half-mile of Pine Brook, a direct tributary of the Salmon River. This property was transferred jointly by The Nature Conservancy and the Middlesex Land Trust.

Those eager to know whether voters have approved the sale of a portion of Riverside Park to the U.S. Coast Guard will have to wait a week to find out. According to state law, automatic recounts must take place if the difference is less than one-half of one percent of the total votes cast or
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The Land Trust Accreditation Commission is now accepting public comment on the Connecticut Farmland Trust’s (CFT) application for Accreditation. With an office in Hartford, CFT is Connecticut’s only statewide land trust and the only land trust dedicated to the protection of agricultural lands.

There’s a plan in the works for a year-round farmers’ market in downtown Shelton. Question is: Who will run it?