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CLCC awards grants to integrate climate mitigation, resilience, and adaptation into the stewardship of conserved lands in Branford, Burlington, New Haven, Portland, Shelton, Stratford, and Tolland.

The Connecticut Land Conservation Council (CLCC) is thrilled to announce the most recent recipients of its Climate-Smart Land Stewardship Grant Program. These projects demonstrate the proactive efforts of Connecticut’s land trusts in addressing climate change through practical and innovative nature-based solutions that improve ecosystem resilience, enhance biodiversity, and increase carbon sequestration.

Five land trusts were awarded planning grants to develop climate-smart land stewardship plans, essential tools for land stewards to maintain ecosystem health and ensure the long-term sustainability of natural lands. Two land trusts were awarded implementation plans to advance existing stewardship plans. Grantees include:

• The Branford Land Trust will create a forest stewardship plan for its 120-acre Van Wie Woods Preserve. The plan’s broad goals include promoting climate resilience and biodiversity, managing invasive plants and insects, maintaining and enhancing wildlife habitat, and balancing recreation with conservation. Specific strategies may involve managing invasive species followed by native tree planting, enhancing forest pollinator habitat, creating structural diversity, and facilitating oak regeneration.
• The Burlington Land Trust aims to improve forest health, remove invasives, enhance pollinator habitat, and address severe erosion issues affecting soil and waterways at Seven Steps Falls (aka Fetzer Property). The overarching goal of its planning grant is to chart a course to improving the forest’s health to enhance its carbon storage and active sequestration capabilities, making it more resilient and adaptive to climate change. 
• Gather New Haven will utilize an implementation grant to advance its forest stewardship plan for the Quinnipiac Meadows Eugene B. Fargeorge Preserve in New Haven. The project goals include cutting back and suppressing invasive plant species to support native plant growth, planting 50 native trees, implementing a tree watering schedule to ensure survivorship, and enhancing the preserve’s biodiversity. The work will increase canopy coverage and improve stormwater management.
• Joshua’s Trust will utilize an implementation grant to advance a restoration project at the Madeline Regan Preserve in Tolland focused on regenerating pitch pine and oak, removing invasive species, and increasing biodiversity in an area currently dominated by white pine. The aim is to open up the area to promote regeneration, potentially using prescribed burns to remove pine duff and create space for seedlings. This project is crucial for pitch pine, a species well-adapted to warmer and drier environments, which will make the site more resilient to climate change disturbances and less susceptible to southern pine beetle activity.
• The Lordship Improvement Association will develop a plan to improve coastal resilience, protect biodiversity, maintain the ecosystem, and safeguard coastal bluffs in Stratford from the impacts of climate change, rising sea levels, and storm events. This involves stabilizing the landscape, improving habitat for native species, restoring native vegetation, controlling erosion, and creating critical stopover habitats for migrating Monarch Butterflies and Tree Swallows.
• The Middlesex Land Trust aims to develop a climate-smart forest stewardship plan for its 87-acre Palmer Taylor Preserve in Portland. The plan will address challenges including limited understory regeneration, invasive species, and an overly dense forest that currently contribute to low climate resilience. Expected outcomes include identifying strategies for structural diversity, invasive species control, enhancing native biodiversity, and improving wildlife habitat, ultimately positioning the preserve as a model for forest climate resilience.
• The Shelton Land Conservation Trust will develop a forest management plan to adapt the riparian borders of the Nicholdale Brook within the Nicholdale Farm parcel to improve its overall resilience to increased climate demands that cause erosion. Key goals are to remove invasive plants and fortify the soil, and to replace them with appropriate native plants to restore health, native biodiversity, and soil stability along the brook. 

These projects will impact 295 acres of Connecticut’s forests. They represent the sixth cohort of initiatives awarded grants through CLCC’s Climate-Smart Land Stewardship Grant Program. The first five cohorts of grantees, awarded over the past 18 months, included 15 land trusts with projects impacting more than 1,500 acres of open space. Learn more about each grantee by visiting CLCC’s StoryMap. 

Funding for this grant program was paid for by the Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry Grant program, established through Public Act 22-118. Funding was awarded and administered by the Connecticut Department of Agriculture. The Connecticut Land Conservation Council, one of twelve organizations selected for an award, is distributing sub-grants to land trusts.

CT DEEP is now accepting applications for its next round of grant funding through the OSWA and UGCG grant programs. Applications are due by November 3. CLCC and CT DEEP are hosting two info sessions on July 29 and August 5. Learn more and register.