Housatonic Valley Association Inc

Land: initiating land conservation projects in priority areas of the tristate housatonic watershed that support environmental resiliency through initiatives including but not limited to: conserving more than 12,000 acres through follow the forest and most recently leading a coalition of partners to conserve 1,000+ acres of high quality meadows and woodlands stretching from salisbury, ct into sheffield, ma, and another 1,364 acres of woodland and wetland in winchester, ct; expanding follow the forests woodland conservation corridor vision among partners in the housatonic watershed and south in new york and north in vermont; leading and supporting the litchfield hills greenprint collaborative, a regional conservation partnership of 33 conservation organizations in northwest connecticut working to collectively increase the pace of conservation, and also collaborating with affordable housing leaders to find local land use solutions that enable both land conservation and affordable places to live; sharing maps and data with partners of critically important core and riparian forest, headwater stream lands, strategically important wildlife habitat linkages, and newly protected lands to assist in prioritizing land conservation efforts; providing mapping and natural resource assessments for land trusts and communities in ct, ma and ny as well as support for strategic visioning and collaboration; assessing and sharing the impacts of significant land use proposals across the housatonic watershed; and helping shape conservation priorities in ny and new england.

Education: providing outdoor education, exploration, library readings, hikes, paddles, dining out, and much more for children and families through our celebrate our watershed event series; providing hands-on learning in the summer with youth and interns in ny, ct and ma; completing an 8th year of housatonic river recreational user surveys and mapping to inform a continuing assessment of recreational access and management needs along the housatonic river that both protects river ecology and provides for safe public access; continuing hands-on environmental skills training with at-risk youth in the greater danbury, ct and amenia, ny regions through our still river and tenmile river watershed connections program engaging youth in installing rain gardens, removing invasive plants, and helping the public understand how to protect our waterways; continuing hands-on public education on protecting and restoring rivers through buffer plantings, clean ups, and water monitoring across the watershed; speaking at multiple public gatherings on a range of environmental topics; and expanding social media outreach on river and land conservation and recreation.

Issue response - study and alert communities of potential problems to contamination of the environment; respond to complaints and developments threatening ground water and river quality; review reports and develop solutions to problems.