Aspetuck Land Trust’s mission to preserve Connecticut’s green spaces is turning its focus toward Bridgeport with the help of a state grant.
The land trust is one of 12 recipients to receive the Connecticut Department of Agriculture’s Climate Smart Agriculture and Forestry Grant program grant to implement climate smart practices. Early this year, the state agencies awarded nearly $7 million in Climate Smart Agriculture & Forestry grants.
“Climate smart practices are crucial in helping to mitigate the effects of climate change,” said Kim Craig, who wrote the grant for ALT. “The benefits both long and short term of climate smart practices include carbon sequestration, increased tree canopy, especially relevant for urban landscapes like Bridgeport which has the lowest tree canopy in the state, heat amelioration, capture of storm runoff, alleviation of flooding and erosion, and increased biodiversity and creating healthy natural habitats for wildlife to thrive.”
The two-year $200,000 grant will be used by ALT to create densely planted micro-forests on seven Bridgeport public school sites. The micro-forests will be based on the Miyawaki Method, a unique forestry climate-smart practice that was created over 40 years ago.
