TLGV Grant Program
The Last Green Valley 2010 Grant Program
The Last Green Valley, Inc. is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Last Green Valley grant awards, totaling almost $150,000. After a very competitive process, grants were awarded to 17 projects that conserve, celebrate, interpret, or enhance The Last Green Valley’s significant natural and cultural resources, working agricultural lands, and recreational opportunities.
- Connecticut Audubon Society was awarded $10,000 towards the construction of a new 5,000 sq. ft. Grassland Bird Conservation Center in Pomfret, CT that will include new wildlife exhibits and allow for enhanced programming. It will be CT Audubon’s first habitat-focused center and unique to not only The Last Green Valley but to all of New England.
- Connecticut Forest & Park Association, along with the Friends of Goodwin Forest, will receive $6,210 to create a permanent, detailed interactive display that tells the story of southern New England forestry from birth to present, and the important role that the Goodwin Center in Hampton, CT (formerly Pine Acres Farm) has played and continues to play in its advancement.
- Connecticut Landmarks will use its $10,000 grant for the final phase of a multiyear project to preserve, celebrate, enhance, renovate and re-interpret the Nathan Hale Homestead in Coventry, CT. This project phase includes a Visitor Facilities Improvement Project that is designed to address the critical need for basic visitor facilities.
- Eastern Connecticut Resource Development Council and its partners will receive $10,415 to develop a public outreach component for the AGvocate program. The AGvocate is currently working with ten Last Green Valley communities to promote agricultural viability over the long term. These communities have expressed the need for brochures and webpage templates to help educate the public and promote locally grown agricultural products.
- French River Connection was awarded $6,020 to increase public access to the French River by creating a safe, legal, public car-top paddling access point, a trailhead which will provide parking for a French River Greenway section, and a picnic area where nature can be enjoyed. Leovich Landing in Dudley, MA is the only legal paddling take-out point on the French River below Hodges Village Dam.
- Friends of Killingly Public Library is partnering with public libraries in ten Last Green Valley communities and will use its $2,000 grant to collaborate on a season-long series of book discussions and events in support of local agriculture, agri-tourism, nutrition, and health. The centerpiece of the project will be “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto” by Michael Pollan.
- The Northeastern Connecticut Council of Governments is working with its member towns to digitize parcel boundaries and to make this information available to the public through an internet mapping site. NECCOG received $10,000 to enhance that effort by digitizing publically-held conservation and agricultural restrictions and easements.
- Otis Library and the Friends of Otis Library in Norwich, CT received $3,075 to embark on a Local History Enhancement Project that will allow the library to become a premier local history repository. The project will use innovative technology to digitize materials so they can be properly preserved and catalogued.
- Quaddick Lake Association was awarded $4,580 to develop water quality educational packets that will be delivered by volunteers to each household along Quaddick Lake in Thompson, CT. The packets will address common water quality problems such as runoff from lawn care and car washing, flushing medications, controlling Canadian geese, and the spread of invasive species. The packets will also include discount coupons from local businesses to help residents with water quality improvement projects such as rain gardens, low flow showers/faucets, and septic system maintenance.
- Thompson Historical Society and Thompson Renewable Energy Committee received $6,000 to support their effort to revitalize the historic Wilsonville Mill and Dam, preserve an historic stone mill building, and pave the way for a future green hydroelectric energy initiative. This phase of the project will evaluate the structural integrity of the mill and assess the environmental integrity of the property and surrounding area.
- Hampton Green Energy Committee and Hampton Conservation Commission will use their $19,000 grant to install eight solar panels on the Hampton Elementary School. The project will lower energy costs, reduce the school’s carbon footprint, and serve as a model for the region.
- The Town of Mansfield was awarded $13,150 to improve trails and public access, and develop signage, an interpretive trail guide and a publicity program for the Albert E. Moss Forest, Wildflower and Wildlife Sanctuary. The 135-acres Moss Sanctuary serves as an outdoor classroom and as a “village woods” for residents from nearby densely developed areas.
- The Town of Oxford is working to protect the 387-acre Whittier Farms through the state-funded purchase of an agricultural preservation restriction (APR). The Last Green Valley grant award of $25,000 will be used for an accurate survey of the property boundaries prior to completion of the $3.5 million deal.
- The Town of Putnam was awarded $3,000 to assist in the acquisition and improvement of a mile-long easement over private property that will finally connect the 18-mile Airline Trail with the Putnam River Trail. Completion of this segment will also allow a continuous connection to the proposed Trolley Line Trail in Thompson, Putnam, Killingly, and Plainfield, as well as connect segments of the East Coast Greenway.
- The Town of Scotland is partnering with the Governor Samuel Huntington Trust and the Scotland Historical Society to design appropriate HVAC systems for the Huntington Homestead Museum and the Edward Waldo House and to control moisture problems at the Edward Waldo House. The Last Green Valley’s $17,500 grant will allow the Town to take advantage of a $500,000 STEAP grant from the state to complete the work.
- The Town of Sturbridge, through its Trails Committee, will use its $2,520 grant to create a new segment of trail that will link a trail known as the Trolley Line Trail to become part of the Grand Trunk Trail. The Grand Trunk Trail is part of the 66-mile Titanic Rail Trail that runs from Palmer, MA to Providence, RI, on the Grand Trunk Railway rail bed.
- Students from Coventry’s Captain Nathan Hale School and Windham Middle School will use their $500 grant to continue working on a collaborative service learning project that will highlight the history and culture of northeastern Connecticut. They will be producing note cards and postcards for area museums and historical sites.
