Connecticut landowners committed to preserving and maintaining their acreage may qualify for state/federal assistance, state environmental regulators say.
The state Department of Environmental Protection has grants available to cover everything from field mowing to restoring tidal wetlands.
DEP authorities say the agency’s Wildlife Division received an $849,000 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to fund its own grants.
To date, the agency has committed or spent $477,727 to private landowners. More than 90 percent of Connecticut is in private hands.
Grants have ranged in size from $1,300 to carry out brush mowing to maintain reverting field habitat for declining species to $150,000 to restore over 250 acres of tidal wetland habitat in Old Saybrook for a variety of species at risk including state listed plants.
Landowners must put up 25 percent of the cost not covered by the grant. Grants average $18,000.
For information, contact Judy Wilson, private lands program coordinator for the DEP Wildlife Division, at the CT DEP Eastern District Headquarters, 209 Hebron Road, Marlborough, CT 06447 (judy.wilson@ct.gov; 860-295-9523) or visit www.ct.gov/dep/wildlife .
