The Department of Energy & Environmental Protection is providing $7.8 million in grants to 25 communities to purchase 2,237 acres of property to be preserved as open space.
The grants are part of the state’s initiative to have 21 percent of all Connecticut’s acreage to be preserved as open space. Connecticut now has 496,948 acres designated as state or local open space lands, roughly 15 percent of all acreage.
The grants are going to Bethany, Berlin, Canton, Colchester, Cornwall, Coventry, East Haddam, Essex, Farmington, Franklin, Glastonbury, Goshen, Guilford, Groton, Lyme, Manchester, Middletown, Morris, Newtown, Old Lyme, Redding, Stafford, Stamford, Tolland, and Westbrook.
In addition to the $7.8 million, DEEP provided $96,250 in grants to establish community gardens in New Haven and Norwalk.
