Connecting Everyone to the Outdoors in Connecticut!
With the many challenges facing our nation, communities in Connecticut and beyond are eager for solutions. YOU are part of the solution. Together, we are not just dreaming of a healthier, more equitable, more climate-resilient future—we are actively building it.
Your steadfast support enables us to protect and expand access to Connecticut’s parks and trails. From creating a greenway along Bridgeport’s waterfront to facilitating trails connecting Mono Pond State Park Reserve to the Air Line State Park Trail, from the Sterling Street Sanctuary and beyond, our work cultivates connection to the land and connections within and between communities—an apt focus in a state with a trail network estimated to span more than 3,000 miles. Across projects, our work to create accessible and vibrant outdoor spaces, remediate damages, and incorporate climate-smart features reflects TPL’s commitments to health and climate resilience.
TPL’s Land and People Lab continues to compile valuable data on the accessibility and use of park space in our
cities. Reflecting TPL’s commitment to equity, we prioritize communities that lack equitable access to welcoming outdoor spaces. This year, TPL and partners completed custom ParkScore® reports for Stamford and Hartford, where local youth led in-depth park evaluations, quantifying community needs and making a persuasive case for park funding.
Engaging with the community is not just a facet of our work, it’s a joyous and essential part of it. This year, we hosted several activities, including our annual Day on the Hill advocacy event in Washington, DC; a waterfront event featuring environmentalist drag queen Pattie Gonia; and a cycling event in celebration of trails.
We are thrilled to welcome our new President and CEO Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser. She brings a wealth of experience in public policy, philanthropy, the outdoor industry, and community engagement, making her an ideal leader for TPL’s next chapter. Most recently, she served as President and CEO of Colorado Mountain College. She has served on numerous boards including the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, Great Outdoors Colorado, and American Rivers. Carrie’s leadership will be instrumental as we amplify our efforts to expand outdoor access through equity, health, climate, and community commitments.
As TPL looks to the future, we remain committed to our vision of a world where every person can connect with the outdoors. We sincerely appreciate your steadfast support of TPL. Thank you for partnering with us on this journey.
Walker Holmes Vice President Mid-Atlantic Region and Connecticut State Director
Environmentalist drag queen Pattie Gonia celebrated inclusivity and diversity in the outdoors with TPL. PHOTO BY KRISTYN MILLER PHOTOGRAPHY
Bridgeport Update: Connecting Communities, Reclaiming the Waterfront
Decades of post-industrial fragmentation and disinvestment have left Bridgeport with poverty, high pollution rates, lack of access to the outdoors, and worse physical and mental health than neighborhoods rich in accessible nature. In response to a longstanding need for healthy, livable, and thriving neighborhoods and a more vibrant city center, TPL, with partners and the community, is creating a new 20-mile park-and-trail system along the Bridgeport waterfront, unlocking public access to the shoreline for nearly 40,000 largely low-income residents who live within a 10-minute walk.
In March, the National Park Service’s Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program awarded the city a $1 million grant in support of this project, thanks in part to TPL’s support. Grant funds will support Phase 1 of the first park site’s (Sliver by the River’s) construction, as well as the creation of all park amenities.
In May, we partnered with Pattie Gonia—artist, environmentalist, and critically acclaimed drag queen— for an exciting outdoor event. One hundred fifty guests and community partners joined us in celebrating the work we are doing in Bridgeport, as well as diversity and inclusion in the outdoors. We painted, roller skated, biked, birded, and connected to nature and each other!
This summer, TPL continued hosting our “On the Waterfront” series of events, with activities including painting, roller skating, and boating. And we launched a new “Wellness on the Waterfront” series with a local fitness specialist.
With the community and partners, we are embarking on the restoration of three open spaces along the waterfront pathway, as well as the route that will connect it all. Sliver by the River will house a restored native salt marsh, tidal pools, flood control green infrastructure, kayak launch, fishing pier, nature playground, floating boardwalk, and amphitheater. Yellow Mill Channel will undergo a salt marsh restoration and a recreational path and boardwalk will be added. At Johnson’s Creek, with our East End NRZ Market & Café partners, we will
stabilize and create a living shoreline and elevated boardwalk. Already our partners have received a grant to construct a long-envisioned hydroponic farm and community center just across the street from the water.
These new green spaces will help to redress soil and groundwater contamination associated with industry. Shoreline mitigation will reduce the risk of neighborhood flooding from more frequent heavy storms and sea level rise and will also benefit native wildlife.
Donate now. Over the next five years, we will raise $5 million in philanthropy and unlock an estimated $100 million in public funding to advance the pathway. With your support, Bridgeport’s revived waterfront will yield a remarkable range of benefits for the city’s residents, the state of Connecticut, and their coastal environment. Your gift unleashes the transformative power of the outdoors—creating a revived “park city” for all.
Bridgeport waterfront’s Seaside Park.
PHOTO BY KRISTYN MILLER PHOTOGRAPHY
The Power of Data to Improve Parks in Connecticut—and Beyond
When kids don’t have a place to be kids, they have to grow up faster.”
Elisha
Bailey, Blue Hills Civic Association Summer Youth Employment and Learning program student leader
Connecticut’s parks face a significant data and advocacy gap, and we are hard at work addressing it. None of Connecticut’s towns are large enough to be included in TPL’s national ParkScore® Index, the national gold-standard comparison of park systems across the 100 largest cities in the United States. Each ParkScore analysis has great value—it quantifies community needs, creates a platform for stakeholder discussions, and supports advocacy for systematic statewide funding of local parks.
This year, TPL’s Land and People Lab created a custom ParkScore analysis for Hartford. With Connecticut Green Bank and the Blue Hills Civic Association, we evaluated each Hartford park and identified city-wide strengths and weaknesses relative to the 100 largest cities in the U.S., as well as to New Haven and Stamford. Rankings for the three cities on a 100-point scale were 59 for Hartford, 60 for New Haven, and 55 for Stamford, showing lots of room for improvement in optimal placement, quality, and use of public green spaces. Across all three city analyses, when comparing park space per person, residents of low-income neighborhoods have access to significantly less park space than those in high-income neighborhoods.
This year, TPL plans to work with two more large Connecticut cities to complete ParkScore analyses. The assessment protocol for Hartford, developed with Connecticut Green Bank and the Blue Hills Civic Association, reflects the most advanced effort TPL has taken to date to systematically assessing park quality.
Advocates and city staff nationwide are interested in adopting the approach launched in Hartford. TPL looks forward to applying lessons learned from this project to other Connecticut cities and across the country.
Participants in Blue Hills Civic Association’s Summer Youth Employment program conducted Hartford park evaluations.
Blue Hill Civic Association reports that Summer Youth employees:
• Learned about connections between safe and well-resourced green spaces and reductions in youth violence, improvements in community health, and neighborhood building.
• Are increasingly engaged in advocacy work around community health, with a new awareness of leveraging park infrastructure to bridge the gaps between neighborhoods and make new peer-to-peer connections.
• Connected with Connecticut Green Bank to study and recommend ways to leverage investments in green infrastructure to improve stormwater management.
• Had new career doors open in green infrastructure and sustainability, with exposure to mapping and GIS technology.
Hartford Park Evaluation.
PHOTO BY BLUE HILLS CIVIC ASSOCIATION
Advocating for the Outdoors: A Chat with Kay
Johnson-New and her Daughter
Kay Johnson-New is Chair of TPL’s Connecticut Advisory Board. We spoke with Kay and her 12-year-old daughter Kalis New about their connection to nature and their experience advocating for the joys and benefits of the outdoors at TPL’s Day on the Hill in Washington, DC. During their visit, TPL leaders met with legislators to highlight the vital connection between the outdoors and health, climate, community, and equity and to champion the Senate version of the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership provisions in America’s Outdoor Recreation Act, including the Outdoors for All Act.
Kalis, when we were together in DC, you had just spent three days outdoors on a school trip. How did time in nature help you advocate for the outdoors?
Kalis: We had activities like hiking and visiting a stream and waterfall. It was phone-free. It helped me appreciate nature. I realized I didn’t take as many pictures. I would say I was more present in the moment at Day on the Hill because of my experience at Nature’s Classroom.
What made you say yes to Day on the Hill?
Kalis: Day on the Hill is a big deal for an adult, so it’s an ever bigger deal at my age, and to be able to say I’ve done this. I did a lot of walking, visited amazing and cool buildings, and got to meet new and important people. I’m proud that I did this.
What surprised you when meeting with elected officials?
Kalis: I thought I’d be nervous, but I was calm going to each meeting. I realized it was a normal conversation with someone important. I think we were persuasive. We knew what we were talking about. The representatives understood that this matters to us and is something they should get involved in. I felt they listened to our points. It’s nice to be heard.
Kay, what was it like to advocate for TPL, personally and alongside your daughter?
Kay: I feel I took my civic responsibility to the next level —being involved as a member of the community and giving back not just by advocating but being there and being present. There are avenues beyond complaining or feeling like things are happening to you—we can be part of the change process.
My daughter said, “People cared about what I had to say.” As adults, we don’t always ask kids for their opinions and truly listen to them. I would encourage everyone to involve their kids in matters that contribute to their community whenever possible. Getting them involved early to increase their passion and awareness is important. TPL is a great way to do that.
How would you describe TPL to friends?
Kay: It’s been a blessing to join such wonderful, passionate people. I’ve worked in corporate forever and have a focus on diversity and inclusion. Realizing that there are inequities—even in nature—is important. Seeing the data around this can be disheartening, but TPL is working to make access to nature a reality for everyone. I am happy to be a part of this and spread the message.
It’s great to know we’re helping kids be able to walk to a park and spend time in nature, and the joy, laughs, and memories that come out of it. That’s what TPL is all about.”
Kalis New
Advisory Board Chair Kay Johnson-New and her daughter Kalis New. PHOTO COURTESY OF KAY JOHNSON-NEW.
Trail Magic
In the 1,000-acre forest that locals call Wells Woods, casual hikers may spot deer, bobcats, foxes, otters, and spotted turtles, to name just a few creatures that thrive in this space. It is one of the region’s most important areas for conserving biodiversity, allowing wildlife passage and providing habitat for wood warblers, herons, and woodpeckers—all of which need large, uninterrupted forests to thrive.
The towns of Columbia, Lebanon, and Hebron all connect with this generous stretch of undeveloped land. TPL, in partnership with the Town of Columbia, the Town of Lebanon, and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, was able to add roughly 403 acres to the Mono Pond State Park Reserve within Wells Woods in 2020, nearly tripling the park in size. The effort to protect and enhance more of this land continues today.
We started work in summer 2024 to connect the reserve to Air Line Park State Trail, a 55-mile rail trail in eastern Connecticut that runs from Thompson to Portland and welcomes hikers, cyclists, skaters, and horseback riders. We are also pursuing an agreement that will allow us to connect Camp Laurel in Lebanon to Mono Pond State Park Reserve via the Air Line State Park Trail.
Linking outdoor spaces and creating trails helps expand wildlife corridors and maximizes opportunities for communities to connect with the land and with each other. TPL’s experience in creating more than 5,400 parks and trails nationwide helps our Connecticut staff identify opportunities for trails and informs their design and construction.
Our state houses more than 56 miles of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, spanning from Sherman just across the New York State line to the Sage’s Ravine Brook crossing in Salisbury, just north of the Massachusetts line. To ensure the protection of the trail and contiguous stretches of land around it, we worked with the National Park Service, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation to secure nearly 500 acres of land in and around Tyringham, Massachusetts—forever protecting sweeping pastoral views.
This June, in celebration of the many pathways through Connecticut’s stunning scenery, we partnered with East Coast Greenway Alliance to host Ride the East, a bicycle exploration of the Air Line Trail. Over 100 riders chose from two exciting rides—a 19-mile loop and a 48-mile round trip to East Hampton’s cranberry bog. The cyclists rode through Mono Pond State Park Reserve, where they saw TPL’s land protection efforts firsthand and learned about the project’s next phase—a network of trails for the community and future trail riders to enjoy.
CONNECTICUT ADVISORY BOARD
Kay Johnson-New, Chair, Avangrid
David Berkowitz , Helen & William Mazer Foundation
Wesley D. Cain , Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey LLP
Mildred Carstensen , Conservationist
Jacob Frame*, MBA/MEM Candidate, Yale School of the Environment and Yale School of Management
Will Gardner *, MBA/MF Candidate, Yale School of the Environment and Yale School of Management
Rob Klee, Senior Lecturer, Yale School of the Environment
Katie Michels*, Conservation Finance Network
Elanah Sherman , Americans with Disabilities Coalition Act of Connecticut
Eric Wellman , Elevance Health
*Fellow
Project Manager Honor Lawler and Friends of Mono Pond State Park at the Ride the East Event. PHOTO BY FRIENDS OF MONO POND
TPL CONNECTICUT STAFF
Walker Holmes , Vice President, Mid-Atlantic Region and Connecticut State Director
Rachel Ciborowski, Associate Director of Philanthropy
Max Gray, Institutional Giving Director
Cally Guasti, Program Manager
Honor Lawler, Project Manager
June Sgobbo, Philanthropy Coordinator
tpl.org/donate/ct
Eli Calhoun , Berkley Conservation Scholar, Yale School of the Environment
Steven Ring , Berkley Conservation Scholar, Yale School of the Environment THANK YOU for helping improve the health, equity, and climate outcomes for communities in Connecticut and beyond.
Walker Holmes Vice President, Mid-Atlantic Region Connecticut State Director walker.holmes@tpl.org 203.777.7367, x3
Rachel Ciborowski Associate Director of Philanthropy rachel.ciborowski@tpl.org
101 Whitney Avenue, 2nd Floor New Haven, CT 06510