bicycling = conservation: lead paragraph in page 1 June 19, 2008 New Canaan Advertiser story
New Canaan Advertiser Thursday, June 19, 2008 Page 1, 27
Conservation in ‘The Next Station to Heaven’
By Kimberly Nevas, Reporter
Coasting behind a 12-mile-per-gallon GMC Sierra Denali on Main Street Monday morning, resident environmental activist and recent candidate for first selectman Richard Stowe was first recognizable by the bicycle on which he has become known to rely.
Like the wheels Mr. Stowe chooses to run errands by, environmentalism in New Canaan is quiet, but it’s there.
Spanning 40 acres of Town property, the New Canaan Nature Center aims to give people the tools and knowledge to make conservation and sustainability a part of everyday life.
“We see ourselves as providing the kinds of learning opportunities that prepare people to engage in environmental issues,” Executive Director Ben Hren said. “Our programs begin at a very early age. We work with pre-school kids, we want to expose them and make them aware of the natural world around them through experiences. That very early exposure is very important in developing the disposition and interest so they can involve themselves in environmental issues.”
Last winter, the board developed a sustainability policy that will challenge staff to quantify the impact of recycling, energy and water conservation efforts, he said.
At Irwin Park, a newly installed Flexi-Pave trail is a mile-long demonstration of one use for recycled tires. Billed as water-permeable and maintenance-free, the material is said not to leach the same pollutants as asphalt.
In honor of Earth Day, New Canaan Country School was awarded “Silver” certification by the U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, program, making it the “greenest” school in the state for its efficient design of recent renovation and addition.
Town Hall is following suit, as well. An architect hired to develop designs for the eventual overhaul of the municipal building will return to the planning committee next month with ideas for integrating LEED principles.
Already, the Planning & Zoning Commission has made an effort. During the permitting process for the new rest room facility at Waveny Park, it slipped in a condition that the pre-fabricated building would adhere as much as is practical to LEED standards.
But one effort that has yet to launch is the newly resurrected Town Conservation Commission.
The advisory body was brought back in March by an ordinance that called for members to be named within 30 days — something that has yet to happen.
John Black Lee, who in 2003 resigned from the Environmental Commission to protest the Town’s inattention to conservation issues, said the commission’s first task should be digitally indexing about 1,000 maps that show natural and man-made structures, wetlands and watercourses, so that areas that need protection can be identified.
“It’s not a job for somebody that doesn’t have the professional training to do that kind of work,” he said.
Mr. Lee said that he thought the commission needs a full-time professional conservationist, but one wasn’t provided in the ordinance.
“The Town is just dragging its feet because that involves budgets and salaries, as would be appropriate for that job. It is something that very easily slides away from the commission as a possibility because it’s too expensive,” he said, “Or, it measures its expense compared with other expenses that have some priority. For those functions, it happened for years that the commission just didn’t have the staff to do it.”
This is the latest in a series of articles reflecting on the character of New Canaan, counting down to the Advertiser’s centennial July 25.
Conservation in ‘The Next Station to Heaven’
By Kimberly Nevas, Reporter
Coasting behind a 12-mile-per-gallon GMC Sierra Denali on Main Street Monday morning, resident environmental activist and recent candidate for first selectman Richard Stowe was first recognizable by the bicycle on which he has become known to rely.
Like the wheels Mr. Stowe chooses to run errands by, environmentalism in New Canaan is quiet, but it’s there.
Spanning 40 acres of Town property, the New Canaan Nature Center aims to give people the tools and knowledge to make conservation and sustainability a part of everyday life.
“We see ourselves as providing the kinds of learning opportunities that prepare people to engage in environmental issues,” Executive Director Ben Hren said. “Our programs begin at a very early age. We work with pre-school kids, we want to expose them and make them aware of the natural world around them through experiences. That very early exposure is very important in developing the disposition and interest so they can involve themselves in environmental issues.”
Last winter, the board developed a sustainability policy that will challenge staff to quantify the impact of recycling, energy and water conservation efforts, he said.
At Irwin Park, a newly installed Flexi-Pave trail is a mile-long demonstration of one use for recycled tires. Billed as water-permeable and maintenance-free, the material is said not to leach the same pollutants as asphalt.
In honor of Earth Day, New Canaan Country School was awarded “Silver” certification by the U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, program, making it the “greenest” school in the state for its efficient design of recent renovation and addition.
Town Hall is following suit, as well. An architect hired to develop designs for the eventual overhaul of the municipal building will return to the planning committee next month with ideas for integrating LEED principles.
Already, the Planning & Zoning Commission has made an effort. During the permitting process for the new rest room facility at Waveny Park, it slipped in a condition that the pre-fabricated building would adhere as much as is practical to LEED standards.
But one effort that has yet to launch is the newly resurrected Town Conservation Commission.
The advisory body was brought back in March by an ordinance that called for members to be named within 30 days — something that has yet to happen.
John Black Lee, who in 2003 resigned from the Environmental Commission to protest the Town’s inattention to conservation issues, said the commission’s first task should be digitally indexing about 1,000 maps that show natural and man-made structures, wetlands and watercourses, so that areas that need protection can be identified.
“It’s not a job for somebody that doesn’t have the professional training to do that kind of work,” he said.
Mr. Lee said that he thought the commission needs a full-time professional conservationist, but one wasn’t provided in the ordinance.
“The Town is just dragging its feet because that involves budgets and salaries, as would be appropriate for that job. It is something that very easily slides away from the commission as a possibility because it’s too expensive,” he said, “Or, it measures its expense compared with other expenses that have some priority. For those functions, it happened for years that the commission just didn’t have the staff to do it.”
This is the latest in a series of articles reflecting on the character of New Canaan, counting down to the Advertiser’s centennial July 25.
Labels: bicycling, conservation
posted by Richard Stowe at 8:00 PM
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