Our Environment, Animal Tips & the Great Outdoors

The Housatonic Valley Association (HVA), a conservation organization dedicated to the tri-state Housatonic watershed, has recently received a grant of nearly $100,000 from the Long Island Sound Study Community Impact Fund and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. 

The grant was awarded through Restore America’s Estuaries, a non-profit conservation organization that is dedicated to preserving the nation’s network of estuaries through protection and restoration projects, and is to support the continuation and expansion of HVA’s Connections program. Connections is an initiative that connects young people from underrepresented watershed communities with hands-on environmental education and green job skills training. 

The Connections program was launched in 2016 and has already served over 700 high school students in and around Danbury, CT. The program seeks to address environmental and social needs in regions that are mapped as environmental justice hotspots by the Environmental Protection Agency, which is determined by the disproportionate impacts of environmental issues, such as poor air and water quality, experienced by the residents of those areas. 

Up until now, the Connections program focused on the Still River, which runs north from Danbury to New Milford, CT, and is the most polluted tributary of the Housatonic River, according to the HVA. The new funding will allow the HVA to not only bolster the existing program, but also expand the initiative to the Ten Mile River watershed in Dutchess County, NY. 

Danbury High School Students working as Summer Crew members for the Housatonic Valley Association work on installing a rain garden in Danbury, CT. Source: Sydney Molaver/Housatonic Valley Association, 2024

Making connections 

During the school year, HVA partners with local schools to bring the Connections program to high school students and teachers. Connections introduces high school students to an environmental curriculum that raises awareness of the local watershed and encourages related school projects that reduce pollution, restore habitats, and improve recreational opportunities. 

Local students are also recruited to be members of HVA’s summer work crews, where they are then able to complete the projects that they went over in their classes. During the six-week summer work program, students are exposed to a variety of environmental fields through on-hands work, and workshops with local experts and HVA’s partner organizations.  

Currently, the Still River Connections program members are recruited by Danbury Youth Services, and members have previously worked on projects including rain garden installations, invasive species removals, and other initiatives to conserve rare plant species. 

When the Connections program expands to the Ten Mile region, HVA will partner with the Cornell Cooperative Extension, Dutchess County’s No Child Left Inside program, and North East Community Center’s School-to-Work program to complete outreach in public schools and recruit students for summer programs. Projects on the docket to be completed in the Ten Mile region, starting in 2025, include trail building and riparian buffer restoration.

“I’m looking forward to bringing what I know has been a really successful program with Danbury Public Schools to the Ten Mile region, where we will work directly with local students and connect them with the rivers and streams of their hometowns,” said Claire Wegh, HVA’s Ten Mile River Watershed Manager, in a recent press release. 

“The positive impact of the Connections programs on the Long Island Sound watershed is significant,” Wegh continued. “Thanks to this grant from LISCIF, HVA can continue increasing overall awareness of the river network that sustains humans and the broader ecosystem.” 

To learn more about HVA and its Connections program, or if you’re interested in getting involved, visit their website here.