Threats to Our Local Waterways and Strategies for Protecting Them

The environmental, recreational, and economic value of our local waterways will be discussed in person at the Essex Library on June 14, at 7:00 p.m.

Essex Library is partnering with Sustainable Essex to host Chet Arnold, who will discuss the threats posed to our local waterways by land use trends and climate change, but he will also inform his audience on the things that we can do, both as individuals and as a community, to lessen those threats. This talk will spend a little time on the problems but focus on the solutions, including green stormwater infrastructure, open space preservation, and riparian (streamside) protection and restoration. Arnold will also take a close look at the Falls River watershed and see what recent high-tech tools developed at UConn can tell us about how we’re doing locally. Plenty of time will be reserved for questions and answers.

Chet Arnold is an Extension Educator Emeritus at the University of Connecticut. During his 34-year career at UConn, he helped to create a number of programs, including the Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR), which he directed or co-directed since its inception in 2002. Chet’s research and outreach interests include land cover change, stormwater management, and STEM education. He is currently working part-time for CLEAR on several projects. Chet is a longtime resident of Ivoryton and a member of the Essex Land Trust Board of Directors.

This program is FREE and open to the public. Registration is required. For more information or to register, please call the Essex Library at 860-767-1560 or visit www.youressexlibrary.org.