Project Summary

1. Project ID
Name	Hartford Urban Outdoor Classroom and Nature Trails Project
Region	North Eastern
State	CT
Location	North Branch of Park River
Date of this update	3/9/00

Habitat Restoration/Protection
Wetlands
River systems
Beaches/Dunes
Offshore areas
Mangroves
Assisting Species at Risk
Pollution Mitigation
Non-Point Source Pollution
Other (describe)

3. Project description (100 words or less)

The purpose of this project is to develop an outdoor classroom and nature trails. It will be designed to encourage students, teachers, and area residents to foster a greater understanding and appreciation about the natural environment found within the city of Hartford. Students from public and private schools, will be brought together at all levels to gain an experience from an urban open space environment. It will also provide surrounding community residents an opportunity to appreciate the environment. The project will serve as a learning tool highlighting environmental education as an interdisciplinary subject that is easily incorporated into a planned curriculum to enhance learning experiences. The implementation of this project will provide a community resource extending the educational value beyond the normal school day.

4. Goals/Benefits (quantify where possible using measures of success list) Was a cost-benefit study conducted for this project? yes/no If yes, provide a summary of findings.

The project goal is three fold:

(1) To provide a mechanism that will assist with the protection and development of the east side of the North Branch of the Park River Watershed for outdoor classroom stations nature trails, recreation opportunities and cultural activities.

(2) To implement the clean-up program along Mark Twain Drive through the CT Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) Equity Program

(3) To provide teacher workshops that will be made available to all educators in the project area to demonstrate different ways to develop and use the outdoor classroom for environmental education and other areas of study such as history, are and mathematics

5. Partners (include each participant's responsibilities - funding, permitting, etc.)

6. Funding/Contributions (organization and amount)

	  Cash	Federal		
			Non Federal 	
					
			Total	


	  In-Kind Services (hours, equipment, or other forms of assistance and estimated dollar 	value)
	
	  Volunteers (number of people and hours, and estimated dollar value)

7. Legislative authorities used by each participant

8. Value added by Coastal America Partnership including Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) goals achieved through this collaboration (500 words or less)

9. Project Status

• Initiation date: TBD
• Completion date:
• Current stage (Initiated - I, Underway - U or Completed - C)

10.Contacts

11. Any additional information/comments