DEEP Preparing Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan

HARTFORD —The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) announced it is preparing the latest Connecticut Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP). The SCORP is a planning document that identifies outdoor recreation issues of statewide significance, and that evaluates the supply of and the demand for outdoor recreation resources and facilities in Connecticut.

SCORP provides unified guidance to state and municipal officials as they develop and expand outdoor recreation opportunities for their respective constituents.

In addition to its value as a planning document, the completion of a SCORP also satisfies a requirement of the federally administered Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which then makes Connecticut eligible to receive its annual apportionment from the LWCF State and Local Assistance Program.

Apportionments from the LWCF can be used by the state and its municipalities to acquire new land for outdoor recreation and conservation, and to construct new outdoor recreational facilities. In recent years, the annual apportionment to Connecticut has ranged from several hundred thousand to several million dollars.

Recent capital projects completed with LWCF apportionments include the expansion of the boardwalk at Silver Sands State Park in Milford, the construction of the new Middle Beach Bathhouse at Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, and the construction of a new ticket booth and winterized restroom building at Peoples State Forest in Barkhamsted.

DEEP is seeking public input on its working draft of the plan. The DEEP website has a SCORP page (www.ct.gov/deep/scorp) that contains a link to the draft currently under development, as well as a link to the SCORP completed in 2005 for reference.

Persons interested in providing comments or suggestions can submit them directly to DEEP via e-mail using a link provided on the SCORP webpage, deep.scorp@ct.gov. The SCORP webpage also contains a link to a brief questionnaire regarding public participation in outdoor recreation and public preferences for the use of available funding for the development of outdoor recreation resources.

In addition to the webpage, DEEP will also be hosting four public meetings during August to provide the public with the opportunity to review and discuss the development of the SCORP with agency staff in an interactive group setting. Meetings will take place locally at the Kellogg Environmental Center, 500 Hawthorne Avenue, Derby, August 18 from 7 to 10 pm.

For more information on SCORP, the webpage or the public meetings, contact Kate Bruzinski at 860-424-3199 or kate.bruzinski@ct.gov.