The Connecticut Environmental Policy Act (CEPA), and why it matters:
Conservation is often driven by the simple power of people caring about local open spaces and fighting to protect them. Residents have the ability to influence decisions that would affect Connecticut’s environment thanks to the Connecticut Environmental Policy Act (CEPA). CEPA requires state agencies to evaluate the environmental impact of their actions, notify the public, and consider public input. It gives the public time to raise concerns and requires state agencies to consider those concerns in their decision-making process. Yet we recently discovered that forest management plans, which are critically important to open space and ecology, do not routinely undergo CEPA review.
CEPA in Action: The Preserve
Starting in the early 2000’s, we fought a development that threatened what’s known as The Preserve, 1,000 acres of coastal forest spanning Old Saybrook, Westbrook and Essex close to the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound. A decade ago, we celebrated a major conservation victory and the power of what’s possible when we join together to protect the places we love. But now a new forest management plan for The Preserve has revealed a troubling trend: across the state, forest management plans are not going through the CEPA process.
A new threat: forest management plans bypassing CEPA:
Forest management plans are intended to maintain healthy, sustainable forest ecosystems. They include practices to protect water quality and soil stability, safeguard habitats, enhance biodiversity, and in some cases, harvest timber. These activities also carry environmental risk, especially in large, ecologically important areas like The Preserve.
In managing The Preserve’s resources, DEEP Forestry plans to harvest timber, construct roads and gates, and build stream crossings—all activities which could disrupt The Preserve’s 43 wetlands, 38 vernal (seasonal) pools, 25 species of amphibians and reptiles, 30 species of mammals, and 57 species of birds if not done right. This forest is a biodiversity hotspot and a valuable natural habitat for several endangered species.
When forest management plans like this one skip CEPA, it shuts out community voices and increases the risk of unintended impacts to surrounding neighbors and others who care about the forest.
Our response: holding agencies accountable:
When this problem was brought to our attention late last year, Save the Sound’s legal team sent a memo to DEEP stating that forest management plans that impact core forests, including the one for The Preserve, are subject to CEPA and must go through the public process. The State Council on Environmental Quality sent a letter to DEEP taking this position as well.
What’s next
DEEP is considering Save the Sound’s request for CEPA to be applied to all forest management plans impacting core forests and has delayed finalizing The Preserve Forest Management Plan until it has done so.
CEPA was created to protect both nature and residents’ rights to be heard. Forest management plans should not be an exception. We will continue to hold agencies accountable for following the CEPA process and keep you up to date with our progress. With your help, we will continue to ensure that the law fulfills its purpose: maintaining transparent environmental decision making, and safeguarding opportunities for public participation.
Read the full history of our involvement with the Preserve here: Part 1, Part 2