UConn Extension & Bike Walk Connecticut promote nutrition, fitness, and bike safety

Meriden – August 19, 2019:

UConn Extension, part of UConn’s College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources, Bike Walk Connecticut, and the Meriden Farmers Market will promote healthy living at the Get Out- Get Active-Get Healthy Bike and Back to School Rally on Saturday, September 7^th from 8:30 am to 12 noon on the Meriden Green. This fun event will feature bicycle and helmet safety demonstrations, games, helmet decorating, a bicycle raffle, as well as nutrition education. Youth and families are encouraged to bring their own bikes or borrow a bike from Bike Walk Connecticut’s fleet, sized for ages 9-12 with a few for ages 5-8. Join us to practice bicycle safety and agility skills taught by certified League Cycling Instructors (LCIs). Under Connecticut State Law, anyone under the age of 16 is required to wear a helmet when riding a bicycle, so families are encouraged to bring helmets if they have them and wear closed-toed shoes. New bicycle helmets will be available for free, first come, first served. Healthy food demonstrations will be provided by the UConn Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) and Chef Kashia Cave, founder of My City Kitchen. This event is made possible by a grant and funding from the David and Nancy Bull Extension Innovation Fund at UConn, UConn Extension PATHS (People on Trails for Health and Sustainability) Team, Bike Walk Connecticut, the Meriden Farmers Market, Community Health Center of Meriden and Meriden Public Schools. The free rally is open to the public on Saturday, September 7^th from 8:30 am to 12 pm at the Meriden Green Amphitheater on State and Mill Street in Meriden. We look forward to seeing you there! For more information contact Laura Brown at 203-407-3161 or laura.brown@uconn.edu.

In case you haven’t heard! The Connecticut Trail Census program recently received $206,049.50 in grant funding from the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) Trails & Greenways Program and the Connecticut Greenways Council. UConn Extension’s Connecticut Trail Census is a statewide volunteer-based data collection and education program implemented as a pilot from 2016-2018 on 16 multi-use (bicycle, pedestrian, equestrian) trail sites across the state. With this news, program staff have been busy developing the program methods for 2019 and beyond, increasing the trail site capacity by bringing in additional staff, and improving upon the training materials while continuing to facilitate the trail use data collection by our passionate volunteers. 

Thank you to our volunteers and participating community members for your hard work and support! Together we hope to make the Connecticut Trail Census an efficient and successful model for trail use data collection by volunteers.

Interested in learning more about economic impacts of multi-use trails?  Check out the resources here compiled here: http://communities.extension.uconn.edu/trails/multi-use-trail-resources-and-links/

This month we welcome our new Trail Census Coordinator Kristina Kelly!

Kristina has experience coordinating volunteer data collection programs such as DEEP’s Riffle Bioassessment by Volunteers (RBV), and has developed a passion for citizen science as away to involve the community in environmental education, protection and advocacy.

She is currently pursuing a Master of Science degree in Geography with a concentration in Sustainability where she enjoys studying environmental protection, community engagement, and natural resources. At home, she enjoys gardening, photography and taking care of animals. She has two cats, a hamster, and maintains bird feeders for all of the neighborhood squirrels.

Stay tuned for trainings as we enter the fall data collection season as an opportunity to say “Hi!” to our new Coordinator, and to stay up-to-date in program goals and expectations.

Watch this 45 minute webinar to learn how to appropriately conduct manual counts that will be used to calibrate infrared trail counters on your trail.  You’ll learn what kind of data is being collected in the Census , why calibration is important, how calibration will affect the data, when and how to conduct calibration including special situations.

This 27 minute webinar provides an overview of the Connecticut Trail Census, project origins, data to be collected and general requirements of trail coordinators and volunteers.  Note that the training dates suggested in this webinar have changed.