Thursday, January 26, 2017 - 12:00pm
Location: 
Marsh Hall Rotunda See map
360 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511

“Current and future challenges for the Forests & Parks of Connecticut in the CT State Legislature”

Eric Hammerling

Executive Director
Connecticut Forest & Park Association

Eric has been CFPA’s Executive Director since May 2008 and comes to CFPA after serving for over five years as the Executive Director for the Farmington River Watershed Association based in Simsbury. Eric holds an M.S. in Environmental Science/Range Management from U.C. Berkeley, and a B.A. in History from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  Eric is the lead advocate for CFPA at the state legislature where he works primarily on forestry, recreation, education, and trail-related issues (such as adequately funding forests and parks, or keeping ATVs from despoiling state lands). Eric led CFPA’s efforts to secure recreational liability reform to encourage municipal entities to open their lands for recreation, as well as helped protect 14,000 acres of forests in the 10-Mill program by easing tax burdens on landowners.  Most recently, Eric is working to spur a Constitutional Amendment that would protect State Parks, Forests, and Wildlife Management Areas from being given away by the Legislature.