Management Plan for Open Space

Connecticut’s open space lands will come under more, not less, pressure in the future. Pressures such as changes in surrounding land use, habitat fragmentation, invasive and rare species, and climate change will impact these properties. Our hope is that our habitat-based management plan outline will be a useful tool for land trust stewards and town open space managers in the long-term conservation and management of open space in Connecticut.

This outline provides a framework for the documentation of background information and a methodology to determine management actions, based on habitat, needed for the long term conservation of a particular site. This is an opportunity to think about, “How do we want this property to look in 10, 20, even 50 years from now?”

Users of this outline may find that it provides a way to consolidate information that has accumulated about a site – both on paper and in the personal knowledge of site stewards, and may fill in many, if not all, sections. Other users may skip entire sections. There is no right or wrong way to use this outline.