CONNECTICUT OLMSTED AWARD
Accepting CT Olmsted Award
2019 Walk Across Connecticut
Since 1992, CTASLA has recognized 25 recipients with the Connecticut Olmsted Award which is given annually to a person or organization in Connecticut that has employed the principle of stewardship of the land as the guiding force in their actions. The award honors the life and lasting legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted, a native son of Hartford who pioneered the modern landscape architecture profession as an advocate for public spaces and a steward of natural resources.
CTASLA is pleased to present its 2019 Connecticut Olmsted Award to United States Senator Chris Murphy for his tireless efforts in advancing legislation to protect Connecticut's natural resources and improve public access to recreational landscapes.
In March, the President signed into law the permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund as part of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management and Recreation Act. Thanks to the efforts of Senator Murphy, this legislation also contained language to designate the lower Farmington River and Salmon Brook as a national “Wild and Scenic River”. “This is a big win for Connecticut and a testament to good old fashioned Yankee persistence,” noted the Senator in his remarks to the press. Murphy first introduced the legislation in 2007 as a Representative in Connecticut's 5th district and never gave up on seeing it through to completion.
For the ten towns along the newly-designated Wild and Scenic River areas, there is now access to federal funding for invasive species removal, sedimentation and erosion control measures, construction of trail systems, implementation of recreational landscapes, and other benefits that could amount to more than $100,000 per year. In Connecticut, over 500 conservation and community recreation projects have been implemented thanks to LWCF funding, and there will now be countless more thanks to the efforts of Senator Murphy.
But we would be remiss if we didn't laud the Senator for perhaps his most Olmstedian quality – his annual Walk Across Connecticut. Since 2016, Murphy has trekked hundreds of miles across the state on foot, in the heat of summer, meeting with constituents both in town halls as well as impromptu locations on the road. ““You see Connecticut in a different way when you are walking it,” Murphy said in a Hartford Courant article. “I think there’s a risk in this job that you only see the feedback that comes back to you instead of going out and being proactive.”
Award Recipients
2019 U.S. Senator Chris Murphy
2018 Bushnell Park Foundation
2017 No award
2016 UConn CLEAR Program
2015 Chris Donnelly, Urban Forestry Coordinator, State of Connecticut
2014 Terry Backer, State Representative and Soundkeeper
2013 William DeMaio, Director of Parks and Recreation, City of New Britian
2012 No award
2011 Mary Donohue, CT Dept. of Economic and Community Development
2010 Steve Broderick, Goodwin Forest Conservation Education Center
2009 James Gustave Speth, Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
2008 Peter L. Malkin, Merritt Parkway Conservancy
2007 State Senator Andrew Roraback
2006 David Leff, Connecticut DEP/Author
2005 State Senator Bill Finch
2004 Green Valley Institute
2003 Town of Simsbury, CT
2002 Lieutenant Governor M. Jodi Rell and Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin B. Sullivan
2001 No award
2000 Jim Gibbons, Land Use Educator, University of Connecticut
1999 Jack Shannahan and the Connecticut Historical Commission
1998 Joshua's Tract Conservation and Historic Trust
1997 U.S. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman
1996 Land Preservation and Enhancement Program, Iroquois Gas Pipeline Company
1995 William Niering, Ph.D., Connecticut College
1994 Joseph Hickey, Connecticut DEP, State Parks
1993 Philip Barske, Ph.D., Applied Ecologist
1992 Richard Goodwin, Ph.D., Connecticut College