Speak Out Against the Give Away of State Lands - Silver Sands and Centennial Forest Parks at Risk!

This year's Conveyance Act (House Bill 6998- http://goo.gl/xJ0nI2) has proposals to transfer portions of our State Parks and Wildlife Management Areas to municipal and private uses. The bill has 15 sections detailing the state property to be transferred and four stand out as especially bad.

• Section 3 of the Conveyance Act would convey 4+ acres of Silver Sands State Park to the town of Milford. DEEP had previously refused the town's request to establish an exclusive parking area only for town residents, and so the town asked for the areas in question to be taken from Silver Sands and be given to Milford. The parcels that would be transferred are prime nesting area for Brown Thrashers, a state listed species of Special Concern.
• Section 8 of the Conveyance Act would convey over 100 acres of the Centennial Watershed Forest to the town of Fairfield.  Although DEEP owns the land, this proposal was made without the knowledge of either DEEP, Aquarion, or of The Nature Conservancy who works in partnership with DEEP and Aquarion on the land management of the Centennial Watershed Forest.
• Sections 14 and 15 would convey access to more than 90 acres in Killingly/Plainfield and Canterbury/Brooklyn to a sand and gravel company and permit the construction of about 5500' of access roads/driveways. For ten years of access for the commercial use of the transferred parcels the company would pay the State a flat fee of $20,000.