The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the University of Connecticut Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR) today launched a new website, Connecticut Environmental Conditions Online (CT ECO) that includes the latest and most accessible online maps and tools for viewing Connecticut’s environmental and natural resource information.

The new CT ECO website, www.cteco.uconn.edu, includes environmental and natural resource information for Connecticut such as protected open space, farmland soils, wetland soils, aquifer protection areas, water quality classifications, and drainage basins. Each can be viewed separately or in conjunction with other environmental and natural resource information. In addition, CT ECO includes several sets of high resolution imagery.

DEP Commissioner Amey Marrella said, "The convenience of having maps and tools on environmental and natural resource information in one place will support and promote informed land use and development decisions in Connecticut. Local agencies and the general public will find CT ECO easy to use and a valuable tool as they plan their land use options. Governor Rell has set our state on a course for ‘Responsible Growth.’ This new website provides the information people need to accomplish this goal."

CT ECO was one of several initiatives undertaken following Governor M. Jodi Rell’s Executive Order No. 15, which set the state on a path toward "Responsible Growth," and action on this issue in the 2007 session of the General Assembly.  These initiatives have been overseen by an Office of Responsible Growth, formed under the Intergovernmental Policy Division of the Office of Policy and Management, and an Interagency Steering Council that consists of representatives of key state agencies.

CT ECO uses advanced software that combines internet and geographic information system (GIS) technology. A previous collaboration between UConn and DEP, the Community Resource Inventory, provides basic natural resource maps for every town in the state to users online. CT ECO builds upon this approach, providing many additional data layers and offering multiple and flexible ways to access maps and data.

"Our mission at CLEAR is to provide an integrated package of land use research, tools and outreach for local land use decision makers," says Dr. Gregory Weidemann, Dean of UConn’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. "We’re very pleased to launch this new resource as a collaborative effort with DEP."

"The Natural Resources Conservation Service is always looking for additional ways for the public to use our soils information. CT ECO has allowed us to take complex soils data and put it into a format that’s easy to use and understand," said Douglas Zehner, State Conservationist, Natural Resources Conservation Service. "I’m sure it will result in better land use decisions."