census

Graduate Student Opportunity

The CT Trails Program and the UConn Department of Natural Resources and the Environment seek a graduate student interested in pursuing a graduate degree in partnership with an interdisciplinary project focused on outdoor recreation and trail use and monitoring. The funded assistantship will start in January of 2024.

Work for this assistantship will involve comparing novel methodology to better estimate and understand ongoing trail use dynamics, management planning for abrupt changes in trail use such as during the Covid-19 pandemic, and enhancing equitable access to outdoor recreation resources. Results will contribute to development of a state-level protocol for improving long term evaluation of trail use and methods for data collection. There is some flexibility in the thesis or dissertation topic emphasis, to be determined based on the interests of the selected applicant.

More information, requirements, and how to apply

Welcome Adelheid!

Meet Adelheid, the newest, although not-so-new Trails Team member. Adelheid just completed her graduate certificate in Sustainable Environmental Planning and Management from the UConn College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resource, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment. She has stepped in and up to support the trail census in every way, from data downloads to report writing. She is also working on trail finder and is generally helping the team get its act together. She lives in Wallingford, CT with her husband and daughter; one son is studying at UConn, and the oldest traveling the world. You may spot her on her home trail at Sleeping Giant or on the Mattabesett Trail. We are so happy to have Adelheid on board - keep an eye out for her emails!

Adelheid Koepfer

The Air Line State Park Trail Count and Survey Analysis

In the fall of 2022, the Trails Team completed the Air Line State Park Trail Count and Survey Analysis Report which is part of the Master Plan work being conducted by CT Resource Conservation & Development Area (RC&D). It is an evaluation of the Air Line State Park multi-use trail based on survey responses and counts from short- and long-term infrared counters from January to December 2021.