The total area of land preserved by DEEP as open space, held in fee, is estimated to be approximately 265,248 acres. While DEEP has made progress to increase the amount of land preserved, DEEP’s preservation efforts were 55,328 acres short of reaching the preservation goal of 320,576 acres by 2023. At the average acquisition rate of 923 acres per year (based on the previous ten years), it would take DEEP approximately 60 years to achieve the ten percent goal. In addition to the Trust Program, DEEP can issue a draft recommendation to the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) as to whether all or a portion of land or land interest, identified for transfer or sale by another state agency, should be preserved by transferring the land or land interest or granting a conservation easement to DEEP.

Open space provides Connecticut's residents with economic, recreational, and environmental benefits including, but not limited to, options for outdoor activities, preservation of scenic beauty, habitat protection, increased biodiversity, protection of unique bedrock and surficial geologic features, water protection and flood control. In addition, forests, farmland and other natural habitats absorb more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than they emit.** 

_{Technical Note: *The annual and total acreage identified in the chart is primarily owned in fee by the State. A notable exception is a 111-acre easement acquired in 2020, which is included in the State acquisition total. State “preserved land” does not mean land that is not managed or harvested. The land acquired by the state as open space might not be restricted from logging or other types of management or from recreational activities. **Nationally, in 2022, the Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) sector resulted in a net increase in carbon stocks (i.e., net CO2 removals) that represents an offset of approximately 14.5 percent of total (i.e., gross) greenhouse gas emissions in 2022.}¹²

Goal #2: Other Conservation Lands – 11 percent

In 2024, state grants helped municipalities and land trusts acquire or protect 1,181 acres through the Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition Grant Program (Grant Program), whereby DEEP provides financial assistance to municipalities and nonprofit land conservation organizations (conservation partners) to acquire land for open space.¹³ The amount of land preserved as the result of grants from the Grant Program in 2024 was less than the previous year and less than the ten-year average of 1,334 acres.

Unfortunately, the exact amount of land held by DEEP’s conservation partners is very difficult, if not impossible, to determine because land trusts are continuously acquiring properties for conservation and outdoor recreation, the inventory of municipal land is incomplete, it is very difficult to track easements, and there is no centralized accounting of privately preserved lands. For 2024, the Council estimated that more than 303,422 acres were held in fee as open space land by DEEP’s conservation partners. This would be approximately 86 percent of the goal of 352,634 acres. The spike in 2021, depicted in the chart above as “Partner’s Area”, is due to the Council’s assessment of land trust land and water company land. 

As noted above, it is estimated that DEEP has preserved approximately 265,248 acres (Goal 1) and its conservation partners “hold” at least 303,422 acres (Goal 2) as open space for a total of approximately 568,670 acres or approximately 84.5 percent of the total statewide goal of 673,210 acres.

Public Act 24-69 made changes related to the Grant Program, including changing the circumstances under which grant funds can be used to restore or protect open space an applicant already owns. Public Act 24-10 authorizes DEEP to utilize funds available for stormwater infrastructure for the purpose of acquiring conservation easements located along streams and rivers in the state.

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¹¹ _{DEEP, Monthly Open Space Reports to the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee and the State Bond Commission, 2024 Open Space Reports; portal.ct.gov/DEEP/Open-Space/DEEP-Monthly-Open-Space-Reports.}

¹² _{EPA, Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2022, 2023 Chapter 6: Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry (April 11, 2024, 430R24004); www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-04/us-ghg-inventory-2024-chapter-6-land-use-land-use-change-and-forestry_0.pdf.}

¹³ _{DEEP, Monthly Open Space Reports to the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee and the State Bond Commission, 2024 Open Space Reports; portal.ct.gov/DEEP/Open-Space/DEEP-Monthly-Open-Space-Reports.}

¹⁴ _{Connecticut State Library, Select Initiatives of Governor John G. Rowland; https://www.ct.gov/GovernorRowland/cwp/view.asp?a=1327&q=255888.}