Protecting the Trails

Hiker on Chauncey Peak in MeridenConnecticut's Blue-Blazed Hiking Trails need protection because:

  • The population of Connecticut has increased from 1.5 million when the Trail System began in 1929 to 3.3 million today.
  • Improved transportation has allowed residential and business development to spread to areas once considered remote and/or unbuildable.
  • Landowners change their ownership purposes or the land changes owners.
  • Illegal motorized use dramatically impacts the nature of our trails.
  • Estates are divided among heirs or sold to others with little interest in preserving the natural landscape. This often results in the new owner/s having no knowledge of a Blue-Blazed Hiking Trail being located on the property. 

What You Can Do

CFPA depends upon concerned individuals to help protect the 'quality of life' enhanced by trails in each community. You can:

  • Work to include the Blue-Blazed Hiking Trails in your Town Plan, the list of your community's recreational opportunities, and other planning guides in your community.
  • Recommend methods for preserving the right-of-way over lands crossed by trails through easement, acquisition or other means.
  • Be alert to planned changes in land use that could impact the Blue Trails and work with others to protect the trails as a resource.
  • Thank the landowner for allowing public access.
  • Actively support planning and zoning regulations that provide protection for trail lands.
  • Work with your town and with local land trusts to protect available trail lands.
  • Get involved in CFPA's Trail Protection effort - a network of people willing to send an 'alert' to CFPA when there may be a threat to trail access.
  • Report illegal motorzied activity to the State Environmental Conservation Police (ENCONN) at (860) 424-3333.
  • Become a member today!

Landowner Liability Law

The majority of the Blue-Blazed Hiking Trails are on private land and continue to be available for public use through the good will of the landowner. In 1971 the Connecticut General Assembly passed a resolution which '...declares that the Blue-Blazed Trail System shall be an integral part of the State Plan of Conservation and Development and that appropriate actions be taken to foster its preservation.' The Landowner Liability Law (Connecticut General Statutes Section 52-557) provides substantial limited protection from liability to individual landowners who allow their land to be used by the public for recreation without charge. To read the full statute click here.