Growing Health Through Trail Use The PATHS (People Active on Trails for Health and Sustainability) team, an off-shoot of the Connecticut Trail Census, is in the early stages of launching an Outdoor Education Program Pilot to increase use of parks and multi-use (bicycle and pedestrian) trails, and enhance the outcomes of Extension’s Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). The project includes increasing awareness of outdoor resources and use for physi- cal activity for low-income families. The pilot will engage communities in pop-up educational events in trails and parks, with bicycles provided for young people by BikeWalkCT. Our team is developing street sheets, educational materials provided to low-income family participants of UConn Extension’s EFNEP program. While Connecticut has a wealth of resources to promote physical activity (over 2,000 miles of trails in State Parks alone) and exercising in outdoor spaces has been shown to impact physical and mental health1, many outdoor assets remain underutilized or inaccessible to populations who might most benefit from them. The Connecticut Trail Census recently received a $206,000 grant from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Cooperative Extension System Innovative Programming Award. Locate the trail or outdoor space near you and make an effort to visit more often. 1 Harvard Medical School. (2010). A prescription for better health: go alfresco. Harvard Medical School, para 1-18. Retrieved from http://www.health.harvard.edu/ newsletter_article/a-prescription-for-better-health-go-alfresco. Beware of Volcano Mulch In three short decades, volcano mulch has become one of the greatest threats to newly planted and young trees and shrubs. If unchecked, the significant mon- etary and human investment in greenscapes will result in more and more dead and dying trees. Volcano mulch is the over-mulching of plant material, notably trees and shrubs. Mulch plays an important role in protecting plant material from irreversible lawnmower and weed whacker damage as well as providing for some control over weed competition and soil water retention. Seemingly, rings of mulch have also become landscape design features. While deadly, the prob- lem is simple; people are placing heaps and heaps of mulch around trees and shrubs and right next to the thin, vulner- able bark. The fact is you do not need more than 2-3 inches of mulch in depth for the desired purposes. Mulch should not come closer than 2-3 inches from the plant. Yet people are piling mulch 6 inches or more, and right on the trunks of the trees, causing damage to life sustaining cambium (the live tissue just below the bark). Beware of volcano mulch in your yard. Our Master Gardener Program can answer any questions you have. HEALTH By Laura Brown | cttrails.uconn.edu SUSTAINABILITY By Robert Ricard, PhD | mastergardener.uconn.edu u 2018 HIGHLIGHTS OF EXTENSION 19