The Pine Park Association received approval for a grant from the federal  Natural Resources Conservation Service under its EQIP program for FY2024 through FY2026.  The funds will cover roughly half of the cost of controlling invasive plants along Girl Brook. This is our third grant under the EQIP program, which included funds in 2021 to commission of Forest Management Plan and in FY2022-23 to control invasive plants along the borders with the former golf course.  The Association also received a CPS grant from the agency for forest restoration projects in FY2023, which enabled us to thin the overcrowded hemlocks along the cove where Girl Brook enters the Connecticut River and manage slash piles and downed trees to speed their decomposition.