Isaac Kleppner
URI Internship Year:
2026
Graduation Year:
2029
Degree:
BS
Isaac was a 2026 Greenspace intern and a member of the class of 2029, studying environmental engineering. As a New Haven native, he was especially excited to contribute to strengthening the communities he has been surrounded by his entire life through environmental stewardship and to spend the summer working in green spaces throughout the city. In his free time, you can find him playing soccer and ultimate frisbee, whitewater kayaking and hiking—after completing the Adirondack 46ers, he’s working toward summiting the 115 peaks above 4,000 feet in the Northeast.
Group
Greenspace Log
| Date | Category | Photos | Group | Summary | |
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08/04/2026 |
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At our last workday of the summer we finished the path we have worked on by adding stone dust. Everyone helped dump stone dust and rake it so the path is smooth. Of course, we needed to celebrate the end of the summer with freeze pops too. |
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08/01/2026 |
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To finish up the summer we kept working on Bayview park. We mulched the trail and laid out more wood edging then pruned more of the low branches on trees in the park. Each of the spaces we worked in looks great! |
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08/01/2026 |
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To finish up our work for the summer we pruned the trees up and down the block and replaced the faded sign over the entryway. All in all, the space looks great after a few weekends of hard work! |
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08/01/2026 |
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At our last FERP workday we made great progress defining a new bed on Orange Street that will be worked on in the fall. To get started we planted a few coneflowers, bee balm and goldenrod so the space was not empty. Thanks for a great summer! |
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07/31/2026 |
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Now that the bricks are in the ground after last week, we spent our time turfing out the grass that was encroaching on the path. It was hard work but everyone had fun scooping up big chucks of the ground! |
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07/30/2026 |
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Our last workday of the season was cut short because of a quick (yet mighty) rainstorm. We were still able to rake and sweep the beds and sidewalks on Jefferson while Jenny finished ridding the Iris' of grass. As the rain rolled in we had a climactic finish to a lovely summer at Lenzi Park. |
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07/29/2026 |
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We wrapped up the summer by celebrating our accomplishments with some watermelon at the CPEN nursery. Thanks for a great summer! |
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07/28/2026 |
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After planting some Liriope and building a fence on the south side of the lot we celebrated the end of the year with pizza and watermelon. The rain held off and we had a great last workday to wrap up a wonderful summer on Shelton Avenue. |
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07/25/2026 |
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The small crew that group out on Saturday was able to plant a gorgeous Crabapple pretty quickly. With our extra time we started mulching the vision trail in Bayview Park. |
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07/25/2026 |
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FERP had a huge success planting 49 assorted Asters, Ferns and Pennsylvania Sedge this Saturday! A great crew showed up and made easy work of the daunting number of plants on the truck--the new bed is looking incredible now! |
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07/24/2026 |
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This week we placed the beautiful bricks the campers made last week in order to edge the path. The new path is coming along nicely! |
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07/24/2026 |
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We had a blast hanging out at Archie's as a little end of the summer celebration. A huge thank you to Archie Moore's for providing us with some delicious BBQ! |
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07/23/2026 |
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Another lovely evening at Lenzi Park! The (slightly) cooler weather allowed us to take on the overgrown liriope and finish edging the beds on Jefferson before starting to save the iris from the tall grass trying to take over. Of course it wouldn't be a Lenzi Park workday without an adequate amount of weeding and watering aswell. |
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07/22/2026 |
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We made a huge amount of progress at the fishing dock this morning! The new benches look awesome and the low side of the main bed has edging which will help protect it. |
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07/18/2026 |
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We made great progress on the newest bed on Orange Street! After adding more edging, a gorgeous slate path and some exciting new plantings the area is looking amazing! |
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07/17/2026 |
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We had a great time decorating bricks on Friday! Everyone got to decorate two bricks that we will use to line the path at the entrance next week. |
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07/16/2026 |
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Along with our usual raking, weeding and watering, Mary and Jenny put in nearly 50 vinca to fill in one of the existing beds! |
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07/14/2026 |
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Even without Steve we were able to clear the path around the main bed and get two new hydrangeas in the ground! |
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07/11/2026 |
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Another great morning at East Rock Park! We finished planting the inkberries from a few weeks ago, added lots of native flowers and laid out a new bed on Orange Street. |
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07/11/2026 |
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We started our work at Bayview park with a lot of weeding and tree pruning. After the old beds were clear we planted four Ostrich Ferns. The park is looking better but there is plenty to be done in the next few weeks! |
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07/11/2026 |
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In just two hours we managed to weed the entire path and cut back at some of the overgrowth along the back fence. |
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07/09/2026 |
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Per usual, the Lenzi Park crew made the most of our Thursday evening. After watering, pruning trees and weeding the beds on Jefferson, the watermelon that Jerry brought was well earned! |
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07/08/2026 |
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Doreen brought together members of the SCSU Innovation Hub and Werth Center for Costal and Marine Studies alongside others from CT DEEP and the Southwest Conservation District to kickoff the first workday with CPEN's youth at work. After learning about water quality and taking some measurements with SCSU students we managed to weed and mulch the areas around the path. A huge thank you to all of the groups who joined us! |
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07/07/2026 |
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Another productive day on Shelton Avenue! We planted three coreopsis in the northeast bed we have been working on and after removing the roots of the slippery elm that were cut back last workday we were able to plant three variegated hostas in the northwest bed. |
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06/27/2026 |
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Without a Greenspace intern, the group was able to water all the young trees along the Cross Trail, cut down more of the Japanese Knotweed taking over the woods around the Cross Trail, and add more mulch around the newly planted shrubs in College Woods! |
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06/26/2026 |
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A great first workday at Shepard Spruel! A group of 15 came from Inspired Communities and helped weed and pick up sticks to help make the space more inviting. |
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06/25/2026 |
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The Lenzi Park crew managed to totally revamp the two big planters along St. John Street. After weeding and watering the area looks amazing! |
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06/23/2026 |
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The Shelton Ave. crew worked through some rain and managed to plant five hostas, weed the central beds, mulch the Northeast bed and cut back at slippery elm. |
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06/20/2026 |
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Our first day working as a group at Triangle Park was a success! We split up and were able to do a lot of weeding, cut back at the bayberry and plant three catmint. |
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06/20/2026 |
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Another great Saturday with the Friends of East Rock Park! We split up into groups with one group watering trees on the far side of the river and the other planting inkberry bushes to protect the redbud planted last year. We managed to get ten inkberry in the ground which define the herd paths above the tree and line the bench below it. |
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06/20/2026 |
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We spent time this morning cleaning the park of litter as most of the beds are in pretty good shape after many hours weeding and mowing in previous weeks. |
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06/18/2026 |
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Another lovely Thursday night at Lenzi Park! We cleared and cleaned all of the small beds by the fence along Jefferson Ave. and the park is looking fantastic. |
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06/17/2026 |
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With the help of a crew from U.S. Fish and Wildlife we cleared lots of invasive species from the rocks inside the ramp, watered the plantings and made a lot of progress on beatifying the space. The USFW staff helped make a plan for installing a set of steps later on in the summer to improve access to the pier. |
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06/16/2026 |
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A small group at Shelton Ave. managed to plant four Daylilies near the Liriope planted last week, water most of the site and fix the fence in the Southeast corner. |
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06/13/2026 |
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Another great day at the Howard Ave. planter for the Oyster Point crew. We managed to rid the entire beach of Mugwort and free the stand of trees nearby of sticky weed. Next week we are going to be moving to the triangle park! |
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06/10/2026 |
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Doreen and I met to hand out fliers around the neighborhood and plan for the upcoming workday with USFW. |
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06/09/2026 |
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Another, successful workday at Oyster Point! We managed to finish cleaning up the Howard Ave. planter, plant 5 Goldenrod and 3 Catmint and make good progress on freeing the beach from Mugwort. |
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06/09/2026 |
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A lively group made great progress weeding a lot of the beds on the North side of the space. We were also able to plant 5 variegated Liriope in the Northeast corner. Plenty more work to be done but the space is looking a lot better! |
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06/06/2026 |
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A very exciting workday with FERP as we honored David's 18 years of work with the group and welcomed a new leadership team! We mulched all of the plantings from last year and planted a new Burr Oak where one had perviously died. After the workday we celebrated David and Barb with nice words from the Mayor, URI's Colleen Hoover and Anna Picket, Parks Commissioner Kenya Adams-Martin and other longtime volunteers - of course no East Rock celebration is complete without One6Three pizza. Congratulations David and Barb! |
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06/06/2026 |
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We had a very successful first workday at Esmeralda Park! We began weeding, raking and clearing out the overgrown beds as you enter the park. There is plenty more to be done but it is already looking a lot better! |
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06/04/2026 |
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The Lenzi Park crew made great progress cleaning up lots of debris from the wind in the past few days and weeding and relining beds. |
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06/02/2026 |
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Our first work day at Shelton Ave. was a great success! We were able to weed the bed in the Southeast corner and make a lot of progress on weeding and mulching the big beds on the North side of the lot. |
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05/30/2026 |
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On a windy Saturday morning the Oyster Point group met at the Howard Ave. planter to weed and mulch. We weeded the entire bed, freed some shrubs from sticky weed and almost finished mulching before we ran out of time. |
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05/28/2026 |
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Steve and I met to walk around all of the Oyster Point Greenspaces that the group has worked on in the past. We developed a plan for the summer and scheduled the first workday! |
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05/28/2026 |
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Kim and I met on Shepard Street to talk about the history of the space and what is to come this summer. We made plans for lots of exciting additions and up keep that the site needs. |
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05/28/2026 |
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We started the summer with a chat with Steve in order to set goals for the space this summer and decide on a date and time to meet for workdays. |
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05/28/2026 |
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I met the Lenzi Park crew for the first time on one of their normal workdays to help make a plan for the summer. I also joined in weeding the plantings on Jefferson Street and delivered mulch which has already become useful. We ended the work session with some lovely watermelon provided by Jerry, making a great start to the summer at Lenzi park. |
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05/26/2026 |
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Doreen and I met for the first time at the Fishing Pier to make a plan for the summer. We were joined by a swan, a turtle and a new family of geese! |