International Gemological Institute, 139 Monroe St, Bridgeport, CT 06605, US

The Ash Creek Conservation Association, established in 2003, is a non-profit, citizen-based group dedicated to protecting and preserving the Ash Creek tidal estuary in Fairfield and Bridgeport. A bridge on the Post Road, over the Ash Creek, is the dividing line between Fairfield and Bridgeport along the shore. The Association strives to educate Fairfield and Bridgeport residents, political leaders, environmental groups and concerned citizens about the value and fragility of the Ash Creek tidal estuary. The Ash Creek Conservation Association led the fight in 2006 to prevent the construction of a utility bridge carrying high-voltage power lines over Ash Creek that would have been 160 feet long, 10 feet wide and eight feet high, with abutments surrounded by barbed wire. Instead, those power lines were buried under Ash Creek. The Association also participated in 2005 in the town's taking ownership, at no cost, of 14 acres of marshland in Ash Creek that had been privately owned; the removal of an illegal dock in Ash Creek; and annual cleanups of Ash Creek.