Naromi Land Trust                                March 2020       
Forever. Sherman.                                      Vol. 13, Issue 2
Towner Hill Trail Signs
In This Issue
Upcoming Events
Howland Acquisition
Bristol Easement
Eastman Acquisition
Schneckenburger Acquisition
Quick Links
Support Naromi
Members, Friends and Neighbors,
This e-news is filled with some wonderful events and exciting news. Be sure to check out the events and send in your RSVPs.  
  With great excitement and much gratitude, Naromi Land Trust announces the acquisition of four new properties. Each new acquisition expands properties that Naromi already protects, amplifying existing habitat, recreation opportunities and conservation of Sherman's natural resources. Each project has been made possible by generous donors, funders and partners and is the culmination of many months of determined effort.  Together these projects protect 138 acres of additional land in Sherman forever. (See the map below and then keep scrolling for information on each project.)
 
To achieve this feat, Naromi leveraged a variety of restricted grants and directed donations to cover the expenses for each of these four acquisition projects, totaling $392,500 to date. 
 
In addition to the donors, partners and funders noted in the details paragraphs below, Naromi would also like to acknowledge the support of these partners in bringing these projects to fruition: Sherman Board of Selectmen; Sherman Planning & Zoning Commission; Sherman Conservation Commission; Western Connecticut Council of Governments; and the Litchfield Hills Greenprint Collaborative.  
 
We hope you'll share in our excitement for what 2020 might bring!  
 
 
Yours truly,

Amanda Branson
Executive Director


Get out your calendars!
We hope you like conservation and getting outside because we have a whole slate of events coming up.

We have our annual vernal pool events (a Great Hollow talk, the Famous Night HIke, and a day-time Frog Frolic)! Led as usual by Great Hollow Nature Preserve's naturalist, John Foley, we explore the emerging amphibians and hear their chorus. The Frog Frolic will be a partnership with Great Hollow Nature Preserve and Connecticut Audubon. These events are weather dependent so please RSVP to John Foley via email ( jfoley@greathollow.org) for late-breaking news.

We have the third talk in our Conservation & Recreation Series, hosted by the JCC. 

Then, in May and June, we have a bird walk with the incomparable Angela Dimmitt and TWO hikes for National Trails Days. 

Check out our Events Page  for more information and RSVP instructions.
Howland Parcel
The Howland parcel is 6.041 acres of forest and wetland donated by Judith Howland that abuts Naromi's already held Caroline Herrick Parcel. Naromi acquired the Caroline Herrick Parcel in 2017 as a donation from Caroline Herrick. The addition of the Howland parcel creates a contiguous preserve 8.425 acres now known as the Herrick Howland Preserve.  
  
This Preserve is part of the system of wetlands that drains into Naromi's Wimisink Preserve. The Wimisink is home to both state and federally-listed plants and animals. Preserving the wetlands that feed it is a high-priority long-term project for Naromi. This donation is a key component to this project. The acquisition was supported by $6,400 from The Nature Conservancy Berkshire Wildlife Linkage Jessie B. Cox Catalyst Fund. On December 6, 2019, the transfer of ownership was recorded in Town Hall.
 
Photo by Hunter Brawley
Bristol Easement
Mel Bristol has been a dedicated, curious and careful steward of his land for decades. Naromi's Wimisink Preserve has benefitted from having Mr. Bristol as a neighbor. Together with his wife Diana Bristol, began to work to permanently protect 20.219 acres of his land to Naromi in April of 2017. Weantinoge Heritage Land Trust partnered with Naromi on this project. Weantinoge is a regional land trust that now protects over 10,500 acres in seventeen towns in northwest Connecticut. In September 2017, Naromi and Weantinoge were awarded $140,500 from the Army Corps of Engineers In Lieu Fee Program administered by Audubon Connecticut and $8,300 from The Nature Conservancy Berkshire Wildlife Linkage Jessie B. Cox Catalyst Fund.  
 
Photo by Joanna Wozniak-Brown
Like the Howland parcel, the Bristol Easement protects the wetlands that feed the Wimisink Preserve and helps to ensure that any agriculture that may take place now or in the future on the property will be done in accordance with best management practices. The Wimisink Preserve is recognized as an Important Bird Area by the National Audubon Society. The Wimisink Preserve is a special place for people to visit and enjoy, but it is even more special to the plants, birds, butterflies, and other animals that use it. The foresight and vision of the Bri stols to steward this land so carefully and to ensure its permanent protection is a lasting legacy that we all benefit from. Mr. Bristol said "It has always been my hope to have this land preserved forever. There is space here for rare wild animals and plants as well as my small landscape nursery. The Swamp White Oak and Black Ashes here are welcome surprises to most naturalists. I am gratified that they are now protected forever." On December 13, 2019, the conservation easement was recorded in Town Hall, with Naromi serving as the Grantee and Weantinoge as the Back Up Grantee.
Eastman Parcel
Formal steps to preserve this 37.838 acre parcel began in 2012, although discussion began long before that. Protecting this land forever carries out the vision of Lucia D. Eastman and her children. Her daughter, Lucretia Simpson, worked tirelessly with Naromi to ensure the protection of this land and her mother's conservation legacy. Ms. Simpson said "Our mother would be so pleased to have her cherished forest land on Ten Mile Hill conserved by Naromi Land Trust." T
he Eastman parcel is now part of Naromi's 184.878 acre Herrick Preserve. Conservation in this area further protects 700 acres of unfragmented forest, habitat that is becoming increasingly uncommon in Connecticut and critical for the movement of wildlife in our region.     
 
Naromi's ownership of the Eastman parcel permanently protects habitat of forest interior birds, amphibian life that utilizes vernal pools, large and small mammals who have diminishing opportunities to move within large blocks of forest, and passive recreation opportunities for human visitors to the preserve. From December 2017 to December 2019, Naromi was awarded four grants to fund the preservation of the Eastman Parcel: $76,500 Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition grant from Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, $23,000 from the John T. and Jane A. Weiderhold Foundation, $76,500 from the United States Fish & Wildlife Service Highlands Coalition, and $11,300 from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Wild East Action Fund. On December 27, 2019, the transfer of ownership was recorded in Town Hall. In 2020, Naromi will begin planning an expansion of the trail system at the Herrick Preserve to include the Eastman parcel.

Photo by Hunter Brawley
Schneckenburger Parcel
Naromi is a beneficiary of Alice Stephens Schneckenburger's vision for Sherman.  Mrs. Schneckenburger left a bequest of 73.8 acres of land in the center of Sherman along with a restricted cash bequest to help steward that land.  Her gift of land connects two preserves already owned by Naromi, the O'Neil Preserve and the Mallory Preserve to create a 120 acre preserve, now known as the Mallory Schneckenburger Preserve. The creation of this preserve reconnects Mallory family parcels. The Mallory Preserve was donated to Naromi by Mary Mallory Hadlow in two pieces, one in 1991 and the second in 1998.  
 
Mrs. Schneckenburger's great-grandfather, Daniel Mallory, and Mrs. Hadlow's father, Charles A. Mallory, were brothers. Alice's daughter, Grace S. Parker, worked closely with Naromi to ensure her mother's legacy.  Permanent protection of this land protects Sawmill Brook and other unnamed watercourses and wetlands; habitat for forest interior birds and other wildlife; and recreation and education opportunities located in the center of Sherman. On December 19, 2019, the transfer of ownership was recorded in Town Hall.  In 2020, Naromi will begin planning an expansion of the trail system at the Mallory Preserve to the Schneckenburger parcel.
 
Photo by Hunter Brawley