January 23, 2020

#LoveYourCTLandTrust Featuring Connecticut's Amazing Land Trusts

Town of Simsbury Open Space Committee

Belden Forest Receives National Designation

Simsbury’s Belden Forest is the first forest in the state to be inducted into the national Old-Growth Forest Network. The 42-acre, town-owned property consists of a loop of flat, secluded and easy-to-walk trails dominated by 100-foot-tall white pines. Forests inducted into the network have exceptional ecological integrity and are among the oldest known native forests in the country – with some trees at least 150 years old. Now part of this distinctive network, Belden Forest is forever protected from commercial logging and is open to the public. Watch the induction ceremony and read more…

Wyndham Land Trust

Land Donation Adds to Forest Block

“I always knew it was a special place…We wanted to keep it intact, just as it was hundreds of years ago,” said Ralph Campagna of his family’s decision to donate land to the Wyndham Land Trust.  The 58-acres in Canterbury include a mixture of oak forest, white pine stands, and red maple swamp with an expansive wetlands that serves to protect water quality and provide habitat to a diverse array of animals and plants. The land trust holds a conservation easement on a nearby 100 acres, making the Campagna donation an essential addition to the land trust’s efforts to protect large, unbroken forest blocks in the region…

Bolton Land Trust

Bobcat Woods Community Forest

The Bolton Land Trust recently announced the acquisition of 68 acres of forested open space in Bolton. The new property, to be known as Bobcat Woods Community Forest, combined with the land trust's adjacent 90-acre Lombardi Ridge Preserve form one of the largest blocks of preserved open space in Bolton. This multi-year project was made possible with the cooperation of the landowners, an $82,500 matching grant from the U.S. Forest Service's Community Forest Program, and the generosity of the land trust’s board and other loyal supporting members...

By protecting local forests, land trusts are not only enhancing quality of life for wildlife -- and all of us too -- but are also helping to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Forests, grasslands, wetlands and soils can protect biodiversity and absorb and store carbon — removing it from the atmosphere and offsetting greenhouse gas emissions from development and other activities.  #LoveYourCTLandTrust -- with a mission to conserve and protect natural areas in perpetuity, Connecticut's land trusts are essential partners in the state's efforts to develop and implement climate change strategies. Sincerely,

Amy Blaymore Paterson, Esq. Executive Director abpaterson@ctconservation.org P.S. Handouts and other resources from our Climate Primer for Land Trusts program (1/9) are now available here .

Photo Credits Amy Blaymore Paterson; Wyndham Land Trust; and Bolton Land Trust

Connecticut Land Conservation Council deKoven House 27 Washington Street Middletown, CT 06457 860-852-5512 ctconservation.org

Support CLCC >> Circle 3/21 on your calendar! Registration for the 2020 CT Land Conservation Conference opens next week! More here.

#LoveYourCTLandTrust

‌ ‌ ‌

The Connecticut Land Conservation Council advocates for land conservation, stewardship and funding, and works to ensure the long term strength and viability of the land conservation community.  ctconservation.org ©2019 Connecticut Land Conservation Council. All rights reserved except photos.