The town and the Connecticut Department of Agriculture have purchased development rights for 164 acres of farmland, preserving two adjoining properties on Phelps and Quarry Roads.

The Aspetuck Land Trust announced plans in October this year to work with the Connecticut Audubon Society to develop an adaptive management and conservation strategy for the Trout Brook Valley Preserve. The objective is to gather information to help ALT maintain Trout Brook Valley in a natural state while simultaneously supporting its public use goal encouraging passive recreational use and enjoyment of the property. Click on this environmental headline to read more on this story from Twan Leenders, Conservation Biologist with the Connecticut Audubon Society.

The protected area of the Silvio O. Conte Fish and Wildlife Refuge has grown, and the public will gain enhanced access in a place of significance to American naturalist history, with transfer by The Nature Conservancy of 96 acres of land to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The transfer includes a 40-acre parcel in East Hampton that contains a half-mile of Pine Brook, a direct tributary of the Salmon River. This property was transferred jointly by The Nature Conservancy and the Middlesex Land Trust.

A report by an independent panel of experts on a proposed subdivision on Cedar Mountain suggests the town should consider buying the land to preserve as open space.

The 3.5 million-acre swath of the Appalachian Mountains in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut known as the Highlands, runs through Danbury up into the state’s northwest corner.

The Connecticut DEEP and the Avalonia Land Conservancy today announced that they have jointly acquired a 16-acre parcel of coastal grassland on Wequetequock Cove in the Town of Stonington, CT. The acquisition expands what is now a 2.4-mile corridor of contiguous protected open space extending from the Pawcatuck River on the Rhode Island border to Wequetequock Cove adjacent to the State of Connecticut’s Barn Island Wildlife Management Area, Connecticut’s largest and most ecologically significant coastal wildlife management area.

The Toll Bros. made a presentation about their plans for Cedar Mountain at the town meeting tonight, Kelly Mowchan reports on Facebook.

The plan to remediate the complex, available on the department’s site, calls for a series of steps, including removing storage tanks, contaminated soil and asbestos. The project will begin May 15 and is scheduled to conclude precisely six months later.

“It’s heartening to see the President up his commitment to land conservation when many other programs take hits in the budget,” said Jesse Young, Legislative Assistant to U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy.

The winter woods were quiet as walkers made their way through fields and woodlands newly acquired by the Branford Land Trust.

Even though it is nestled under blankets of white and lies quiet during the long winter chill, talk about the Cedar Mountain range is starting to heat up among citizens in the towns of Newington and Wethersfield, the Newington Town Crier reports. Click the headline to read more.

Public interest in development plans for The Preserve, which includes 114 acres of wetlands, hasn’t waned despite the project’s lengthy tangles in court.

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation is applauding a U.S. House of Representatives vote aimed at reversing a lower court decision that made it more difficult for the federal interior secretary to put land in trust for Indian tribes, the Norwich Bulleting reports.

After Planning Commission Chairman Robert McIntyre called the meeting in the woods to order and instructed the group to ask only site orientation questions until the next public hearing, the hiking tour of the site began.

Groton, CT — The Groton Open Space Association (GOSA) has purchased a 63-acre tract in the Poquonnock uplands of Groton with a loan from The Conservation Fund. The acquired parcel will be open to the public for passive recreation, and will function as an outdoor classroom for all ages, providing opportunities for historical and natural
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Gov. M. Jodi Rell has spent the last few weeks working the car shocks overtime over rutted farm lanes and the grassy humps of state parks on a farewell tour, dispensing almost $25 million in farmland preservation funds and open space grants. On Jan. 5, when M. Jodi Rell leaves the Capitol in Hartford for
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“The Preserve” development proposal is back before the town of Old Saybrook and all future options — including a possible sale to conservationists — are on the table.

Guilford resident Carolie Evans was hailed as the “matriarch of open space” and is being honored with a land endowment that was recently launched in her name.

A $500,000 grant has been approved by the state Bond Commission for work on Powder Ridge infrastructure.

Democratic State Rep. Bryan Hurlburt, who represents Ashford, Tolland and Willington, spoke about the importance of land preservation at a forest conservation forum held at the West Hartford branch of the University of Connecticut on Nov. 23.