What is the Green Corridor?
The Green Corridor is Aspetuck Land Trust’s vital initiative to link the green spaces within developed residential and urban to the protected natural areas we steward. This transforms many isolated fragments of habitat into a vast, and unified natural area, which has a much greater capacity to support the trees, plants, birds, butterflies, and wildlife we love and need. The connectivity of green spaces supports wildlife and pollinator populations, protects water resources, improves air quality, and provides more opportunities for outdoor recreation. We are aiming to connect the green spaces that Aspetuck Land Trust owns to the backyards homeowners can steward. Your land can become a part of our Green Corridor!!
What We Are Doing
Aspetuck Land Trust is creating a greener, more sustainable world by connecting Southern Connecticut’s 1000’s of acres of protected preserves with 1000’s of biodiverse backyards into a thriving greenway called the Green Corridor.
We have developed a detailed plan for a 40,000-acre Green Corridor to safeguard land, wildlife and water resources and lessen the climate crisis. Today, the Green Corridor extends through Fairfield, Westport, Weston, Easton, Wilton, Redding, Monroe, and Bridgeport.
Criteria we used to geolocate the Green Corridor:
Maintain and preserve habitats along important riparian corridors (Saugatuck and Mill Rivers and Sasco Brook).
Link existing Aspetuck Land Trust properties and other protected open spaces.
Link habitats of known rare flora and fauna and other species of conservation concern.
Avoid and mitigate the effects of habitat fragmentation.
Protect properties with important farmland soils.
The Green Corridor has 2 major components:
Land Protection: Conserving and preserving undeveloped strategically located land parcels in the region by either purchasing them or receiving them as donations. Through our strategic conservation mapping we have identified 42 properties for protection totaling 805 acres. In addition, we are working to protect a 705-acre forest reserve on the Weston Wilton border.
Land Stewardship: We help homeowners see their yards as living stepping stones that provide food for wildlife like butterflies and bees making their way through the landscape. By November 2021, more than 820 households have signed the Green Corridor Pledge promising to reduce the size of their lawns by planting native species and reducing their use of pesticides. We have recruited a group of landscapers dedicated to these principles.
Everyone can make a difference. We can save the planet one acre – or one yard – at a time.
Donate to support our Green Corridor Vision.
Take the Pledge and become a vital asset to the ecosystem!
What You Can Do
Join Your Yard to the Green Corridor
We ask homeowners to take the Green Corridor Pledge which asks you to:
Plant native Plants
Native plants are from the area that are a critical part of the local wildlife and insects' natural diet and life cycles.
Rethink your lawn
Reduce the size of your lawn and replace it with native plants and watch the birds and butterflies return!
Avoid pesticides
Pesticides and herbicides kill beneficial insects which are a crucial part of the ecosystem, and can harm human and pet health.
Our Generous Donors
as of Dec 31, 2021
Daniel E. Offutt, III Charitable Trust
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Christine Knuth
Bill Kutik
Bill and Eileen Kraekel
Marc and Cathy Lasry
Dan Levinson
Christina and Woodson Duncan
Ted and Selina Huber
Estate of Pamela W. Ritter
Paul and Betsy Shiverick
Cleo and Jonathan Sonneborn
Darcy Stacom and Chris Kraus*
Ann and Charlie Stebbins
Anonymous
Melissa and Geoffrey Bradshaw-Mack
CT Fee in Lieu Program, Audubon CT
Andy and Nancy Frankel
Ellen and Paul Greenberg
Amy and Steve Harlacker
Bonnie and Robert Kreitler
Kevin and Sally MacGuire
Sasa Mahr-Batuz
McHugh Family
The Muller Family
Kurt and Clea Soderlund*
Landon T. Storrs in memory of David K. Storrs
Christian and Eva Trefz
William C. Bullitt Foundation
Leslie and Peter Cawley
Luisa Francoeur
Walter and Betsy Greene
Alison James and Jim Reesman
Jacquie Littlejohn
Charles MacCormack
Debra and Ed Mahony
Toni Morton-Dimes
Melissa Newman and Raphael Elkind
Tracy Pennoyer and John Auchincloss
Anonymous
Melissa and John Ceriale Family Foundation
Jim Donaghy
Van and Wendy Dusenbury
Alan and Betty Feldman
R. Hahn Foundation
Anonymous
Misty Beyer
Deborah Harper Bono and Girome Bono
Dr. Mark Hotchkiss and Ms. Marcia Cohen
Jonathan and Leigh Gage
Prashanti Gogineni and Ramachandran Cherukuri
Chris and Andrea Kerin
Pete Petron and Emily Kerns
Lisa Hersch and Jonathan M. Siner
Michelle Fracasso and Jonathan Spitzer
Lea and Dave Sylvestro
Michael Tunstall and Katherine Hauser
Jeff and Lori Galdenzi
Ross and Ande Ogden
Heather Williams and Colin Walklet
These generous donors gave $2,500 or more.
*Building Bridges/Vision 2030