As anyone who’s visited our Redding property can attest, Highstead is a special place, home to a variety of habitats—from verdant wetlands to dry forests to sunny meadows—each which supports diverse plant and animal communities, including rare species such as purple milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens), bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), and the New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis). Now, thanks to a new agreement with the Aspetuck Land Trust known as a conservation easement, 167 acres at Highstead will be permanently protected from subdivision and development—ensuring connectivity for wildlife, protecting clean drinking water, and helping to maintain the region’s rural character.

WESTON — A parcel of land on the Weston-Wilton border long treasured by Oscar-winning actor Christopher Plummer and his wife, Elaine Taylor, will now be protected for generations to come.

Taylor has donated 8 acres of their property to the Aspetuck Land Trust, supporting its push to create a 750-acre nature preserve along the town border.

BRIDGEPORT — Growing up on Palmetto Road in the 1950s and 1960s, Shelley O'Brien and her young friends in that North End neighborhood often played in several nearby acres of untouched nature along Serpentine Drive.

"A wood with a brook that ran through it," she said. "A wood where we could hike, pitch tents, build underground forts."

NORWALK — The recent merger between the Norwalk Land Trust and Aspetuck Land Trust will not only create one of Connecticut’s largest regional conservation organizations, but ensure the NLT’s long-term sustainability, officials from both said.

As part of the union, ALT will hire a staff member to oversee NLT’s 33 properties totaling 110 acres, and manage initiatives such as the Farm Creek Education Program, which each year introduces Norwalk fourth-graders to the ecology of the salt marsh in the Rowayton neighborhood.

Aspetuck Land Trust will use a recently awarded state grant to expand its Poindexter Preserve and is hoping to also purchase an adjacent lot that will in effect double the size of the preserve.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced on July 15 that the state will provide $14.3 million to a number of municipalities that will preserve a total of 2,270 acres of land statewide. Those grants include $182,250 to the land trust that will be used to purchase 3.57 acres at 398 Judd Road.

(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont today announced that his administration is awarding $14.3 million in state funding to aid in the purchase and protection of more than 2,270 acres of open space through 25 properties in 22 towns and cities across Connecticut. Additionally, $725,353 is being awarded to support the creation of six new community green spaces.

Aspetuck Land Trust (ALT), in collaboration with Highstead and the Northeast Seed Collective/ The Ecotype Project, is at the forefront of this work. Supported by a Climate Smart Agriculture and Forestry grant from the Connecticut Department of Agriculture, the team is piloting a seed-to-plant pipeline: collecting wild native seeds on land trust properties, amplifying them on local farms, and reintroducing them into restoration projects across both natural and urban landscapes.

The Cultural Easton
by Jonathan J Webster

Easton is known for its open spaces—but mostly in Upper Easton. Lower Easton, however, has its own little gem. The Wheeler Wildflower Preserve is one of the Aspetuck Land Trust’s newest properties. Located on Sport Hill Road, near the blinking light at Beers Road, it was preserved just last year in 2024. At just under an acre, it’s one of the smaller open spaces in town, so you won’t need a map to navigate. But that doesn’t make it any less worthy of your attention—or your presence.

Just over three and half miles as the crow flies from the Merritt Parkway, sits Randall’s Farm Preserve. A short hike on a well-maintained path leads to the back meadow. Back here, just seven hundred or so feet from Sport Hill Rd, you can lose yourself in the serene beauty of the preserved terrain.

If you’re lucky and the traffic cooperates, you’ll hear nothing. If you close your eyes for a moment, and then look at the sky, it suddenly seems much bigger, especially in the winter. This is Easton’s “Big Sky” country.

Over the next year, the Aspetuck Land Trust, with $236,000 in support from the Long Island Sound Futures Fund, will plant 30 buffer plantings spanning over 6,300 square feet in Bridgeport, CT.

BRIDGEPORT — Three years ago city planners approved a new land use policy allowing construction of an office park at Remington Woods, 419 acres of forested property with a large lake.

That arrangement was less permissive than the then-existing regulation and also encouraged setting aside open space. Proponents deemed it a "compromise" in the face of calls for the entire site to be saved from redevelopment.

But this month the property's owner, Sporting Goods Properties Inc., a subsidiary of Corteva Agriscience of Delaware, gave the preservationists hope by announcing a new "reuse vision."

Paul Newman’s family was front and center last week, when Aspetuck Land Trust celebrated the 25th acquisition of Trout Brook Valley, at the Pequot Library.

Purchasing the 730 acre preserve in Easton for $11.3 million — and saving it in perpetuity — was an enormous effort, involving hundreds of people.

But, ALT says, during the long saga “there was no moment more pivotal than when 3 (Newman) daughters, Lissy, Clea, and Nell, discovered that the beautiful property they knew so well was going to become a luxury home development with an 18-hole golf course.”

Aspetuck Land Trust was proud to present the 2023 Haskins Lecture, an event that drew a crowd of 355 eager attendees on the evening of October 26th in the Trefz Forum at The Westport Library, featuring award-winning author Leila Philip, renowned for her bestseller, BEAVERLAND. The lecture, in partnership with The Westport Library and funded by the Caryl and Edna Haskins Fund, showcased the captivating history and ecological significance of beavers in shaping American history and preserving our environmental future.

BRIDGEPORT, CT. – Today, local community members, climate activists, and elected officials gathered to show love for Remington Woods, an urban forest in Fairfield County. Over 2,300 people have signed a Sierra Club Connecticut petition supporting protections for the much-loved nature site right in the heart of Bridgeport. Together, activists, local decision-makers, and other neighbors — including Aspetuck Land Trust, City of Bridgeport Office of Sustainability, Save the Sound and State Representative Joe Gresko — delivered the signatures to the office of Corteva, Remington Wood’s owner.

The 19 acres of the South Park property adds to the Aspetuck Land Trust's Green Corridor to protect land, wildlife, and water resources.

First Selectman Ken Kellogg announced that the town is working in collaboration with the Aspetuck Land Trust to preserve 65 acres as open space. The project is contingent upon grant fund applications and further municipal authorizations, including approval from voters at a town meeting.

Michelle Fracasso owns and operates Wells Hill Farm, the last working farm with livestock in Weston, a town famous for its farms. She said those farms, with those barns and silos you found so enticing when you first decided to move to Weston, aren't likely coming back.

"The problem in southern Fairfield County is that we've lost so much farmland because of the valuable real estate," Fracasso said.

But there's hope. Organizations like Aspetuck Land Trust, known for preserving local woodlands, are stepping up to help preserve farmlands as well.

August 9, 2023 | Weston Today

The Aspetuck Land Trust award for Native Landscape of the Year went to Weston resident Michelle Fracasso, hailing her planting of “hundreds of pollinator friendly plants and shrubs attracting bees, butterflies, and birds,” all free of pesticides.