At this past Saturday’s Civic Coffee Hour, I sat with Matt Kuroghlian of Aspetuck Land Trust to learn about what they do and how folks can get involved. The invitation was everywhere: on local trails, in school field trips, through volunteer work, and even in the choices people make in their own yards.

Aspetuck Land Trust, founded in 1966, maintains public preserves and trails across the region. Its largest, Trout Brook Valley Preserve in Easton and Weston, offers more than 1,000 acres to explore.

For Norwalk residents, though, the most useful takeaway may be that conservation is not something happening somewhere else. It is something people can join.

MONROE, Conn. — Voters’ approval of the purchase of Benedict’s Farm, which will preserve 65 acres of open space in perpetuity, highlighted three decisions made at a Town Meeting Monday evening.

During a public comments session before the open space vote, Adam Goodman, land protection director for the Aspetuck Land Trust, expressed his strong support for the joint purchase by the land trust and the town of Monroe.

“We’re going to talk about why this is important to you, your family, your grandchildren, their grandchildren, and their grandchildren,” Goodman said. “Why is this important? Why do we want to save the land? You guys know, you drive around town, you can see all the farmland that has been split up and developed. Land is not a renewable resource. Once it’s developed, it’s gone forever.”

The intention is to use the land, which includes portions of 30 Old Newtown and 460 Purdy Hill roads, for open space preservation, conservation and passive recreation.

BRIDGEPORT — In a city with Connecticut's lowest tree canopy coverage, a new waterfront experiment is taking root that supporters hope will bring environmental and community benefits.

The Aspetuck Land Trust has planted what it says is the largest Miyawaki forest in the Northeast at Seaside Park, a dense, 12,000-square-foot microforest made up of 6,000 native trees, shrubs and ground cover plants representing nearly 40 native species.

Called Miyawaki by the Sea, the project will test whether an unconventional Japanese afforestation method can help address some of Bridgeport's environmental challenges, including flooding, poor air quality, extreme heat and a lack of green space. Advocates say the Miyawaki method produces forests much faster than conventional plantings of native trees, which can take decades to mature.

BRIDGEPORT — The green, undeveloped Pleasure Beach peninsula separating the harbor from long Island Sound looks particularly inviting on a hot day, when the sun and heat reflect off all the industrial and commercial buildings occupying much of the mainland shoreline.

But while public access to that isolated strip of sand and lush vegetation was restored in 2014 under then-Mayor Bill Finch, the attraction has had operational problems and more limited use under Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration. It was shuttered last summer due to a tick infestation, though is set to reopen this July Fourth weekend. 

Now city officials are in talks to make the site someone else’s responsibility, possibly selling Pleasure Beach to the Aspetuck Land Trust or providing that environmental nonprofit with a conservation easement to help manage it.

BRIDGEPORT — Its fans would say Bloodroot vegetarian restaurant fed the stomach and the soul.

Since the feminist establishment’s closure in December after 48 years, the eatery’s cuisine is no longer available. But the 1.7 acre property, prime waterfront land in the popular Black Rock neighborhood, may still wind up providing servings of inner peace.

That is if the local Aspetuck Land Trust strikes a deal to acquire the site and maintain it as a natural area for the public.

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.