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More For Open Space

November 3 2006

On Thursday, the state Department of Environmental Protection awarded $6.9 million in open space grants to 23 cities and towns across Connecticut. The state has protected 480,553 acres since the program started in 1998. The state has a goal of protecting 673,210 acres or 21 percent of the state’s land by 2023.

Here’s a sampling of what some of the latest grants will protect:

East Windsor secured a $390,000 grant to preserve the 40.7-acre Trombley/Tschummi property off Rye Street in the southern part of town. The property extends west past existing town-owned open space, where it has frontage on the Scantic River. The eastern half of the property is still in agricultural use, while the remaining western portion is heavily wooded.

The McLean Game Refuge in Granby secured a $315,000 grant for the 191-acre Weed Hill property. The undeveloped property, in a wooded mountainous section of the reserve, will become part of McLean Refuge, a nationally recognized preserve encompassing 1,050 acres.

The Wyndham Land Trust, Inc. secured a $128,250 grant for the 45-acre Loos property in Pomfret. The Loos property is next to the Air Line linear state park and the 101-acre Duck Marsh Preserve owned by the trust. The large inland wetland property is also within a National Audubon Society “Important Bird Area” and is a favorable habitat for a large variety of bird species, some of which are listed as endangered and threatened.

The Simsbury Land Trust, Inc. secured a $181,687 grant for a conservation easement on the 75-acre Masters School property in Simsbury. The easement would protect a trap rock ridge and a hiking trail. Simsbury also secured a $450,000 grant to help in its purchase of development rights to 420 acres at the Ethel Walker School. This is the third grant the town has received on the project from the state. The property contains a combination of upland forest, wetland, floodplains, meadows and an aquifer recharge area.

Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant