What You Can Do

VOTE YES ON QUESTION #4 MAY 15, 2012 for Phase 2 A.

Push for preservation!

The Trust for Public Land has reached an agreement with Ethel Walker School.  The terms of the agreement require that the Town of Simsbury appropriate $11.1 million to fund the deal.  This amount will be defrayed by state, federal, and/or other sources.  Simsbury voters have voted in favor of appropriating funds for this agreement twice (once in Special Town Meeting on Oct. 17, 2006 and again in Town Referendum on Nov. 7, 2006).  In addition $2.75 million must be raised privately.

  • Donate!  (Donations to TPL are tax deductible.)  The terms of the agreement require an addition $2.75 million to be raised privately.  Consider what these woods as well as the pasture visible from Bushy Hill mean to you and consider making a significant, targeted donation or pledge to preserve this land.  If your employer matches charitable contributions, please investigate this possibility.  You may be able to double your impact with the help of your employer.
  • Get others to Donate.  Consider writing letters to friends and neighbors asking them to donate to this project.  Use this letter (Word Doc) if you’d like (also available as a RTF).
  • Come to our Community Meetings at the Maple Tree Cage on Wednesday nights at 7 PM and get involved.
  • Contact First Selectman Tom Vincent and/or other Simsbury Board of Selectmen.
    • Let them know how you feel.
    • Thank them for engaging The Trust for Public Land to negotiate a deal with the Ethel Walker School.  Without their support for the Memorandum of Understanding between the Town and the TPL, preservation negotiations would not have been successful.
    • Thank them for moving this issue to Town Meeting and Town Referendum.
  • Contact the members of the Board of Finance.
    • Let them know how you feel.
    • Thank them for moving this issue to Town Meeting and Town Referendum.
  • Email keepthewoods@gmail.com to volunteer to help in whatever way you can.  We need help with:
    • Fund raising and organizing fund raising events
    • Grant writing
    • Letter writing, mailings
  • Talk to your neighbors and any others in the community and beyond. Many people have misconceptions that the preservation is a done deal.  It is closer but there is still a long road with several hurdles that must be traveled to secure the conservation of this land.
  • Talk to people you see in the woods. Encourage them to spread the word.

If this preservation effort fails, we will need to gear up to attend the wetland and planning board hearings with regard to the subdivision plan.

Report any endangered species sightings on the Ethel Walker land to Howard Beach (hbeach@simsbury-ct.gov, 658-3240, Simsbury’s Conservation/Inland Wetlands and Zoning Compliance Officer).  Get pictures and/or audio recordings.