THE GREEN LEAF Spring 2025
President’s letter
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
After an occasionally wild winter, we at WLT are looking forward to a little spring cleaning…of our trails, that is. We’d love your help – see below for more information and upcoming dates.
Trail-clearing is just one example of a crucial part of our land conservation work: stewardship. But what do we mean when we talk about stewardship?
On the most fundamental level, land conservation stewardship refers to the responsible management and protection of land resources to ensure their long-term health and sustainability. It involves a combination of practices and principles aimed at protecting natural resources, the environmental health of land and water, and wildlife habitat.
In practice, how does WLT steward its fee properties (ie, our preserves – the land we own) and conservation easements (private property protected from development that we oversee)?
For starters, our board members go out and inspect these properties annually with a stewardship consultant. This is to ensure that landowners with conservation easements on their property are abiding by the terms of the conservation easement and not, say, building a pool or tennis court in the middle of the protected area. We are fortunate to have conscientious easement-holders, but annual inspection is best practice in our field. Similarly, we inspect our preserves annually to ensure that they remain in a healthy natural state or, in the case of a farm preserve, adhere to a sustainable management plan.
Another aspect of stewardship involves managing our preserves with trails. Land conservation inherently provides indirect public benefits: protecting public health by fostering a healthy environment, for example, or promoting sustainable agriculture on farm preserves. But public access to nature and passive recreation in the form of hiking trails on our preserves is a direct benefit to our community; we are proud to steward our trails for our friends, neighbors, and visitors.
We build trails thoughtfully and constantly work to maintain and improve them. We monitor and clear trails of debris. We create trail maps so you’ll know what to expect (map updates are ongoing – check out our website for new and improved versions!). We provide trailhead kiosks with information visitors will find helpful. We build benches at key vantage points and work to enhance parking areas when feasible.
Our trail network includes neighborhood paths, perfect for a quick nature break or dog walk (leashed, please, with dog waste bags in your pocket!). These include the trails at the Dorothy Maier, Strong, Sunset Ponds, and Skidmore Preserves. Other trail networks are larger, longer, and more challenging – great when you want a more involved trek. Visit the Cunningham Preserve, the Keith Preserve (and connect to Town trails), or the Coords-Graham Brush trail system (which connects to the Mattatuck-Blue-Blazed trail).
We love offering guided group hikes – on CT Trails Day, for example (read below for more information). But these are YOUR trails, and it’s our hope that you enjoy them…whether you just have time for a quick breath of fresh air, plan to make a day of it, or anything in between!
Sincerely,
Rebecca