Couple Donates 36 Acres in Connecticut to The Nature Conservancy
Land donation contributes to efforts to connect Nipmuck State Forest and Yale-Myers Forest
UNION, CT — February 13, 2007 — The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut received the third in a series of forest land donations from Ralph and Cecilia Otto of Union. With this latest donation of 36 acres, the Ottos have donated 75 acres to the Conservancy. The couple agreed to convey a total of 115 acres in parcels over a number of years, completing the donations in 2009.
The 36-acre Otto tract begins to make the geographic and ecologic
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Otto Lost Pond, Quinebaug Highlands
© Alden Warner
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connection between the 9,000-acre Nipmuck State Forest and the 7,800-acre Yale-Myers Forest. The p roperty and these two vast forests are at the heart of the Quinebaug Highlands project area, which centers on a 34,000-acre forest block stretching across four towns in Connecticut (Ashford, Eastford, Union and Woodstock) and two in Massachusetts (Southbridge and Sturbridge).
“Although many of our forests have succumbed to development, there are still places in Connecticut where you can experience the solace and wonder of nature,” said Lise Hanners, state director of The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut. “The Ottos’ donations help the Conservancy make connections between large areas of forest land, which will help maintain migratory corridors for wildlife and provide natural services such as water quality protection.”
The Otto’s latest donation protects a healthy stand of lower New England piedmont forest, which includes oaks, maples and hemlocks. Previous donations from the couple helped protect Lost Pond and land adjacent to the pond, containing extensive wetlands and significant forested lands.
“This area of the state faces significant pressure from incompatible development,” said Holly Drinkuth, who directs the Quinnebaug Highlands Project for The Nature Conservancy. “With rising real estate prices, donations from landowners like Ralph and Cecilia Otto are critical to achieving key conservation connections.”
The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working to protect the most ecologically important lands and waters around the world for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.
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