Partners Protect 1,100 Acres in Quinebaug Highlands
Project awarded $1,000,000 from North American Wetlands Conservation Act
MIDDLETOWN, CT — March 28, 2008 — The northeast corner of Connecticut is often called the Last Green Valley, named for a satellite photo of the night sky in which the region appears as the one dark area in the sprawling metropolis from New York to Boston. In the heart of this Valley lies the Quinebaug Highlands, an expanse of unbroken forests and sparking streams.
With the help of a landmark $1,000,000 grant from the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA), 1,100 acres in the Quinebaug Highlands’s Natchaug River Watershed will be protected.
The project is the result of a partnership between The Nature Conservancy, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, the UConn Extension System’s Green Valley Institute, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Wyndham Land Trust, the Towns of Eastford and Woodstock and three private landowners.
“This is truly an instance of a watershed coming together,” said Lise Hanners, Director of The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut. “Working at this scale is the best way to connect and protect the full suite of services our landscapes can provide.”
The NAWCA grant, combined with funding from partners, will permanently protect 11 different tracts within the Natchaug River Watershed. The properties comprise 268 acres of critically important wetlands, more than seven miles of streams, and 832 acres of forest. The transactions will include both fee and conservation easement purchases, including the 98-acre Still River Preserve acquired by the Conservancy in December 2007.
This effort is a significant step towards the Conservancy’s larger conservation initiative throughout the Thames River Basin. At 941,371 acres, the Upper Thames River Watershed encompasses 10 individual river sub-basins critical to breeding and staging waterfowl in Connecticut.
About the Quinebaug Highlands and Natchaug River Watershed
Coursing through 35,000 acres of largely unfragmented forest, the Mount Hope and Natchaug Rivers have created a labyrinth of unique freshwater and forest habitats teeming with life. Wetlands here support the largest remnant population of breeding American black duck and Cerulean warbler in Connecticut and provide critical wintering and staging areas for migratory waterfowl. Other wetland birds like American Bittern and Sora enjoy the watershed’s still-undisturbed marshes, and species like ringed boghaunter dragonfly and frosted elfin butterfly dart through the Atlantic white cedar swamps and acidic talus woodlands.
This system also provides for human communities. “The water is very high quality because it is so densely forested,” explains Holly Drinkuth, director of the Conservancy’s Quinebaug Highlands Program. “The Highlands sustains the largest drinking water supply watershed in Connecticut, with benefits that trickle down all the way to Long Island Sound.”
For more on the Quinebaug Highlands and the Conservancy’s work in Connecticut, visit www.nature.org/connecticut.
The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters 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.
|
Join The Nature Conservancy on