NLT Logo and Image
Wood Frog at Towner Hill
Amphibian Search
on Towner Hill THIS SATURDAY
March 27, 2010 9am (rain date April 3rd)
 
Meet at White Silo Farm parking lot. 
Call Naromi office for more information
860-354-0260 or to register.

 
March, 2010 - Vol 2, Issue 1
In This Issue
Annual Appeal
Annual Appeal
SALT
Greenprint
CLCC
LTA


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Quick Links
Hike Schedule
March 27, 2010, 9am Amphibian Search on Towner Hill (rain date April 3rd).  Meet at White Silo Farm parking lot.
 
April 17 or 24
Hike with NLT Board of Directors Details will be announced later.
 
May 16, 2010, 9am
Bird-a-thon Bird identification hike with Angela Dimmitt 
 
June 5, 2010 9am
CT Trails Day Hike on Herrick Trail to Housatonic River overlook and optional Appalachian Trail connection to Bulls Bridge (rain date June 6th)
 
We will send out emails with more information on these hikes as each date approaches.  Call or email the office with questions, suggestions about other hikes you'd like Naromi to lead, or to register in advance.
 
Volunteer Opportunities
Are you looking for something to do outdoors?   There are always opportunities for Community Service at Naromi Land Trust.  High schoolers and others can earn Community Service.  Please call the office if you are interested!  The office phone number is  860-354-0260.
 

  • Clearing brush & Invasives
  • Mark Boundaries
  • Trail Maintenance & Construction
  • GPS spot and photos at all key property corners for Fee and Easement properties
  • Adopt-a-trail for maintenance and status reports on that property 
  • Compile booklet of all area trails open the public
  • Build Kiosks      Towner Hill Preserve Irene's Woods
  • Re-Build Footbridge Brookland Preserve
 
Dear Friend of Naromi,
The sounds and signs of spring are here -- the wood frogs and the peepers have begun the serenades; the resident birds are starting to sing.  Take a stroll through woods or fields and you will see the first signs of leaves, skunk cabbage, daffodils. We have been busy this winter working with grantors to complete projects, applying for new grants, enforcing property rights, streamlining our office, and networking with other land trusts (see more on this below). These are all important ongoing responsibilities, but we are looking forward to shifting gears back to stewardship and maintenance tasks on the land that we hold, and to organizing hikes, volunteer days and other activities with you!  



Annual Membership Appeal
We began our annual membership appeal  for fiscal year 2010-11 in December.  Your membership dollars go directly toward real, on-the-ground preservation of our local rural areas--woods, streams, fields and farms; they enable us to protect permanently the scenic and natural resources in Sherman. 
 
We are grateful to those who have responded and renewed their membership or became new members.  Please renew your membership today! 
Restoration At Babbling Brook Farm
Scott P. on Machine at BB Farm fall 2010Naromi is continuing our ongoing effort to restore Babbling Brook Farm with the help of a Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP) Grant and a Community Grant from Iroquois. 
 
The WHIP Grant funded significant streambank restoration and clearing.  This past fall, Scott Perssonatti of Ian in BB fall 2010Greenwoods, Inc. brought a flail mower in to clear out well established brush along the streambank.  Then Naromi Director Ian Gribble went into the stream to clear out the culvert.
IG, HB, RZ at BB farm Tree Planting IG, HB, RZ at BB farm tree planting 2
The Iroquois Community Grant has funded much of the renovation of the Farm buildings and surrounding landscape.  Last fall Robin Zitter, Ian Gribble, Hunter Brawley, and Paul Astbury put in a day planting White Oak and Spruce trees near the road.
Small Area Land Trusts
In 2008, the Steep Rock Association convened a meeting of small land trusts in northwest Connecticut (known as SALT).  Naromi and five other land trusts attended that first meeting.  In addition to Naromi and Steep Rock (Washington), land trusts from Litchfield, Norfolk, Cornwall, Morris, Bethlehem, and Goshen now participate in the meetings.

The group has continued to meet on a quarterly basis since then to discuss issues common to all the groups, such as conservation easement monitoring, stewardship and enforcement issues, Land Trust Alliance Accreditation,  development and fundraising, and land acquisition.

Land Trust Alliance holds a national Rally each year in October.  The Rally will be held in Hartford this year.  The SALT group is planning to host some of the field events for rally participants to show off the wonderful conservation work being done in the northwest corner.


Greenprint Collaborative
The Litchfield Hills Greenprint Collaborative is a partnership of more than 20 member land trusts, including Naromi, and community leaders committed to strengthening local conservation efforts and protecting more land of regional significance across Northwest Connecticut.   The Greenprint Collaborative works in Sherman in Fairfield County, Hartland in Hartford County, and all 26 towns in Litchfield County.  The Housatonic Valley Association (HVA) sponsors the Greenprint Collaborative and provides staffing, administrative and GIS support.
 
Members share  a conservation vision of saving at least 50% of our remaining prime agricultural lands, large forests and clean drinking water resources (approximately 70,000 acres) in the next twenty years. 
 
Together the members of the Collaborative expects to increase both the pace and quality of conservation above and beyond what each group is able to do on their own. 
 
The Greenprint Collaborative is a partnership based on mutual trust and respect, strategic action, and the highest professional standards.  The Collaborative helps members protect land by sharing training  and expertise and working to develop new sources of conservation finance.
Connecticut Land Conservation Council 
The Connecticut Land Conservation Council is a coalition of land trusts, statewide conservation and advocacy organizations, town conservation and open space commissions, garden clubs and private individuals working together for the common interests of Connecticut's conservation community.  Naromi has been a member of the Council since its formation (and was a memer of the Land Trust Service Bureau for many years).  Hunter Brawley, Naromi's Land Manager, is a member of the Council's Steering Committee and Amanda Branson, Naromi's Office Manager, has been a member of the CT Challenge Fund Review Committee. 
 
The Council's mission is to advocate for land preservation, stewardship and funding, and ensure the long term strength and viability of the land conservation community. The intent of the new Council is to enable our conservation community to better learn from each other and to even more effectively advocate for critical issues at the State Capitol. 
 
The Council was formed in 2006 by the merger of two existing and well-known programs: the Land Trust Service Bureau (organized in 1980) and the Land Conservation Coalition for Connecticut (organized in 1987). 
 
The Council is currently seeking it's first Executive Director.  The full position description is currently posted on the website.

 
Land Trust Alliance
The Land Trust Alliance is a national organization that provides education and guidance to land trusts.  Their Mission is to "save the places people love by strengthening land conservation across America."
 
When the Alliance was created in 1982, there were fewer than 450 local and state land trusts across the country. There are now more than 1,700 land trusts responsible for conserving 37 million acres of land. The first land trusts formed the Alliance because they believed that by sharing policy, information and training, they could strengthen the work of land trusts everywhere.
 
The Land Trust Alliance advocates with policy makers to improve land protection funding and the tax code benefits, so more landowners can consider conserving their land instead of selling it; provides the state-of-the-art tools, information and training that professional practitioners and volunteers need to effectively save land; invests in strengthening a network of enduring nonprofit institutions and legal systems that can be counted on to safeguard land through the generations to come, because perpetuity is a long time; and helps community organizations develop, leverage and coordinate their communication efforts.
 
Naromi has been a member of the Land Trust Alliance since 1988, has been represented at 5 of the last 6 national Rallies,and has an open line of communication with Alliance staff.


Please share this Naromi newsletter with your friends by using the forward button below.  We welcome comments from you about what you would like to see discussed here and what you think we are doing right, or wrong!  We look forward to hearing from you!
 
Sincerely,
Naromi Land Trust