Sharon Land Trust

Red Mountain

The east face of Red Mountain runs along the right side of Route 41 as you drive to Lakeville. The west face borders White Hollow Road as you drive toward Lime Rock. It’s a very important unfragmented ridgeline in Sharon. The land trust has preserved large portions of Red Mountain through purchase and conservation easement but much of the mountain still remains unprotected.

In 2008 the Salisbury and Sharon land trusts again joined forces to protect two key abutting parcels which straddle both towns on Red Mountain. A 55-acre parcel in two pieces is entirely in Sharon and the adjoining high farm fields are mostly in Salisbury. The views of both these properties are seen from all over Salisbury. The land trusts have reached an agreement to purchase the 50 acres, but are still negotiating an easement on the high fields. The owners of the high fields are a large family who are dispersed across the country. They have expressed their willingness to ease the property, but it is a complicated easement and we have not yet agreed on the final terms. The goal is to complete the project this year. Whenever the arrangements are finalized, we will be sending a special notice with all the details to our members.

Protecting Indian Mountain

In 2005 Robert Fish was having a foundation dug for a new home on Drum Road when he discovered the site was disturbingly visible from Route 41. He deserves much thanks and praise for the decision to donate most of the property to the Sharon Land Trust.  The long ridgeline of Indian Mountain seen from Route 41 is truly untouched and an integral part of the viewshed down to Mudge Pond.

The SLT already owned about 120 acres on Indian Mountain at that time, and Mr. Fish’s donation spurred the Sharon Land Trust to develop strategies for protecting the entire ridgeline. Much of the ridge lies in Lakeville, and the Salisbury Land Trust agreed to a joint effort.

However, initial hopes that the federal Forest Legacy program would provide funding have been lost, as that funding has been diverted to lumber interests in the Wests. Both Land Trusts continue to keep their eyes and ears open for resources or programs that might assist in the process. Do you own land on the Indian Mountain ridgeline? Consider a conservation easement!

The Frost Property

The Sharon Land Trust has launched an effort to preserve environmentally important property on River Road south of Cornwall Bridge. The project consists of two abutting riverfront parcels that would also open 2742 feet of scenic Housatonic River frontage for fishing and public access.The purchase of a conservation easement on approximately 20 acres of the farm of Charlotte and Denny Frost includes 1480 feet of river frontage and an island in the river. It would also protect a very rare kettle pond on the property. Kettle ponds were formed as glaciers retreated and resulted in a depression which exposed the water table to the surface. Kettle ponds have no defined inlet or outlet and no fish. As a result, like vernal pools, they can be host to a myriad of amphibians including woodland frogs and salamanders.

The most celebrated kettle pond in the New England landscape is Walden Pond, made famous by naturalist Henry David Thoreau. Sadly, Walden Pond has been degraded by development. The land trust hopes to prevent that from happening to Sharon’s diminutive Walden Pond.

A preliminary study of the Frost’s kettle pond shows the presence of amphibians classified as both important and very important species. If the project is successful, a plan of conservation and year-long study will be developed and implemented.

The kettle pond in Sharon is also environmentally important because it marks the presence of a defined stratified drift aquifer that is hydraulically connected to the Housatonic River. According to Star Childs of Ecological and Environmental Consultancy Services, the water found in stratified aquifers is naturally filtered and purified as it passes through sand and gravel, thus ensuring high quality discharges to the river.

“Protecting a stratified drift aquifer from surface development and the subsequent potential for subsurface pollution is essential for the maintenance of clear water. The State of Connecticut DEP has made stratified drift aquifers a high priority for future land protection efforts” he said.

The second parcel in the land trust project is a 5 acre field to be purchased from CL&P. It abuts the Frost property and has another 1262 feet of river frontage. It connects directly on the north to miles of conserved riverfront owned by the National Park Service. The CL&P land will extend a trail system that runs all the way to the town of Kent. Its acquisition will secure new public access for fishing, boating, hiking and wildlife observation.

The conservation easement on the Frost property also includes creation of a low impact footpath on their waterfront and the Frost family plans to use their trail as a catalyst for neighbors to continue the trail northward along the river.

The land trust, in conjunction with the Housatonic Valley Association, has applied for a $702,338 grant from the Housatonic River Basin Natural Resource Restoration project. The purchase and the grant application have been supported by the Nature Conservancy, the Housatonic River Commission and the Town of Sharon.

Mr. Power said the entire cost of the project is about $1 million. The land trust will have to raise $300,000 and the HVA has pledged $30,000, but he has full confidence that the money can be raised if the grant is awarded.

The environmental importance to aquatic life and the beauty of this land combined with the public benefit of extending the trail system should make the purchase very appealing to Sharon donors.

Our project has passed the first two screens of the DEP, and we anxiously await the long overdue decision on the grant.

Skiff Mountain

In 2003 the Sharon Land Trust joined the Trust for Public Land and the Kent Land Trust to protect 450 acres straddling the Kent/Sharon border. For two years prior, a group of local residents led by Terry D’Alton, a lawyer and Sharon Land Trust member, had fought to save this environmentally important land from development. Terry had raised over $1.3 million when she called for help.

The goal was to raise the remaining $1,450,000 to meet the purchase price of $2,750,000. The Sharon and Kent Land Trusts, backed by the Trust for Public Land, applied for and received an open space grant for $1,164,000. The Trust for Public Land pledged $50,000 from outside donors and the remainder was raised from generous contributions to the Sharon Land Trust. Inspired by the success of the Skiff Mountain project, a group of seven private Skiff Mountain landowners in Sharon and Kent banded together and applied for a federal grant to purchase conservation easements on 1000 acres of their unfragmented forest land.

The Trust for Public Land worked in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, State of Connecticut DEP and the Kent and Sharon Land Trusts to facilitate the project, which requested $2.4 million from the federal Forest Legacy Program. Congresswoman Nancy Johnson toured the Skiff Mountain site and gave critical support in Washington. In July notification was received that Skiff Mountain is to receive an appropriation of $1.2 million.

In August the Connecticut DEP Forest Legacy Stewardship Committee met and ranked the Skiff Mountain Project “#1 Priority” for seeking the additional $1.2 million. Unfortunately, the focus of the federal program was redirected to large lumbering interests in the West and our project did not receive the additional funding. Our new congressman, Chris Murphy, is working hard to get the funding restored, but he faces strong opposition from the current administration.