Harry and Susan Werner Preserve a Wildlife Corridor

March 3, 2008

The Land Trust is excited to announce that Harry and Susan Werner have generously donated a conservation easement over 39 acres of their land at the end of Godard Road in North Granby. The protected property – highly developable former pastures and agricultural land now reverted to woods -- includes land that has both ecological and historic significance.

It is home to a rich variety of native fauna, including mink, deer, river otter, black bear, raccoon, turkey, brook trout, bobcat, opossum, pileated woodpecker, and a host of songbirds. It also is home to some stunning native flora, including the second largest known sassafras tree in Connecticut, as well as extensive stands of old growth hardwood and deciduous trees.

Just to the west, separated by a thin sliver of privately-owned, un-developable land, lies the Granby Land Trust’s Godard Preserve, a 113-acre parcel that was donated to the Land Trust by the Godard family in 1997. Together, these two properties play key roles in creating a significant wildlife corridor which connects to the Land Trust’s Mary Edwards Mountain Property and adjoining protected state lands.

The property has historic significance as well, as it wraps around the Werners’ house, which is the former Cossitt family homestead. The Cossitt family burial ground also is situated on the property and contains graves dating back to the 18th Century. Brothers Roger and Jesse Cossitt are buried here, having been killed in the 1776 battle of New York. Thanks to the Werner family, these historical sites will be preserved for future generations.

If you know the Werners, please thank them for their generosity, vision and commitment to Granby. The Land Trust salutes the Werners for partnering with the Land Trust to permanently preserve Granby’s natural heritage.

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Put and Nannie Brown Donate Another Conservation Easement to Land Trust

November 27, 2007

As they generously did last year, Put and Nannie Brown have donated another conservation easement on a portion of their land, this time on a 10.3 acre parcel on the south side of Broad Hill Road. The land, which has enough frontage to have permitted the creation of at least three building lots, is across the street from the "Diamond Ledges Preserve" donated to the Land Trust by Mary Edwards and abuts the Town-owned Holcomb Farm. Those properties, in turn, are part of a much larger assemblage of permanently protected land (Enders State Forest, the Land Trust's Dimock and Peterson Preserves and other properties) which aggregates almost 8,000 acres, or 12.5 square miles. The Brown land is the last privately owned developable land on either side of Broad Hill Road for over a mile and a half. As she signed the deed, Nannie said that, "We are grateful that we have had our time as stewards of this beautiful piece of property that abuts acres and acres of preserved forest and   streams. Now, we can be confident that it will be protected and managed for future generations of this community by the Granby Land Trust. It is a happy day for us and for this land!"

She is right. The preservation of our rapidly disappearing natural areas requires a partnership between donors, on the one hand, and stewards such as the Land Trust who are willing to take on the responsibility, and have the personnel and resources, to carry out the donors' wishes, on the other hand.

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Granby Land Trust’s Celebrating Granby’s Farms & Orchards Juried Art Show Award Winners Announced

November 11, 2007

GRANBY, CT – On Thursday, November 1st, the Granby Land Trust’s Celebrating Granby’s Farms & Orchards Juried Art Show opened at J. Vallee Brunelle Fine Art & Framing in Granby Center.  With a full house on hand featuring many of the participating artists and a large crowd of art enthusiasts, the juried art show’s thirteen awards were presented.  Granby’s Bill Simpson, Carla Niehaus of Barkhamsted, Connecticut and Linda Tenukas of Berlin, Connecticut won the top three show awards – The Don and Marty Wilmot Award, The Granby Land Trust Award and The Granby Community Fund Award.  More than 100 pieces of original artwork were entered in the show (52 were selected by the juror for inclusion in the show) by artists from Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

	Bill Simpson's painting entitled "Shadows" of the barn on Kelly Lane was the winner of the Don and Marty Wilmot Award.

Juried by Paul Zelanski - distinguished Professor Emeritus of the University of  Connecticut School of Fine Art, the show features original artwork (painted, drawn, photographed or 3D) inspired by a Granby farm, orchard or agricultural scene.   Award winners were as follows:  The Don and Marty Wilmot Award – Bill Simpson/Shadows;  The Granby Land Trust Award – Carla Niehaus/Fence Row; The Granby Community Fund Award – Linda Tenukas/Fallow Fields; The Ray Betts Award – Kristen Cormier/Old Truck; The Nannie and Put Brown Award given anonymously to recognize the Brown’s commitment to preserving Granby’s Natural Heritage – Paul Goodnow/Birches at Holcomb Farm; The Mildred Dewey Award – Nathaniel Gould/Tree Line – Wilhelm Farm; The Tudor and Laura Holcomb Award – Andrea Marschalk/Garlic Farm Root Cellar; The Matthew K. Orluk Award – Andres Montiel/Peach Trees; The Olof Stevenson Award – Jane Zisk/Granby Afternoon; The Paul Zelanski Award – Edward Mead/And Still Growing; The Cormier Family Award – Alex Vranos/Look At Me – Day Street; The Dave and Judy Russell Award – Michael Patnode/”Say Cheese”; and, The Granby Artists Association Award – Jana Volpe/Red Barn in Early Spring.

Show awards totaling $3,500 were underwritten by:  Don and Marty Wilmot; The Granby Land Trust, The Granby Community Fund, Dave and Jenny Emery, The Percival/Orluk Family, Put and Nannie Brown; Jamie Gamble, Paul Zelanski, Greg and Carol Reid, Dave and Judy Russell, The Cormier Family, and The Granby Artists Association.  The Art Show’s presenting sponsor was Fiduciary Investment Advisors and show supporters included The Center Spirit Shop of Granby and Hayes-Huling & Carmon Funeral Home.

The show – presented by the Land Trust in partnership with the Granby Artists Association - is open through November 30th at J. Vallee Brunelle Fine Art & Framing, which is located at 10 Hartford Avenue in Granby center.  Twenty percent of all art sale proceeds benefit the Granby Land Trust. For more information about the show, visit www.GranbyLandTrust.org or call J. Vallee Brunelle Fine Art & Framing at 860.844.0277.

Since its founding in 1972, the Granby Land Trust has worked to preserve Granby's Natural Heritage through the conservation of its scenic vistas, open space corridors, wildlife habitat, ecologically sensitive areas, and agricultural land.  For more information about this or other upcoming Granby Land Trust events, visit www.GranbyLandTrust.org.

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Paula and Whitey Johnson Receive GLT’s
2007 Mary Edwards Friend of the Land Trust Award

November 5, 2007

In honor of Mary Edwards’ many contributions to Granby and the Granby Land Trust, the Land Trust’s board of directors established the Mary Edwards Friend of the Trust Award in 2004. This service award – the Land Trust’s highest honor – is given annually to an individual or organization that has done – through a single gift or collectively over many years – the most to promote the GLT’s mission of “preserving Granby’s natural heritage.”

At the Land Trust’s annual meeting on October 21st, this year’s award was given to a very deserving couple – Paula and Whitey Johnson – who made an early land gift to the Land Trust and generously announced at the Annual Meeting that they would be donating the development rights on approximately 75 acres of their property on Simsbury Road to the Land Trust by the end of the year.

Presentation of the 2007 Mary Edwards Award
To Paula and Whitey Johnson
As presented by Land Trust Board Member Put Brown

“When Paula and Whitey Johnson drive in their car, their license plate proclaims to the world where they come from’  “GRANBY.”  They love this town, are active in its civic and cultural affairs and live their lives, and raised their children, steeped in the values of this place.  One of those values is at the core of what the Granby Land Trust is all about, that maintaining a relationship with the natural world nourishes the soul and is one of the essential ingredients of enjoying a richly satisfying life.  They understand the pleasure that comes from standing under the branches of the Granby Oak, looking northward across the Connecticut River Valley from “Mary’s Rock” or hiking the trails or riding on horseback on this beautiful land behind their own house.  Such experiences engender a sense of wonder and remind one of his or her humble place in the grand scheme of things. 

Paula and Whitey know that we can’t take the natural world for granted and have been active in working to preserve for future generations, including their own heirs, some of the wild places they have known during their own lives.  Not only has Paula served on the Land Trust Board, she and Whitey have made significant gifts of land, first with the donation of the 41-acre Johnson Preserve on Old Messenger Road in West Granby and, just today, with the gift of a conservation easement on the 75-acre parcel on which we hiked today.  These gifts are magnificent in their own rights, of course, but they came at just the right times in the history of the Land Trust.  The first one certainly was a catalyst and created momentum for the preservation of other properties in the area.  The subsequent gifts of 91 acres of the former G. Ray Smith property and of the 100-acre Schlicht Preserve, as well as the Town’s recent purchase of the 57-acre Haddad Preserve, made especially good sense because the Land Trust already had a toe hold in the area because of Paula and Whitey’s gift.  In a sense, they created a matching gift program:  We’ll give our land if others add to the gift in future years.

Today’s gift of a conservation easement, we hope, will be another catalyst gift, but we don’t yet know how this will play out.  We all hope that others will be inspired by their generosity and will make similar donations in the immediate area or, more probably, elsewhere in Town to further some of the exciting land preservation work the Land Trust is doing.  We have such exciting potential right now to accomplish really quite astonishing things.  Momentum is important and the Johnsons’ gift has greatly enhanced that.  Of course, we’ll need the generosity of other philanthropically-minded families, the continued volunteer support of Land Trust Board members and others, financial support from the Community and a large measure of good luck to achieve our goals.  If we continue to have the passion to succeed, we will.

Therefore, in recognition of almost three decades of enthusiastic support for the activities of the Land Trust, their two magnificent gifts, the all-important example their generosity has been in encouraging other donors to follow suit and their deep understanding of why preserving our fragile natural areas is an especially worthy activity in our fast-paced, media-driven world, we present the Mary Edwards Award, the Granby Land Trust’s highest honor, to Paula and Whitey Johnson.  You join a distinguished group, all of whom have been inspired by, and have carried on, Mary’s leadership vision.

Congratulations!”

The Granby Land Trust salutes Paula and Whitey Johnson for all they have done and is proud to give them the 2007 Mary Edwards Friend of the Land Trust Award.

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Granby Land Trust Presents
Granby’s Farms & Orchards Juried Art Show: Art Show Opening This Thursday

October 30, 2007

GRANBY, CT – On Thursday, November 1st, the Granby Land Trust is hosting the show opening for its Granby’s Farms & Orchards Juried Art Show from 5PM – 8PM at J. Vallee Brunelle Fine Art & Framing in Granby Center.  The art show’s thirteen awards will be announced and presented at this time.  This special event is open to the public and all are welcome. 

The Land Trust -  in partnership with the Granby Artists Association - is presenting the Granby’s Farms & Orchards Juried Art Show which opens on November 1st and runs through November 30th.  Juried by Paul Zelanski, this show features original artwork (painted, drawn, photographed or 3-D) inspired by a Granby farm, orchard or agricultural scene.  The art show is being held at J. Vallee Brunelle Fine Art & Framing which is located at 10 Hartford Avenue in Granby Center.  A portion of art sales from the show will benefit the Land Trust. 

“This special art show highlights the importance of agricultural enterprises to our community, both historically and today,” said Land Trust President Rick Orluk.  “The artists and their work encourage us to recognize how fortunate we are to live in Granby and how important it is for us to preserve these beautiful places.  We hope folks will join us on Thursday night and make time to visit the show during the month of November.”

For more information about the show, visit www.GranbyLandTrust.org or call J. Vallee Brunelle Fine Art & Framing at 860.844.0277.  Show supporters include:  Fiduciary Investment Advisors, LLC; Hayes-Huling & Carmon Funeral Home and the Center Spirit Shop.

Since its founding in 1972, the Granby Land Trust has worked to preserve Granby's Natural Heritage through the conservation of its scenic vistas, open space corridors, wildlife habitat, ecologically sensitive areas, and agricultural land.  For more information about this or other upcoming Granby Land Trust events, please visit our website at www.GranbyLandTrust.org .

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Granby Land Trust Announces Fall Event Schedule
Annual Meeting to Be Held on October 21st

September 17, 2007

GRANBY, CT – On October 21, the Granby Land Trust’s Annual Meeting, Hike and Picnic will be held at the home of Paula (GLT board member) and Lowell Johnson from 2 p.m. – 5 p.m. This event will begin with a hike at 2:00 p.m. on the Johnson’s beautiful property on Simsbury Road in West Granby. As always, the walk will be followed by a brief annual meeting - at which the Mary Edwards Friend of the Land Trust Award will be given - and a casual family-friendly picnic at approximately 3:00 p.m.  This event is open to all Granby Land Trust members.  And, if you aren’t a member yet, join before the meeting (just $30 for a family membership) and bring the whole family – you will enjoy meeting other Granby folks while enjoying the outdoors.  The Johnsons live at 289 Simsbury Road in West Granby.  If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Paula Johnson at 653.3132 or phj38@cox.net.

On October 7, the Land Trust is offering a family walk on the Land Trust’s beautiful Mary Edwards Mountain Property during the fall foliage season. This casual, 1 – 1.5 hour long hike will begin at 8 a.m. and be led by GLT board member Dave Emery.  Those planning to attend this hike should meet at the entrance of the Land Trust’s Mary Edwards Mountain Property on Mountain Road in North Granby (entrance is just north of the intersection of Mountain Road and Silkey Road). Please RSVP to Dave Emery at 860.653.3746 or DWE79@aol.com.

Since its founding in 1972, the Granby Land Trust has worked to preserve Granby's Natural Heritage through the conservation of its scenic vistas, open space corridors, wildlife habitat, ecologically sensitive areas, and agricultural land.  For more information about these upcoming Granby Land Trust events, visit www.GranbyLandTrust.org.

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Buy Local, Support Farms

June 12, 2007

By John Lyman III from The Hartford Courant, June 12, 2007

While Connecticut has a reputation as a leader in the insurance, pharmaceutical and defense industries, many people may not recognize the Nutmeg State's robust and diverse agricultural industry and the prominent role it plays in the state's economy.

Connecticut-grown products are produced on approximately 4,200 farms across the state. From fruits, vegetables, fish, poultry, dairy products, flowers, maple syrup and even Christmas trees, these businesses pump $2.2 billion into the local economy and provide thousands of jobs.

For the past 20 years, the state Department of Agriculture, through its CT Grown program, has actively promoted the diversity of Connecticut's agriculture and its economic contribution to the state by encouraging consumers to buy locally grown products. CT Grown's efforts have provided meaningful assistance to local farmers and others involved in Connecticut's agricultural industry. The most recent CT Grown initiative is a statewide advertising and public relations campaign called "The Local Flavor," which kicked off last month.

The purpose of this marketing campaign, which includes television, radio, billboard and bus advertising, is to better expose Connecticut residents to the opportunities and benefits of purchasing locally grown products. "The Local Flavor" refers not only to the literal flavor of Connecticut-grown foods, but also the flavor or character that the agricultural industry gives our communities.

Buying locally grown products not only supports Connecticut farmers and the state's economy, but also offers environmental benefits: by decreasing the need to transport agricultural products from long distances; by reducing the need to export Connecticut products to other areas; and by helping to keep the more than 363,000 acres of state farmland active and viable, which preserves precious open spaces and maintains the region's rural, New England character.

According to the Department of Agriculture, Connecticut is losing farmland at one of the fastest rates in the country. In an effort to preserve this precious resource, the state has created the Connecticut FarmLink Program featuring a website that serves as a clearinghouse for the transition between generations of farmers with the goal of keeping farmland in production. Because this farmland is irreplaceable, the state is working to foster a new generation of young farmers who want to pursue a career in agriculture but do not have land to work. The Connecticut Farmlink website helps interested individuals to find farmland partners and helps them to plan for a transition that ensures that farming will continue to thrive in Connecticut for generations to come.

Connecticut agriculture is alive and well. Our state may be small, but we have some of the finest soils in the nation, as well as a favorable climate. Our farmers have demonstrated resiliency and acumen, and stand out as some of the best in the world. We also sit in the midst of a phenomenal market with well-educated and discriminating consumers, willing to pay for good value. The future is bright and offers plenty of opportunity for the next generation willing to work the land.

As Connecticut residents, we all benefit from a thriving agricultural industry and we can do our part in supporting our local farmers and producers by purchasing locally grown products.

John Lyman III, an eighth generation farmer, is executive vice president of Lyman Orchards in Middlefield and president of the Connecticut Agricultural Businesses Cluster.
Copyright 2007, Hartford Courant

Feathered Travelers Need Rest Stops Too

May 20, 2007

By John Weeks, Granby Land Trust Member

Imagine, if you will, driving from Connecticut to Florida with the knowledge that you will find only one rest stop with food available along the entire route. You will count on reaching that stop – you will savor in advance the food you know will have to carry you through all the way to Miami. Now imagine your horror on arriving at this hypothetical “Last Food for a Thousand Miles,” only to find that the restaurant is closed – permanently. Visions of ending up like the Donner Party in the Sierras may swirl before your hunger-racked eyes.

Something like this – only far, far worse – confronts a medium-sized shorebird called the red knot. This remarkable creature annually migrates between its wintering grounds in Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of Argentina and its nesting zone in the Canadian Arctic. To survive this journey, it has for millennia depended on a reliable source of food located in Delaware Bay, namely, the eggs that horseshoe crabs have deposited by the millions in the beaches there. Close to 100,000 red knots descended each year to feast on this bounty right up until the 1980s. This happy state of affairs suddenly changed drastically for the worse when local fishermen began using the adult horseshoe crabs for bait. No crabs: no eggs: no food for the red knot. The bird’s population has crashed by almost 90 percent, to 13,455 last year. If the fishermen’s practice is not altered, conservationists predict that the North American subspecies of the red knot could be extinct in 2010 – three years from now.

The red knot’s predicament is but an extreme case of the situation faced by many migratory birds in the twenty-first century. The destruction of rainforests in Central and South America is by now familiar to anyone who has ever bought a grande at Starbucks. Former Vice President Al Gore and others have spread the word about melting floe ice in the Arctic. Less well known, however, is the fact that birds need places to stop, rest and refuel along the way between the endpoints of their long journeys. Fighting to save tropical forests and tundra will all be to no avail if birds can find no place to rest and feed in between.

This is where bird conservation comes home to all of us, even here in Granby. The red knot doesn’t visit us, but many other birds do. Some of them you will see at your backyard feeders, especially in spring and fall when they are embarked on their long and perilous travels. Others will remain largely undetected yet present, if only briefly, in our fields, marshes and woods. They need these places as desperately as they need their ultimate destinations far to the north or south.

I have led several bird walks in town, and the participants have marveled at the beauty of these wondrous pilgrims. Earlier this month, my wife Chris and I led two such walks offered by the Granby Land Trust in North Granby on which we observed more than fifty species of birds. They ranged from an uncommon marsh bird, the Virginia rail, to the rarely seen Bay-breasted Warbler. Perhaps most gratifying of all was an adult bald eagle that swept by overhead. As recently as the 1970s, this majestic species stood on the verge of extinction east of the Mississippi. Now, thanks to the concerted efforts of citizens, conservation groups and governments, our nation’s symbol is once again a familiar sight.

The people of Granby have been far-sighted enough to recognize the value of preserving natural spaces in our town while there are still such spaces to save. We humans benefit by being able to live in a remarkably beautiful place, and the local animals that share this place also benefit in obvious ways. Our transient guests from the avian world, though it is far less apparent to the casual observer, depend on us “to keep a light on at the inn” for them. Thanks to the work of the Granby Land Trust, Holcomb Farm and McLean Game Refuge, as well as the unsung efforts of many private citizens of the town, that light shines brightly. May it never go out. The red knot illustrates what the alternative could be.

Daisy Girl Scouts Earn Patch Letterboxing on Land Trust’s Godard Preserve

May 20, 2007

By Sandra Fischer

North Granby, CT -- It was the first gorgeous day of Spring when fifteen Daisy Girl Scouts went on a treasure hunt through the Granby Land Trust’s Godard Preserve in North Granby in search of a hidden letterbox.  The torrential rains of the week before were over, and off they went “into the woods.” 

The aim was to earn their “Courageous and Strong” Patch.  To do this, they had to find a letterbox planted deep within Granby Land Trust property.  “A letterbox, what’s that?” they asked.   The girls were then told that a typical letterbox includes a stamp, stamp pad, pen, and record book, which are left at the letterbox site.  These supplies are hidden, usually in a plastic container, behind a rock, inside a hollow tree, or in some other creative spot. To find the letterbox, you must follow written clues.  The clues to the location of this particular letterbox were found on the Granby Land Trust Website, www.granbylandtrust.org.  It was explained that when you visit a letterbox, you bring your own personal record book and stamp, so that you can not only mark the book left on site, but also use the stamp on site to mark your book.  The Daisy Scouts brought their “Troop 6125 Record Book” so that they could record their accomplishment as a group, and also individual books to record their personal adventures.   Yes, they found the letterbox, and each girl proved that she was “courageous and strong!”

The Granby Land Trust is excited to announce that it has planted letterboxes on three of its properties; The Godard Preserve, The Mary Edwards Mountain Property and the Western Barndoor Hill Preserve.  Letterboxing is a great way to add some excitement to a family walk in the woods.  Kids love following the clues to find the hidden “treasure” and collecting new stamps in their notebooks.  To obtain clues to the letterboxes hidden on Granby Land Trust properties, go to www.granbylandtrust.org/letterbox .

To learn more about letterboxing, and obtain clues to the many letterboxes in Connecticut State Forests and other Granby locations, as the Holcomb Farm, you can visit www.letterboxing.org.

Since its founding in 1972, the Granby Land Trust has worked to preserve Granby's Natural Heritage through the conservation of its scenic vistas, open space corridors, wildlife habitat, ecologically sensitive areas, and agricultural land.  To become a member of the Granby Land Trust or learn more upcoming Granby Land Trust events, please visit our website at www.GranbyLandTrust.org .

Arborworks Donates Time and Service to Care for Granby Oak: Tree in Good Health

March 22, 2007

The Granby Land Trust would like to thank Brian Watkins - a Granby native - and his company, Arborworks, for their continued care of the Land Trust's Granby Oak. Brian has generously donated his time and service to care for and monitor the health of the Granby Oak over the last several years. Recently, Arborworks recruited Arbor Services of Washington Depot to help them with some tree maintenance done during February (you may have seen them and their trucks on Day Street performing this work - see the attached photos). The Land Trust would also like to recognize and thank Arbor Services for donating their time, services and equipment to care for this beautiful tree.

On behalf of the Granby Land Trust board, we are happy to report that the Granby Oak is in "good health" for a tree "of its age" and we thank Arborworks and Arbor Services for their generous help and support. Please click here to see an in-depth report on work done and general health of the Granby Oak as provided by Brian Watkins.

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