Summer Newsletter
Biking, Hiking, Fishing, Butterflies, Bears, Bees, and more!

Dear James,

It's Summer! Time to relax, get outside, and enjoy the fruits of your support, labor, and love of open green spaces and healthy biodiverse landscapes across the region!

Nothing like a cool woodland hike on a hot summer day. Thanks to you, there are over 45 maintained trails for you to enjoy. We appreciate the hard work of the Invasives Removal Team, the Trail Stewards, and the maintenance team led by our Director of Land Management Lou Bacchiocchi. They keep your trails and your preserves healthy and accessible for all.

Click here to see a video of some of the the many (non-human) beneficiaries of your open spaces; the beavers, coyote, fox, heron, mink, bear caught on our wildlife cameras.

Fishing is a favorite summer pastime. Recently with your help, we were able to acquire South Park, in Easton, among the most important Class 1 Wild Trout Management Areas in the state. Our friends, from the Nutmeg Chapter of Trout Unlimited will match your gift up to $10,000 to contribute to the cost of this property. Click here to donate so that we can take advantage of this great summertime matching gift–a total of $20,000 in support of this awesome newly acquired riparian home for trout in our region and happy fishing!

Ready to get on your bike? Click here for a self-guided bike tour, created by our new Land Protection Specialist Adam Goodman, of some Aspetuck Land Trust properties you helped to preserve. 

Summer means pollinators and there are pollinators-a-plenty at your Randall's Farm Preserve! Click here to RSVP for a butterfly walk with Victor DeMasi on Saturday July 30 at 10 AM. And while there, don't miss the bees. Click here to learn all about the over 100,000 honey bees and their hives maintained there by our friends, the Backyard Beekeeper's Association.

And speaking of pollinators, hats off to all of our Spring Native Plant Sale customers! 300 plant buyers, now Green Corridor Partners, bought over 4,000 native plants. See below for a note from Mel Lemay, our Landowner Engagement Director and send us your pictures, questions, and comments. We want to hear how your plants and pollinators are doing.

Summer also means interns! We are so proud of our intern program supporting young people passionate about land conservation and building biodiversity. Meet Anna, Owen, our Bruce LePage interns and Harper, our Tucker Fund intern below.

Please consider contributing to the Bruce LePage Conservation Fund to support this program for these interns by clicking here.

If you missed this year's Annual Meeting on June 16th at Pequot Library, the recording is here. One of the highlights was seeing each other in person, celebrating all that we have accomplished together and meeting new members of the ALT Team. Luckily, you will have another chance to meet our new Conservation Outreach Manager, Reggy St. Fortcolin, as well as interns Harper and Anna. They will be at the Seaside Sounds Environmental Festival at Bridgeport's Seaside Park on Friday, July 15th from 2:00-8:00. Stop by the Aspetuck Land Trust table and say hello! For more information click here.

And if you have not yet had a chance to contribute to the Green Corridor Capital Campaign, the fund which allows us to respond immediately the moment a great piece of land becomes available for conservation (we acquired 95 acres in the last year alone!) it is not too late to be a part of this successful campaign! Click here for more information.

We thank you and happy summer days to all!

David Brant
Executive Director
Aspetuck Land Trust

Plant Sale Success

The Biggest and Best Ever! A HUGE thank you to all of our amazing customers this year (300 in all) for taking the pledge and buying native plants from us. With over 4,000 NEW native plants, shrubs, and trees purchased and brought home to your yards, we now have KEY stepping stones in the Green Corridor and eco-healthy places for species to eat, live, and raise their young. PLEASE send us pictures of your thriving native plants and the “little things” that show up to feed and nest. It can be a new milkweed plant, or an acre of meadow, we love it all!

Happy Summer and thank you!

Mel

Bruce LePage Conservation Fund Interns

Anna Sorgie is currently a Wildlife and Conservation Biology student at the University of Rhode Island. She was a Corps Leader with the Vermont Environmental Conservation Service and has done research on invasive species across the North Woods in Rhode Island and assessment of the Atlantic horseshoe crab population structure in Southern New England.

Owen Harlacker is a student majoring in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Utah. He comes to Aspetuck Land Trust with hands on land management experience and passion for conservation in our region. Last summer, Owen worked with our Land Stewardship Director in trail maintenance and invasive removal.

Learn more about the Bruce LePage Conservation Fund Here

Tucker Fund Intern
Our Tucker Fund intern this summer is Harper Treschuk, who just graduated from Fairfield Ludlowe High School. She plans to continue to gain real-world experience in the field of plant science. First a nature enthusiast, then a volunteer, and now an intern, she will continue her work in our native plant demonstration gardens and assist with community outreach.

VOTE! Charity of the Month with Fairfield County Bank

We’re in a race for Charity of the Month with Fairfield County Bank. Vote today - it only takes a second - for Aspetuck Land Trust! You can vote as many times as you wish (just not more than once per day).