Barn Island Wildlife Management Area Getting A Little Bigger

The is officially getting a .

On Monday, July 25, 2011 the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) will hold a conference announcing the acquisition of the 16-acre Crowley Property in Stonington on the edge of the Barn Island Wildlife Management Area.

According to the DEEP the purchase of the land costs $1,512,500. Funding came from a U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service Grassland reserve Program and also from the Sarah Ann Martin Trust, Town of Stonington Conservation Commission, Stonington Land Trust, New Haven Bird Club, CT Ornithological Society, CT National Audubon Society and the CT DEEP.

The 16-acre property is waterfront coastal grassland that is a breeding habitat for birds such as the Bobolink a State-designated species of special concern.

On Monday, July 25, 2011 at 4:00 p.m.  DEEP Commissioner Daniel C. Esty and Avalonia Land Conservancy will hold a conference about the acquisition of the land at .

Information obtained from a DEEP press release.