Tolland's Conservation Mission Continues to Grow

The town has added another property to its 5,000 plus acres of protected lands.

The town recently bought an 83-acre property that stretches along the west side of Charter Road from the Luce family for $540,000.

“We like to keep the land open if we can, and we have,” Charles Luce, one of seven inheritors who sold his share of the family’s land, said Monday.

According to Luce, his family has a long history in the town and in land preservation. Luce said his family, which has owned land since the 1800s, also once owned the Charter Marsh property, which is a wildlife sanctuary now owned by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. In recent years, the family has been selling the land in parcels, including a 51–acre area in 2010 that runs along the easterly side of Charter Road.

Director of Planning & Community Development Linda Farmer said town officials hope that the state will one day purchase the municipally owned land to expand the Charter Marsh preservation, which abuts the Charter Road properties. In fact, the state DEP has already provided a $270,000 grant to help fund the town’s purchase. For now, however, the land will remain under Tolland’s control.

Farmer said that the town has not yet approved a property management plan, which may include mapping existing trails on the westerly Charter Road property. The Conservation Commission must approve the management plan before the Town Council can vote on it.

Despite lingering questions about the property’s management, Conserving Tolland founder and president Roseann Kellner Gottier counts the purchase as another success for the town’s energetic conservation campaign.

“A lot of people don’t even walk the trails,” Gottier said. “They just want to know that the land is protected. These efforts have helped keep them like that forever,” she said.

Gottier and the nonprofit group Conserving Tolland have advocated for similar purchases over the last 11 years. According to Gottier, in 2000, Tolland was developing rapidly; it was listed as one of the fastest growing towns in Connecticut. Gottier and about 30 other concerned citizens took action and formed Conserving Tolland to make conservation a hot issue. After collecting 800 signatures, the group forced a referendum, which, with a 65 percent majority vote, allocated $2 million to protect the town’s natural resources. Referendums were held in 2003 and 2006 as well, resulting in another $2 million each year for the cause.

“It was quite a battle,” Gottier said, adding, “It’s been a success.”

With almost 23 percent of the town’s land preserved as open space, either through the town, state or private owners, Gottier statement is not an exaggeration. According to the December 2010 Protected Land Breakdown, 5,919 of Tolland’s 25,792 acres is protected.

Farmer explained that open spaces help preserve the town’s natural resources. The protected land shelters the town’s aquifers and water sources, maintains habitat for wildlife and plant life, and, of course, provides enjoyable natural beauty for residents.

Luce said that the town’s newest land is also full of natural wonder. He said that several species of endangered plant life, as well as thriving wildlife flourish on the Charter Road property.

“They’re pretty excited about it,” he said. “There are woodpeckers out there the size of hawks.”

Although this was the last piece of property the Luce family will sell to the town, Gottier believes the town will continue to preserve its open spaces.

“It’s been a real passionate issue,” she said. And most likely, Tolland’s passion for conservation will only grow.

For more information on new land preservation, visit the town’s Planning & Zoning Commission website. More information on the grassroots conservation movement is available on the Conserving Tolland website, as well as trail maps for the preserved lands.