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Thursday May 8th Spring Bird Poster May 2025 (1)Download

The Bethany Land Trust is thrilled to announce the awarding of a land acquisition grant of $60,000 from the John T. and Jane A. Wiederhold Foundation, a supporting organization of the Northwest CT Community Foundation.  The funds from this grant and those from a sizeable pledge from a private donor will be applied to the acquisition of 89 Russell Road in Bethany. Click here to view a map of the property. Carol Lambiase, President of the Land Trust, is very pleased with this award. “The Land Trust has a signed agreement with the owners to acquire this 38.5-acre property and we are grateful for this grant, which moves us toward making protection of that property a reality,” says Carol. Currently owned by the Giovanelly Family Trust, the parcel, includes approximately 8 acres of a mix of woodland and rocky outcrops encircling approximately 30 acres of rich woody marsh which protects songbirds, wild flowers, and other wildlife. This property borders the Town of Bethany’s 74-acre Carrington Preserve (managed by the Bethany Land Trust) and the Land Trust’s 47-acre Whispering Pines Preserve. A series of trails and easements connect those parcels and those in the Land Trust’s Bethany Farms system. Carol says, “We…

Thanks to a major donation and financial support from many committed individuals, the Bethany Land Trust has acquired another parcel of land: 16 acres purchased from Cathy and Dan Van Epps on Beacon Road (Route 42) near the border with Beacon Falls.  This new parcel expands the existing 6.9-acre Van Epps Preserve to over 20 acres. Cathy and Dan have now created an enduring legacy in partnership with the Bethany Land Trust to preserve in perpetuity pristine forest adjacent to their home, with Cathy’s Emerald Trail now named in her memory. The Van Epps Preserve lies in a glacial cirque and is fairly flat on the southern side gradually rising until it abuts the ridge of the Naugatuck State Forest to the east and the north. Once an area of pastureland, first worked by the Lounsbury family in the 18th century, it is forested primarily with mature, second growth trees. Very large glacial erratics are present on the property. The Preserve provides habitat for a number of mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds including coyotes, red bats, box turtles, owls, and hawks. Streams rising from the ridge flow into wetlands on the property. These wetlands feed Hockanum Brook in the Mendell’s Folly…