Money will help preserve wetlands

By Veronica Burns

A beaver lodge in the pond at Aton forest.

Connecticut’s salt and freshwater wetlands continue to be under serious threat, but there are many efforts ongoing to preserve them. Wetlands can be large or small, ranging in size from a vernal pool a few yards across to an ecosystem the size of the Florida Everglades or Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp. In our area, Beckley Bog and Robbins Swamp are just two examples of preserved wetland habitat, Aton Forest, which straddles Norfolk and Colebrook, has wetlands which include a large beaver pond, swamps, pristine streams and many vernal pools.

Aton Forest has been awarded a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Small Grant of $75,000 under the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA).  The grant will help Aton Forest preserve over 1,100 acres of forested land in Norfolk and Colebrook.  The Aton Forest Preservation Project is one of only 31 nationwide that were awarded grants under the program this year, and it was the only organization in Connecticut to win such an award.

“We are delighted to receive this grant,” said Michael Aurelia, President of Aton Forest, Inc., in a press release.  “It may be called a ‘small’ grant, but it will be a big help in preserving Aton Forest.  We are also grateful for matching grants and help received from our partners, including Norfolk’s Coalition for Sound Growth and the Doolittle Lake Company.”

“This project,” said Mitch Hartley, North Atlantic Coordinator for the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, “typifies the kind of work we want to support. The Aton Forest Preservation Project involves cooperation of many organizations, and will conserve wetlands and associated upland habitat for the benefit of migratory birds and other wildlife.”

Aton Forest, organized in 1990 to preserve and increase the lands acquired by the eminent plant ecologist Frank Egler, is a large ecological research station and preserve in northern Connecticut at the Massachusetts border. Through its research programs, Aton Forest has documented the presence of waterfowl and wetland-dependent breeding migratory birds.  The NAWCA grant process focuses on the acreage of affected wetlands and their importance to these migrant birds.

The Aton Forest Preservation Project includes the granting of an easement on over 1,000 acres to be held and monitored by the Norfolk Land Trust.  Aton Forest has also acquired one parcel and is working on acquiring another to be added to the forest’s preserved acreage. There will be an all-day open house at the preserve on Saturday, October 20.

Anyone wishing to support the organization can send a tax-deductible donation to: Aton Forest, Inc., P.O. Box 509, Norfolk, CT 06058.