Strategic connector of multi-town forest expanse protected

by David Beers

Back in 2004, Norfolk Land Trust founder Colin Tait, had a vision to create a continuous corridor of protected forest from Route 8 in Winsted to Route 7 in Canaan. That vision just became ever more real with the recent acquisition of the 235 acres previously owned by the Kopp family on the south side of Bruey Road. The Kopp family is thrilled to have the property enjoyed by the entire community in perpetuity.

One can walk a continuous forest stretch, with very few road crossings, starting with large protected forests of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Winchester Land Trust properties and Winsted Water Department to the east. Then through the forests of Dennis Hill State Park, more TNC preserves, and Norfolk Land Trust (NLT) properties. And finally, on to the massive unbroken Great Mountain Forest and more TNC preserves until reaching Route 7. The expanse between Routes 7 and 8 is large patch of dark on the night landscape, with recent NLT acquisitions smack dab in the middle.

Starting in 2004, the land trust began acquiring properties in the area where Winchester Road, Parker Hill Road, Schoolhouse Road and Bruey Road come together. The properties were a mix of donations and purchases, and add up to almost 600 acres. The land trust has names for all of these properties and they are East Branch Headwaters, Riggs Hill, Grant Swamp (conservation easement), 1482 Preserve, Hall Meadow Brook and now the additional 235 acres of the Kopp property. All of these properties are connected to each other.

The land trust purchased the property from brothers Bradford, Alex and Jeffrey Kopp, whose late parents, Brewster and Ruth, bought it in 1961. Brewster Kopp was an Assistant Secretary of the Army in the 1960s. The brothers put the property on the market four years ago. Since that time, the land trust has been working on obtaining the needed funding to acquire the property. 

A mix of funding sources were used to purchase the property for $820,000. With an appraised value of $846,000, this was a bargain sale. The funds were as follows: William P. Wharton Trust ($15,000), AKC Fund ($45,000), John T & Jane A Wiederhold Foundation as part of the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation ($150,000) and a few individual donors. The remaining funding came from a State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition Grant (OSWA) ($328,000) and a U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Highlands Conservation Act Grant ($258,500). The DEEP grant program is very competitive and this property ranked the highest of any property in the state in year 2020.

So why did the Kopp property rank highest in the 2020 OSWA grant round? As previously mentioned, it has a keystone position in a vast swath of protected forest. It is at the top of the watershed for both the east and west branch of the Naugatuck River. Its eighteen acres of wetlands is the headwaters of three cold-water streams. According to Connecticut’s Natural Diversity Database, the property has ten species of rare animals and plants, including three bats, a fish, and six plants. This property has been identified by The Nature Conservancy as part of a large resilient landscape in Northwest Connecticut. Almost all of the property has been designated by the State as part of a large core forest block having well over 500 acres of contiguous forest. Most importantly, it will be safeguarded by a very active and accredited land trust that protects a dozen properties of its own, with over a thousand acres, and another twenty-one conservation easements on over three thousand acres.

Now that the acquisition is complete, the land trust has some work to do on the property. Like all of its ownerships and easements, NLT will need to create a management plan for the property and commence annual monitoring and associated documentation. NLT signs will be hung on all of the property boundaries. NLT has plans to create and maintain a trail system to add to its existing twenty miles of trails. The existing old woods roads provide some perfect trail locations to bring hikers through the hemlock/maple/birch forest, that occupies most of the property, and out to the mature oak forest in the property’s southern hinterlands. Out in the southern hinterlands are some massive glacial erratics to check out. The small cabin on the pond will be converted to a wildlife watching blind. A trail information kiosk will be added to the existing off-street parking on Bruey Road. Stay tuned to Norfolk Now for an upcoming announcement of the opening of the trail system.