31 July 2024. Aton Forest To Receive Grant to Buy Haskell Property in Colebrook
As part of Connecticut’s Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition (OSWA) Grant Program, Aton Forest will be receiving a grant for $117,000 toward the purchase of 40 acres known as the Haskell North Property in Colebrook, Connecticut. This property borders over 1,350 acres of preserved lands in Aton Forest’s Egler Preserve in North Norfolk and Colebrook, which is home to its Headquarters on North Colebrook Road, and which is an Audubon-designated Important Bird Area (IBA). The grant is subject to certain conditions of completion.
The property features stone walls, glacial erratics, a range of elevations and high-quality wildlife habitats. The property slopes towards the adjacent Sandy Brook and has seasonal streams that drain into Sandy Brook and eventually into the Farmington River. Adding this property to Aton Forest will increase connectivity between protected lands, allowing for the movement of wildlife and plant species. A public trail is planned in due course to cross the property, facilitating public access and recreation on the site, running from North Colebrook Road to Route 183 Colebrook.
Earlier the year, Aton also purchased the so-called Haskell South property on North Colebrook Road.
Both properties are contiguous to and to the east of the existing North Egler Preserve
Governor Ned Lamont; Billy Gridley, President of Aton Forest; and Jen Perga, President of the Winchester Land Trust; at the OSWA Grant Celebration in Windsor, CT on July 31, 2024
Aton Forest is a non-profit land protection organization and ecological field station, created for preservation of Natural Area Preserves (semi-managed and wild lands), operated for ecological and forest succession research in northwest Connecticut and surrounding bioregion.