Blog
2022 Summer Stewards: Session 2, Weeks 1-2
Dear Supporters of the New Canaan Land Trust: The NCLT is proud to share the wonderful happenings of our second internship session. Following the completion of our first summer session, the Land Trust was more than excited to welcome several new members. Andrew,...
2022 Summer Stewards: Session 1, Weeks 2-4
Update on Our Summer Interns: New Canaan Land Trust's Summer Session 1 Our session 1 team of interns has been quite busy since our last update! As of now, the first installment of our two-part summer program is complete. Over the previous three weeks Anna, Cooper,...
2022 Summer Stewards: Session 1- Week 1
A message to all of our New Canaan Land Trust Supporters: Last week marked the beginning of the first session for our summer internship program. This summer’s first group is composed of Anna, Cooper, Elle, Jose, and Ned. Everyone arrived Monday morning eager to...
A Note of Gratitude
To friends and supporters of the New Canaan Land Trust: As our Board President, Tom Cronin, announced in last month’s eNews, I am moving on from my role as Executive Director of the New Canaan Land Trust. On this, my final week at NCLT, I wanted to take a moment to...
Announcing the Departure of our Executive Director, Aaron Lefland
Dear Land Trust Friends and Supporters, It is with bittersweet emotion that I announce our Executive Director, Aaron Lefland, will be leaving the Land Trust later this month. Aaron will become the new Deputy Director of the Connecticut Land Conservation Council, based...
Proposal to Acquire Vine Cottage
Letter from Tom Cronin, President of the Board of the New Canaan Land Trust March 7, 2022 We wanted to let the public know that the New Canaan Land Trust submitted a bid on December 2, 2021 to purchase Vine Cottage. While our bid has been declined, Land Trust’s Board...
November Update from Rebecca Ross, Community Engagement Coordinator
What a beautiful month we have had. The weather gave us a mix of warm days along with those familiar freezing temperatures and frosty mornings. Those warm days are a blessing for another chance to comfortably go outside and explore nature in the fantastic showing of...
2021 Summer Stewards – Session 2 Week 4
Dear Supporters of the New Canaan Land Trust: And just like that - our season with the Summer Stewards is over! During the past nine weeks, ten interns maintained trails across our properties, accomplished many building projects, and learned about the environment...
2021 Summer Stewards – Session 2 Week 3
Dear New Canaan Land Trust Supporters: We're nearing the end! Despite the wilting heat, Beni, Alex, and Matt have maintained great attitudes and been hard workers all week. For the second week in a row, we started our Monday off with a talk from an NCLT friend. This...
2021 Summer Stewards – Session 2 Week 2
Dear New Canaan Land Trust supporters: This marks the halfway point for our second session of Summer Stewards. During our second week together, Matt, Alex & Beni helped me with a lot of varied projects on several properties. Our week began on Monday at the...
2021 Summer Stewards – Session 2 Week 1
Dear New Canaan Land Trust supporters: Our flex week and first week of the second session just wrapped up. I have a feeling the next three weeks are going to fly by! For the second session, we welcomed Matt, Alex, and Beni. All three of them have proven to be...
Brush Piles, Grafting, and More: Short Essays from our Session 1 Interns
Occasional rainy days force our Summer Steward Interns indoors, but we make the most of those days too! On one such day during session one, we asked our interns to write a short essay about any one of the topics that they discussed during the internship program, and...
2021 Summer Stewards – Session 1 Week 4
Dear New Canaan Land Trust supporters: Can you believe it? Session one is done! Beau, James, Adriana, Avery, and Lauren knocked it out of the park this week. They all really stepped it up for our last week together and had great attitudes and work performance every...
2021 Summer Stewards – Session 1 Week 3
Dear New Canaan Land Trust supporters: Week three was a short one filled with high heat, a holiday, and a hurricane. After a day off on Monday, the crew started at Fowler on Tuesday. We have been taking the first part of the morning at most properties to do a...
2021 Summer Stewards – Session 1 Week 2
Dear New Canaan Land Trust supporters: In my Wildland Fire Program at school back in Wisconsin, a lot of emphasis is put on the value and importance of regular briefings and debriefings. Debriefing after an action-packed day is way to reflect and evaluate how things...
2021 Summer Stewards – Session 1 Week 1
Our 2021 summer steward interns just wrapped up their first week.
NCHS Internship Update – Week 4
Written by Peter Vigano After a successful National Trails Day event on Saturday in which we installed many raised walkways and lined the trails at Colhoun Preserve (much thanks to everyone who participated!), we had a well-deserved Monday off. We got right back into...
NCHS Internship Update – Week 3
Written by Gabe Smock I hope that everyone had a great Memorial Day on Monday! This week the interns spent time preparing for National Trails Day (June 5th!), doing trail maintenance, and finishing comparing real estate data with properties that the Land Trust has...
NCHS Internship Update – Week 2
I’m Peter, one of the two interns that started at the Land Trust last week, and I’m excited to provide an update for our first full week. On Monday, Gabe was unfortunately out, so I started the day by continuing to remove the invasive plant Garlic Mustard from the...
NCHS Internship Update – Week 1
Last week the Land Trust welcomed two new senior interns, Gabe Smock and Peter Vigano! Both interns attended New Canaan High School and have worked with the Land Trust in some form or another in the past. Last summer, Peter worked as one of the interns in the...
American Witch Hazel: Facts and Folklore
Most of us walk by American witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) on Land Trust preserves, or in most any woodland area in the Northeast, without giving it a thought. This small tree looks more like a big shrub. With no regular shape and crooked branches that spread...