Beacon Falls

Lantern Ridge Open Space - Natural Resource Inventory

The ERT is currently working with the Beacon Falls Conservation Commission by providing assistance with a natural resource inventory and management information for the town owned Lantern Ridge Open Space Parcel. The project site is 97 acres located on Skokorat Road and the Seymour town line. In the latter part of 2009 the Conservation Commission became the official steward of the property. They began installing boundary markers in April 2010. The property is dense and varied with areas containing steep, rocky terrain, and other flat marshy land. It is heavily forested with pine and other indigenous trees. It also contains a vernal pool, small streams and stonewalls. To the casual observer it is thriving with indigenous plants and wildlife. This Beacon Falls Conservation Commission website has photos from their April 2010 boundary marking project. http://home.comcast.net/~bfcc-ct/site/?/home/

A 1990 King’s Mark ERT titled Rimmon Brook Subdivision (available on our website as a PDF) was conducted for a much larger parcel (+270 acres straddling the Seymour and Beacon Falls town line) which includes Lantern Ridge.

Reason for Request and Concerns: The Conservation Commission is now in the process of determining the best use of the parcel, active or passive and how to best manage the property. A natural resource inventory and management guidelines will be used by the commission to develop a stewardship plan to  protect and enhance the site while opening it up for public enjoyment.

Lantern Ridge ERT Field Tour (To view, double click on the "Lantern Ridge ERT Field Tour" link and the file will open in google earth. The trail will be visable and the red markers along the way are pictures, click once to view the photo, click twice for the photo to be viewable in the direction the photo was taken.(In order to view this file you will need to download the latest version of google earth)

 

 

Bolton

Heritage Farm Natural & Historic Resource Inventory

The ERT is currently working with the Bolton Heritage Farm Commission in providing them a natural and historic resource inventory for the Bolton Heritage Farm. The 102 acre town owned farm located on Bolton Center Road just past the Town Hall was purchased by the Town in 2000. 88 acres are under a conservation easement to the State of Connecticut. The other approximately 12 acres, which include the house, barn and upper hayfields, are not under conservation easement but are restricted to “municipal purposes.” Approximately 20 acres of the farm are enrolled in the USDA’s Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program and a 10-year maintenance plan under that program was started in August 2008. A structural analysis of the house and barn with recommendations for future uses was completed in September 2008 by Nelson Edwards Company Architects, LLC. Also a hiking trail is located on the farm.

Reason for Request and Concerns: The Bolton Heritage Farm Commission, established in 2006 by the Bolton Board of Selectman, is charged by town ordinance to “develop and submit for the Board of Selectman’s approval a written plan for the short and long term mixed use of the Bolton Heritage Farm which could include historical, agricultural, educational, civic and tourist utilization>” The ERT will assist the Commission in achieving this purpose. The Commission will use the ERT information to create a plan for the farm and to give informed advice to the Bolton Board of Selectmen about special opportunities or limitations presented by the natural and historic qualities of the farm. Specific concerns include:Wetlands, Lakes and Ponds, Forestry /Vegetation, Agriculture, Farmland Preservation, Historic Significance and Archeology
(The 1781 Rochambeau encampment site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is designated a State Archaeological Preserve. The precise boundaries of the encampment have not been determined. A general sketch of the site shows the boundary running north-south through the barn, which was built in 1908.)