Featured Activity

Two Great Hikes for Viewing Fall Foliage

There is no more inspiring time of year than autumn to get out on the trail and work out those summer kinks. The air is cool and crisp and the plants and animals around us are picking up the pace, instinctively answering the first calls
of winter. Read more.

Featured Photographer

Dick Clark

Dick and his wife Carolyn Brand have lived in West Simsbury for 12 years. After 32 years with American Honda, Dick retired and has been spending time as a volunteer in town and pursuing his hobby of photography.
Read more.

Dear Simsbury Land Trust Friend,

We need your help!

The Simsbury Land Trust has a unique opportunity to permanently protect George Hall Farm and Pharos Farm in Simsbury, but we need financial support from the community to accomplish this.

You have likely heard about our efforts to purchase the development rights to these two parcels of land farmed by George Hall. George Hall has owned and operated his family farm property on Old Farms Road since 1963 and has leased the Terry’s Plain field (Pharos Farm) from the Town since the mid-1970’s. This farmland has some of the most productive agricultural soil in the Northeast and it is the largest certified organic farm in Simsbury.

We need 1,000 people to donate $100 each.

We are asking you to consider donating $100 towards this project. If 1,000 people would each donate $100 we would have the $100,000 that we need to get within striking distance of closing this important purchase. If you have already made a donation, we ask that you consider making another gift of $100 (or more if possible). If you have not made a donation for this project, we especially ask you to act on this one-time special appeal.

A $50,000 match grant has been offered to the SLT.

A donor family has offered to match the next $50,000 donated for this project. Raising funds for our projects has always been challenging, yet we have always found a way. For this

project, at this point, we need a little help from a lot of people. If we all step up to this unusual and challenging request from our board, we will be able to complete the purchase of the development rights to George Hall’s Farm and Pharos Farm.

Time is running out.

We need to complete our fundraising for this project by July to close on the project this fall. The total cost is approximately $550,000, and we already have received a federal grant for

This farmland has
some of the most productive agricultural soil in the Northeast and it is the largest certified organic farm in Simsbury.

half of that amount. We also have made some progress — but not enough — on the remaining $275,000.

Every donation counts.

Many of you have donated your time and resources to many of our great projects in the past, and I want to thank you so much for your commitment to our mission and our community. It may be that many of you who have not yet made a donation to this project have assumed that we will come through in the end, as we have before, and that your donation is therefore not necessary. The truth, however, is that we still very much need your help. If you have any questions or would like information, please call the Simsbury Land Trust office at 860-651-8773.

Thank you for your support,
Chuck Howard, President
Rob Heagney, Project Chair

Acquisition Projects

The SLT has worked for many years to help provide permanent protection for places important to the character, scenic vistas, and environmental health of the Town. In doing so, it has helped protect large portions of several magnificent north/south corridors- the Metacomet Ridge, the Farmington River and the West Ridge- as well as large individual sites throughout the Town, like Tulmeadow and Rosedale, the Wagner Woods and the Bog.
Two important goals remain. There has been no east/west corridor enabling a hiker to walk easily from the Metacomet Ridge (the National New England Scenic Trail) in the east into the center of Town and across the river to the West Ridge, or beyond to the Appalachian Trail. And, one of Simsbury’s top three farms in terms of agricultural production has still not been protected. During 2012, the SLT entered into purchase and sale agreements to accomplish both of these goals and is now actively pursuing the funding for these projects.

George Hall Farm/Pharos Farm

George Hall Farm/Pharos Farm Brochure

George Hall Farm/Pharos Farm Brochure (810 kb)

George Hall’s 12 acre farm on Old Farms Road, has been the base for approximately 75 acres of other land that he has leased for his farming operations. The existing farm consists of several temporary greenhouses, shelter for farm equipment, a farmhouse, six acres of US Prime and CT Important soils and a popular farm stand. The proposed transaction between George Hall and the SLT will place a permanent conservation easement on his existing land and enable him to purchase an additional 38 acres of Prime farmland soils from the Town that he has been leasing from the Town since the early 1970s and that will also be subject to a permanent conservation easement. This additional 38 acres is known as Pharos Farm, located between Terry’s Plain and Quarry Roads near the east side of the Farmington River. Not only will this transaction protect the farm from future development but, providing as it does a combined 50 acres, the farm will have greater flexibility to meet future challenges and have a better chance to remain economically viable over the long term. Removing the development rights from both parcels will also reduce the farm’s market value, making the farming much more affordable for future farmers.

Additionally, the Old Farms Road site will provide off-street parking and public access for the trails on the SLT’s adjacent Wagner Woods property. The Pharos Field portion will preserve a working farm that has been farmed continuously at that site since it was first cleared by Native Americans long before the colonists arrived. Pharos Field is part of an area with State or National Agricultural, Historic, and Scenic designations. It is also adjacent to the CT Wildlife Management Area along the banks of the Farmington River. It is also within walking distance of the SLT’s Wegner Field and its Quarry Site.

The purchase price for a permanent agricultural conservation easement protecting the combined 50 acres is $550,000. The Town has already approved the sale of Pharos Farm as part of a transaction that will preserve that land and Hall’s Farm through the conservation easement. The USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service has approved a $275,000 grant to contribute to this acquisition. We have received commitments totalling $150,000 but still need to raise an additional $125,000 in private funds.

Tanager Hill

Tanager Hill Brochure

Tanager Hill Brochure (1.7 mb)

Completion of a trail from the east ridge of Town to the west ridge and beyond has been impeded for years by three challenging barriers: 1) the steep escarpments near the top of the Metacomet Ridge, 2) the nearly continuous string of housing developments that run just below the escarpments between Tariffville and Folly Farm, and 3) the Farmington River. Of the three river crossings in Simsbury, only the Drake Hill Bridge is a practical pedestrian crossing. It has the least traffic, sidewalks run from the bridge through the Town Center connecting to trails to the west, and just east of the Drake Hill Bridge via Riverside Road is Tanager Hill and a spectacular route between developments and through the escarpment.

Approximately 1,600 feet wide, the 92 acre Tanager Hill is the only meaningful natural corridor that remains between the Farmington River floodplain and the top of the Metacomet Ridge. It separates the neighborhood of Pinnacle Mountain from that of Talcott Mountain Drive. It rises 500 feet from East Weatogue Street to Penwood State Park feet in a series of manageable slopes, and the remains of an cart road from the olden days provides rare access through the escarpment within Penwood from Tanager Hill to Lake Louise, the Pinnacle and the New England Scenic Trail (one of only two trails in New England designated as National Trails by the National Park Service).

Besides being the one remaining link to completing an east/west trail across town, Tanager Hill is forested with a wide variety of tree types typical of upper and lower elevations and transitional pasture land. A series of meadows scattered through the woods, the Lucy Brook Ravine and a network of three miles of paths winding through the site also makes this a spectacular stand-alone destination. Because of the size of this tract and its unusually varied habitats in close proximity, this site is also an important protection for the 17 state listed plants and animals found near or adjacent to the property. This property is immediately adjacent to the Owen Mortimer property already owned by SLT, and with access frontage on East Weatogue Streeet, acquisition of Tanager Hill will enable to create a premier hiking destination in Town.

The purchase price for Tanager Hill is $2,150,000 including a reserve for its long term management. The CT-DEEP has already approved a $500,000 grant, and a request from the National Park Service- National Scenic Trails program is currently going through the Interior Department’s review process. Present commitments to date from individuals exceed $375,000. Assuning we are able to obtain grant funding from the Department of Interior, we need at least $275,000 in additional funds from individuals.

These two projects demonstrate what the SLT can and has done for the Town. The SLT has consitently worked with landowners to create a conservation plan and obtain substantial matching funds from public sources, but as the late Herman Fonteyne would say, “It is up to you to make it happen.” Once again we need your help to bring it home! There will never be another chance to secure two important sites. Please be a part of the effort and respond with a generous contribution.

Program Activities

Once again this year, SLT developed an ambitious agenda of programs and hikes for its members and others in Town. This year, however, we added two additional programs that have been very successful that we want to highlight here.

Dirty Boots Club

For the first time this year, SLT targeted a program for children. SLT members developed a workbook specially designed for children to learn about the outdoors and the recreational opportunities in our Town, and then sponsored four Dirty Boots Club events for children and their families. We had great attendance at these events, and will be continuing and expanding this effort in future years. If you have young children and would like to provide them with an opportunity to hike and learn about our natural environment, we urge you sign up for our e-mail notices and newsletters or check our website for future Dirty Boots Club events.

Green Scenes Film Series

In addition to the other hike and programs presented by SLT throughout the course of the year, we added a film series this year in which we presented films on various environmental topics followed by a panel discussion by knowledgeable people. Among the topics addressed this year were: {list a few). We have received very favorable comments on both the films and the panel discussions, and will be continuing this series next year. Sign up for our email notices and newsletters or check our website for future programs.