Aspetuck preserves 38 more acres - Westfair Communications

From left, David Brant, Dan Esty and Don Hyman.

Aspetuck Land Trust, a conservation organization that preserves open space in Easton, Fairfield, Westport and Weston, has completed the purchase of 38 acres of forestland off Wampum Hill Road in Weston that will now be protected from development.

Since the Colonial era, the property had been owned by only two families, the Sturges and Belknap families. It was originally granted to the Sturges family by the British monarchy. The property was bought in 1927 by Chauncey Belknap, an attorney from New York City, who was looking for a getaway home in Connecticut.

The $367,000 acquisition from the Belknap family expands the trust”™s existing 86-acre Honey Hill Preserve that spans the towns of Weston and Wilton. Since its start in 1966, the trust has protected 149 properties totaling more than 1,800 acres.

“This block of land is a key component in our effort to conserve 410 acres in one of the last undeveloped interior forest blocks in Weston and Wilton. It is the last frontier of open space in our area,” said David Brant, executive director of
the trust.

“The reality is that in the present political environment, financial resources for land conservation from both state and federal government sources are getting extremely tight,” said Don Hyman of Fairfield, newly elected president of the trust.