News

Last Sunday, I joined the Norwalk Land Trust (NLT) and Aspetuck Land Trust (ALT) to celebrate their recent merger at the Charles Irwin Schoendorf Preserve at Farm Creek. It’s a special place, consisting of 16 acres of trails, native meadows, and salt marsh vistas, as well as a stone barn used by Norwalk Land Trust’s education program. Each year, the program welcomes hundreds of public school students to the preserve’s outdoor classroom to reinforce lessons in ecology, biology, earth science, and chemistry.

By joining Aspetuck, the Norwalk community will benefit from greater access to conservation resources, expertise, and capacity to protect and care for its open spaces. By acquiring Norwalk’s protected lands, Aspetuck will advance a regional vision for land conservation, the Green Corridor 2030 Initiative, which aims to connect and protect natural areas across Southwestern Connecticut. Aspetuck will hire a full-time staff member to manage Norwalk’s 33 properties and lead its education program. Read the full announcement.

“This merger is about securing the future of land conservation in Norwalk. ALT brings ten full-time staff, decades of expertise, and a proven track record in protecting land and connecting people to nature. Together, we’ll be able to do more, and do it better — forever.” – Lisa Shanahan, NLT Board President

Bill Kraekel, President, and David Brandt, Executive Director of Aspetuck Land Trust; Amy of CLCC; Charles Irwin Schoendorf; and Lisa Shanahan, President of Norwalk Land Trust

This is one of several recent mergers that CLCC had the privilege of helping to facilitate through our Advanced Collaboration and Merger Assistance Program, which is designed to help land trusts achieve stronger organizational health and effectiveness by pursuing structural realignment, advanced collaboration, or merger with other organizations.

This program did not appear overnight, and the collaboration and mergers that we have guided reflect years of conversations, relationship-building, and shared learning across Connecticut’s land trust community.

I remember back in 2010, at a meeting with a leader of an emerging regional conservation partnership, where I was warned not to suggest the “m word” as an option in an upcoming discussion with land trusts interested in models of collaboration. So, I didn’t!

In 2012, CLCC started organizing regional summits for neighboring land trusts. The summits were intentionally informal: co-hosted by a local land trust, always in person, with nothing more than a scratch pad and markers to capture the discussions. I would ask, “What’s on your mind?” and let the conversation unfold.

Those conversations revealed common challenges, shared opportunities, and a great deal of overlap across the state. Notes from each summit were posted online so others could benefit from the insights. More importantly, trust began to build among neighbors, and relationships deepened across organizational and town lines.

Over the years, those informal roundtables grew into more formal regional initiatives, aligning with the emergence of a strong network of regional conservation partnerships. Ideas began to take root, including joint conservation and stewardship projects, regional mapping efforts, collaborative educational events, shared services, and potential mergers. 

Once a taboo concept, merger is now being embraced by many land trusts as a strategic and inspiring path forward—an option to strengthen their organizational capacity, help fulfill their perpetual mission, and achieve greater conservation impact. CLCC is proud to be their partner every step of the way.

In the past year, in addition to the Norwalk – Aspetuck merger, CLCC helped two additional groups of land trusts join forces for long-term sustainability and impact. 

Amy joins representatives of the Hartland Land Trust and Barkhamsted Land Trust to celebrate their creation of the Northwoods Land Conservancy

The Barkhamsted Land Trust and Hartland Land Trust joined together to create the Northwoods Land Conservancy. By merging into a single entity, these two volunteer-led organizations aim to better serve their communities and protect and steward more land.

“We (Barkhamsted Land Trust) didn’t have any capacity, we were pretty much a defunct organization, and we were concerned about what’s going to happen to our properties if the land trust couldn’t continue to operate. Joining forces with Hartland Land Trust was extremely worthwhile for land conservation in both towns. It’s the way to go.” –  Roger Behrens, Board Member, Northwoods Land Conservancy

The New Roxbury Land Trust merged with the Wyndham Land Trust, providing enhanced protection and preservation of New Roxbury’s land in Woodstock and Union. For the Wyndham Land Trust, the merger expands its land footprint, forming one of the largest land trusts in the state, encompassing land in 11 towns in Northeastern Connecticut.  

Congratulations to these land trusts on your successful collaboration and mergers!

For land trusts interested in learning more, contact Aaron Lefland, Deputy Director.