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When looking out at a landscape choked with aggressive vines and shrubs, it can feel like a daunting or overwhelming task to begin the process of removal and restoration. A recent collaborative workshop at Aspetuck Land Trust’s Trout Brook Valley Preserve showcased how organized and persistent work with willing volunteers can make a significant difference.

This field workshop brought together a dedicated group representing three town land trusts, as well as local Aspetuck members eager to get more involved in hands-on stewardship. The day served as an excellent opportunity for smaller land trusts to connect with their regional neighbors, creating a space for knowledge sharing of  tried and true management methods.

The spectacular Trout Brook Valley Preserve features nearly 14 miles of trails weaving through a landscape of scenic overlooks, wetlands, and even an abundant orchard. It forms a massive 1,009-acre contiguous haven of conserved land in Fairfield County. Protecting an ecologically diverse landscape of this scale requires long term stewardship planning. This workshop highlighted the implementation and real-world outcomes of Aspetuck’s comprehensive 10-year invasive species management plan, now in its fifth year.

The workshop was led by Justin Giorlando, Aspetuck’s Stewardship Director, and Bob Kreitler, the lead volunteer of the invasive removal plan and of the volunteer force, as well as Joan Byrnes and Dennis McKeon, dedicated volunteers. Participants dove into the specific control measures and methods implemented at the preserve, including an honest discussion about adaptive management, lessons learned over the last five years, and the various techniques of responsible herbicide use to scale these efforts legally and safely. Following the group discussions, we took to the trails to see the impacts of their work firsthand. We saw areas of dramatic progress where native understory plants are beginning to bounce back, and contrasting against dense thickets flagged for future work.

A clear takeaway from the day was that managing invasives successfully requires persistence, organization, and collaboration. By sharing their strategic blueprints, Aspetuck Land Trust provided neighboring organizations with actionable methods to take back to their own properties. These kinds of connections are so fruitful and significantly amplify the impact of these projects.