News

With nearly 120 land trusts across Connecticut, CLCC serves as a vital connector—fostering partnerships that enable land trusts to share knowledge, pool resources, and address complex challenges together.

These collaborations often lead land trusts to the realization that, by working together as one, they can be even more effective in their mission.

Mergers are an exciting and transformative process, where land trusts come together to consider not just what they’ve built individually, but what they can achieve collectively. It’s inspiring to witness the thoughtful deliberations and the focus on creating something stronger, more resilient, and poised for the future.

What strikes me most is the humility and foresight involved—leaders putting aside pride to ensure that their conservation successes will thrive long after they are gone. It’s a privilege to support organizations through this journey, as their leaders work through what may be the most important and lasting decision they make during their time at the helm.

Introducing North Woods Land Conservancy

Hartland Land Trust and Barkhamsted Land Trust have joined forces to create the North Woods Land Conservancy, a new organization with a mission of protecting the region’s diverse natural resources through the conservation and stewardship of significant lands.

Conversations between the two land trusts began over a year ago, with both recognizing the unique opportunity to collaborate. The towns of Hartland and Barkhamsted share many characteristics, including their rural nature and significant tracts of land owned by water companies and state forests. By merging, the two organizations aim to pool their strengths and expand their impact on conservation in both communities.

Since officially merging in late August, the North Woods Land Conservancy has been working diligently to organize their records, catch up on stewardship, and prepare for accreditation through the Land Trust Alliance. They are also actively exploring new conservation opportunities across both towns and look forward to celebrating this merger with their communities in the near future.

Traprock Ridge Land Conservancy Expands

In the Spring of 2023, CLCC was honored to share the news that the Traprock Ridge Land Conservancy (TRLC) had been created through the merger of land trusts from East Granby, Bloomfield, and West Hartford. This merger was a multi-year process, born from casual conversations, then more structured regional roundtables facilitated by CLCC, and then a merger feasibility study.

Earlier this month, TRLC announced that it has expanded into the neighboring town of Windsor, through the acquisition of the Windsor Land Trust. Windsor Land Trust brings a long history of close partnership with the town of Windsor, advocating and raising funds for the conservation of more than 100 acres. The consolidation was a natural fit for TRLC, which also happened to own conservation land in Windsor.

This acquisition further strengthens Traprock’s presence in the region and enhances the organization’s ability to conserve important landscapes. With representation from Windsor on the TRLC board, we look forward to seeing how the larger organization will continue amplifying conservation impact in the region.

About CLCC’s Merger Program

CLCC’s Advanced Collaboration & Merger Assistance Program supports land trusts in improving organizational health and effectiveness through collaboration, structural realignment, and/or merger. The program provides tailored guidance— from facilitated discussions to feasibility studies— helping land trusts explore new relationships or formal mergers.

For land trusts interested in mergers, funding is available through the Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck (PCLB) Foundation’s Building Enduring Land Trusts (BELT) program. BELT grants help cover crucial merger due-diligence expenses, including legal fees, accounting, branding, and other professional services. Multi-year general operating support is also available from the PCLB Foundation once the merger is complete.

On behalf of the entire Board, I want to express our sincere thanks to the team at CLCC and the PCLB Foundation for facilitating the recent merger. From the beginning, the team at CLCC was there every step of the way providing the necessary resources to help us get through all the planning and legal phases needed to complete our merger and name change…We are extremely grateful for all the support and resources given by CLCC and PCLB, without it we would not have been able to successfully accomplish this merger. – Tom Kean, President, North Woods Land Conservancy

Since the program’s inception in 2020, CLCC has facilitated five mergers and assisted numerous others in forming impactful partnerships. Presently, three land trust cohorts are advancing through the merger process, with support from CLCC and the PCLB Foundation. CLCC’s commitment to collaboration extends beyond mergers, focusing on enhancing land trusts’ organizational health and effectiveness through strategic collaboration and structural realignment.