EAST HADDAM – Today, State Senator Norm Needleman (D-Essex) joined the Connecticut Land Conservation Council, Governor Ned Lamont and Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz at the Hidden Valley Farm Preserve in East Haddam for the Council’s 2021 awards for excellence in land conservation. The CLCC’s “Excellence in Conservation Organization Award” was presented to the East Haddam Land Trust and East Haddam Historical Society for their work in developing mini-documentaries and a museum exhibit on Land Trust preserves, helping increase awareness and promote conservation of land.
“I’d like to thank the Conservation Council for their efforts and extend my congratulations to the Land Trust and Historical Society for their incredible work,” said Sen. Needleman. “Developing a documentary series and developing this new exhibit will help spread awareness and inform the public about the many advantages of land preservation, especially given the history and the ambiance of these beautiful land preserves. I hope their work can be used as a template in other communities to further ensure we all know the importance of land preservation and appreciate the natural beauties of land in our state. I’d also like to congratulate the Greenwich Land Trust and Bolton’s Gwen Marrion for the recognition they received today.”
The East Haddam Land Trust and Historical Society teamed up to create a museum exhibit and series of mini-documentaries created by a local historian, educating the public on three preserves holding stone dams, turbines, waterworks and other artifacts still standing from the town’s old mills, as well as the history of the Land Trust itself. The exhibit features a map of East Haddam preserves and waterways and photographs, also hosting an interactive monitor displaying the films. The efforts join to show the thousands of connected acres in East Haddam under conservation and the many acres remaining to be conserved, as well as to encourage further conservation efforts in the future not only in East Haddam but statewide.
The Greenwich Land Trust and Bolton resident Gwen Marrion also received conservation awards from the Council Friday for working to preserve open spaces and undeveloped land.