Aaron Lefland

Land Trust Preps for New Wildflower Meadow at Silvermine-Fowler Preserve

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Aaron Lefland stepped into a hilltop clearing amid beech, chestnut oak and American holly trees in Silvermine on Wednesday morning, and began to unroll about 80 feet of plastic tarp in a strip over the cold, hard ground. Together with local volunteers Susan Bergen, Catharine Sturgess and Peter Bergen, Lefland—executive director of the New Canaan Land Trust—laid the plastic over the footprint of a house that had stood here until about 18 months ago. That’s when the nonprofit organization acquired this 6.35-acre property from award-winning zoologist and longtime New Canaanite Jim Fowler, and began transforming the property into a publicly accessible piece of open space that features trails, seating, pond views and connection to an abutting 40-acre property that collectively form what’s being called the “Silvermine-Still Pond Preserve.”

The purpose of the plastic is to rid the site of invasive and other plant species without using herbicides or chemicals, so that a wildflower meadow may sprout there. “We tore down the house, and now we want to convert it really into prime wildlife habitat,” Lefland said on a crisp, cool morning, the “counsel ring” seating area created by Gus Larson of Troop 70 for his Eagle Scout project, and Still Pond itself, behind him. “So we are going to be planting native wildflowers and grasses that promote bee, butterfly and bird populations.”

An effort that honors the legacy of Fowler, a Georgia native who earned wide fame as TV host of “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” and called the sylvan property home for nearly 35 years.

News

Letter: Aquarion Land Sale Is An Opportunity for the Town To Protect Open Space

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Dear Editor:

I read with great interest last week of the proposed sale and subdivision of 18 acres of Aquarion Water Company Land adjoining Indian Waters Drive, Thurton Drive and Welles Lane. This announcement strikes me as an excellent opportunity for the Town of New Canaan and the New Canaan Land Trust together to put into action their commitment to protecting open space in our community. A public-private partnership to preserve this specific wildlife sanctuary and to protect an even larger contiguous green belt of land would be so wise and forward thinking. As past Director of the New Canaan Nature Center and a conservationist at heart, I am keenly aware of the challenges of managing open space, but I also know the irrefutable benefits of protecting undisturbed land for all creatures. Undeveloped spaces in a community increase the livability and enhance property values.

Government

Town Council: New Outback Board ‘Likely To Happen’; Facility, Nonprofit Status To Transition

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The Outback Teen Center soon will operate under a new board of directors that will include some founding members of the organization, officials said Wednesday night. Thanking the current Outback directors for their “efforts and hard work and dedication,” Town Council Chairman Bill Walbert said during a special meeting that the organization long has been “playing a game where the rules [make it] difficult for you to win” and “can be very frustrating.”

Recently, Wallbert said, the existing board verbally approved a change that will see New Canaan’s Bob Albus and Catharine Sturgess come on with some others, then for the “existing board members to resign, creating what in essence is a temporary—not a temporary, but a transitional board, if you will—that will maintain, most importantly, the 501(c)(3) so that does not go away.”

“And then negotiate on behalf of the building with other organizations in town, potentially the town itself, but basically have a group of people who are not burdened by the existing rules, do not have to worry about the programming and such today but can act on the best behalf of that 501(c)(3) and act on the best behalf of that building and transition the Teen Center to its next use to serve the youth in the community,” Walbert said at the meeting, held in the Community Room at the New Canaan Nature Center. “So we worked aggressively toward that, we think that is going to happen, and I want to report to you that that is likely to happen.”

With a lease termination proposal in hand from the Outback board, First Selectman Rob Mallozzi last week indicated that the change could come soon. It will close one chapter for the Outback and start another. Facing a far different atmosphere today than it did when starting out 15 years ago—both in terms of programs offered to New Canaan youth and private funding—the Outback’s leadership had sought to forge a partnership with the town that would see New Canaan subsidize and staff the facility.