The Connecticut Land Conservation Council honored the Northern Fairfield Land Trust Coalition, which includes Ridgefield’s Land Conservancy, with its Special Initiative Award on March 21. The award was in recognition of excellence in collaboration for creating the coalition and thus furthering land conservation in Connecticut.
In addition to the Ridgefield group, the coalition includes the Bethel Land Trust, Brookfield Open Space Legacy, the Land Trust of Danbury, the New Fairfield Land Trust, and the Newtown Forest Association Land Trust.
After discussing the merits of working together and forming a coalition, the six land trusts decided to explore sharing each other’s services. The major areas of collaboration were maintaining files, fund raising, community outreach, and stewardship. The six land trusts then looked for funding from outside sources and $9,000 was raised for the project. On Jan. 24, the six land trusts announced they had signed a memorandum of understanding creating the Northern Fairfield Land Trust Coalition.
“The coalition that the land trusts have formed exemplifies a model that can be very affective for many land trusts in the future. Sharing resources and working together will mean that more land will be conserved for the coming generations,” said Sharon Danosky of Danosky & Associates and a member of the Land Trust of Danbury.