Project Info
Project Description
The Wintonbury Land Trust (WLT) in August 2017 acquired an important Urban Forest and Watershed parcel just 1.25 miles from Bloomfield Town Center. We were able to purchase the Evan’s Property with financial assistance from the Bafflin Foundation, Fields Pond Foundation Inc., the State of Connecticut DEEP OSWA fund, and private donors.
The diverse open space is 22.8 acres, of which 2 acres are meadows, 12.4 acres are hardwood forest and stream beds; the remaining land is wetland and new growth woods. We have discovered several vernal pools in the Wash Brook floodplain region. The land serves as a critical piece of resilience protection by preserving a valuable flood retention zone to control flooding of the Town Center in future years.
The property has two public access points along Tunxis Avenue and will support abundant trail opportunities.
The Evans parcel will be part of the planned East Coast Greenway through Bloomfield, offering .4 miles of wooded route options to the Rail-Trail Planning Team. A future Land Trust trail project will be to resurrect the East-West ‘Wintonbury Trail’ and link it into the planned East Coast Greenway on this parcel. The land also links to a local trail directly west as part of the Reservoir #3 public access.
