The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Land Trust buys farm
Plans to preserve over 100 acres of open space
“We never could have completed this two-year project without the incredible support of our community.” Board member Chuck Dmytriw
WINSTED — The Winchester Land Trust announced Monday it has bought the 121acre TorWin Farm property at 243 South Road on the town line and plans to preserve it as open space.
With the addition to its holdings, the land trust has now conserved 490 acres of land in town, President Jen Perga said in a release Monday.
“The farm consists of beautiful grassland and forest straddling the Winchester/Torrington border. This property is a wilderness corridor between two parts of the Paugnut State Forest and makes connections to Burr Pond State Park, Highland Lake and Platt Hill State Park,” Perga said in the release. “Preserving this parcel protects valuable wildlife habitat and the Burr Pond watershed, while opening the property to the public.”
The purchase was funded by a loan from “The Conservation Fund that bridged pledged funds from the State of Connecticut’s DEEP Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition Program and the Highlands Conservation Act Grant Program,” as well as matching donations from the community, Perga said.
The property will be renamed the John and Virginia Houlihan Woods to honor the family of its previous owner, and an area on the Torrington side of the land will be established in tribute to Michael Giordano, the late husband of Lynn Giordano, Perga said.
It was sold for a “bargain-sale” price, Perga said — thanks to Cara and Ken Blazier, the previous owner, were included in the release.
“We never could have completed this two-year project without the incredible support of our community,” said board member Chuck Dmytriw as part of the release.
Perga said the property was used as a horse farm and airstrip by John and Virginia Houlihan — where supplies were brought in after the Flood of 1955, as well as a condensed milk farm by Gail Borden.
It is now the home to bobolinks, a species of blackbird, according to the
release.
“It’s easy to see the incredible display of male bobolinks as they flutter their wings, hovering above the grasses in the spring and early summer — no binoculars or special equipment is needed,” said board member, Louise VanAlstyne in the release.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., came to visit the TorWin farm property in October 2016, meeting with representatives of the land trust to discuss the Highlands Preservation Act, a federal program which provides matching funds for the preservation of land in a region stretching from Connecticut to Pennsylvania.
“Here in Connecticut, we know it’s the holy grail, right? Protecting these parcels is not just the right environmental and ecological policy, it’s the right land use planning policy, it’s doubling-down on our strengths, our cultural strength, it’s who we are,” said Murphy at the time. “It’s why people want to come live here — because they get to see beautiful things like this.”
A portion of the purchase was funded through this program, Perga said.
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection provided $307,500 in grant funding towards the purchase in November 2016.