What's new with the HLT:

• The Spring 2010 edition of our newsletter is available. Download a PDF version here.
• Membership and Fundraising Committee sells moose t-shirts. Get yours today!
• The HLT Speaker Series is going strong. Read more about recent and upcoming presentations here.

Past news items:

• Jason Hawley spoke about bears at the first HLT Speaker Series
• HLT Trails Volunteer Day
• HLT award a Connecticut Land Trust Challenge Fund Grant. Details below.
• The 2009 HLT Annual Report is now available.
• The Spring 2009 newsletter is here, as well as the errata and additions file.
• The 2008 HLT Annual Report is available
• The Spring 2008 edition of our newsletter is out
• HLT hosted Robert Thorson, author of “Stone by Stone” as the guest speaker at its Annual Forum on June 2, 2008. 
• The Hartland Natural Resource Inventory may be viewed here. Thirteen maps have been added.
• HLT's 501-c3 status was approved by the IRS in October, 2007!
• Hartland Land Trust Annual Report, June 2007
• Town Mailing, April 2007
• Moose and Hartland Land Trust Share Goal , Incorporation News Release

American Kestrel

Speaker Series by Alana Bordewieck

The Hartland Land Trust has continued its Speaker Series that started with Jason Hawley’s presentation in September on bears. (See article and pictures from that presentation here.) In November CT DEP Service Forester, Larry Rousseau, presented Managing Your Forest for a Healthy Habitat. Did you know that our state is 58% forest, 80% of which is privately owned? Did you know that Hartford County is the third most forested county in the State?  Mr. Rousseau explained tolerance of various trees (e.g., the Sugar Maple is shade tolerant, the oak fire tolerant). Our state flower, the Mountain Laurel likes shade if it is not too dense.

Unfortunately small but destructive pests such as the emerald ash borer, the Asian longhorn beetle and the woolly adelgid can damage our ash, Norway maple and hemlock trees respectively.  Cold enough temperatures can help diminish the adelgid sacs, but the best prevention is not to bring in firewood that may harbor insects from other states. Although unsightly, native cherry and choke cherries will recover from the spring tent caterpillars and fall web worms as by the fall the tree already has enough reserves. Forestry goals over the next five-ten years include replacing invasives with native species, regenerating white pine and providing two cavity trees per acre. 

The latter is important to the subject of February ‘s presentation on Live Birds of Prey by Scott Heth, Director of Sharon Audubon and the Edith Leopold Sanctuary in Hartland.  Mr. Heth brought live birds of prey, some of which need tree cavities to nest in.  As each bird perched on his finger or gloved hand, he held the audience in the palm of his hand with fascinating information on winged predators as we observed the American kestrel, saw whet owl, barred owl, great horned owl and turkey vulture.

• A hawk can see a mouse a mile away.
• The small saw whet owl cannot move its eyes; therefore, turns its head round.  Its eyes can dilate independently and a third eye-lid or membrane protects its precious sight when hunting its prey.
• The barred owl, the only owl with black eyes, is not very fast but has excellent hearing and vision.  It seems much heavier than it is because of the many feathers, but its bones are hollow. Its ears are small holes behind the big round facial discs that look as if it is wearing huge glasses.
• Scott debunked the myth that a mother bird will smell human scent if we return a fallen fledgling to its nest.
• The Great Horned Owl known as “the tiger in the sky” is very strong but cannot smell.  Therefore a skunk presents a fatal danger if the owl attacks.  The skunk will spray into the eyes and the oils will matt the feathers, so the owl can no longer fly. If lucky–a rehabilitator will find it and remove the oils with Dawn dish detergent.
• The one bird of prey presented that can smell is the turkey vulture, which eats carrion.  It can smell the decay that leads him to his meal.
• The American kestrel or sparrow hawk is endangered in CT where pairs breed in northwestern Connecticut. Scott speculates the striped markings under the eyes serve to prevent reflection, as do the black smudges football players apply.
• It is important to protect our forests for migratory birds and preserve hayfields or open meadows for their grasshopper diets.      

In our own backyard Aimee Petras of the Farmington Watershed Association (FRWA) will present Natural Lawns and Gardens April 26 on how we can keep harmful chemicals out of our soil and water. The final presentation for this year will be the Annual Forum June 11 at the Hartland School.  This year’s topic is Moose by Andy LaBonte, DEP Deer Biologist.

Upcoming topics for 2010-2011 include Reptiles and the Ct Landscape in September with Peter Brazaitis, former reptile keeper at the Bronx Zoo, current Curatorial Affiliate at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and author of You Belong in a Zoo; in November Protecting Water Quality with Low Impact Development by Sean Hayden of Northwest Conservation District (NWCD); in February Geology of Hartland by Hartland resident John Raabe; and in April Invasive Species by Peter Picone of the DEP. We are so fortunate to live so close to nature.  The more we know about it, the more we can enjoy it.  Watch for signs and postings of the HLT Speaker Series at the Town Hall 7:30 p.m., the fourth Monday of the presentation month. 

Scott Heth with Saw Whet Owl

All photos by: Harald Bordewieck

Bears 
by Alana Bordewieck

September 28 around 50 people attended the first of the Hartland Land Trust Speaker Series. Newly elected HLT Director, Jason Hawley, who grew up in Hartland, now a Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) expert on Fur Bearing Mammals spoke on bears.  Jason debunked several myths:

• Bears found in other towns are not brought to Hartland. They are released as close as possible to the incident, usually within ten miles.
• Two tags in the ears do not mean the bear has been in trouble twice. A bear is always given two tags at the first incident or during den research.  The tag color changes every year.  2009 is white.  The letter on the tag is in alphabetical order of the first nine bears tagged.  The number indicates the year e.g. 7 means 2007.  Females are given a tracking collar because they stay near the mother’s den; the males wander off.
• That bears cannot see well is untrue. They have good eyesight but have a keener sense of smell.
• Bears are not as slow as they look.  They can run 25-30 mph but not for very long.
• Approximately 400-500 bears live in Connecticut, but a bear has never killed a person in CT or acted aggressively towards a human being.
  

Bears become a nuisance when they are habituated i.e. accustomed to a food source near a person’s home. Precautions include: removing bird feeders from March to November, keeping pet food and garbage contained (adding ammonia helps deter animals), removing any left over food from grills. Although cubs are cute, they are wild and unpredictable animals.  Never approach a bear or cub.

Future speaker series at 7:30 pm are:

• February 22, 2010 Birds by Scott Heth of Sharon Audubon
• April 26, 2010 Natural Lawns and Gardens by Aimee Petras of the FRWA Farmington River Watershed Association.

Watch for signs for more information or visit www.hartlandlandtrust.org

In July 2009, Hartland Land Trust received a Connecticut Land Trust Challenge Fund-Capacity Building Award.  The goal of the Challenge Fund is to build long-term strength and effectiveness of land conservation organizations in Connecticut and to advance land trust efforts to implement Land Trust Standards and Practices. The Challenge Fund provides technical assistance and consultant-led support services to enhance the capacity of Connecticut land trusts.

The three main areas of capacity building for the Hartland Land Trust consist of:

• Training in techniques and methods for property transactions in accordance with Land Trust Standards and Practices
• Implementing Transaction Guidelines adopted by our Board to be tools and procedures in place to evaluate conservation properties and guide each step of a property transaction
• Using these skills developed for future land conservation projects

Consultation services for Hartland Land Trust are provided by Housatonic Valley Association’s, Tim Abbott, Director of Litchfield Hills Greenprint Collaborative.  Tim’s expertise, knowledge and experience in the conservation field will impart invaluable training to us. We look forward to working with Tim on our project and our ongoing partnership.

This project is funded in part by an award from the Connecticut Land Trust Challenge Fund, administered by the Land Trust Alliance in partnership with the Connecticut Land Conservation Council.  This collaborative effort to increase the pace and quality of land conservation is made possible by the generous support of the Northeast Utilities Foundation, The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, and the Jessie B. Cox Charitable Lead Trust.

The Land Trust Alliance’s mission is to save the places people love by strengthening land conservation across America.  Please contact Katelyn Homeyer, Northeast Program Assistant, for more information; khomeyer@lta.org.

The Connecticut Land Conservation Council works to increase the pace, quality and scale of land conservation in Connecticut while assuring the perpetual, high quality stewardship of conserved lands in the state.  For more information, please contact Sarah Pellegrino, Program Coordinator, at spellegrino@tnc.org.

For additional information on Hartland Land Trust’s Challenge Award, please contact Susan Murray, Project Overseer, at suemur@sbcglobal.net.
 

Trails Volunteer Work Day
by Alana Bordewieck
Saturday September 26, 2009

Hartland Land Trust directors, Fred Jones, Tom Dyer, Alana Bordewieck and two members, Harald Bordewieck and Nancy Dyer joined Dan Bowler, Chair of the Hartland Board of Education, and Bob Fish, Supt. of Schools for another Trails Volunteer Day. They cleared brush on the second leg of the community trail. This portion is not as refined as the first leg.  It is a rugged but enjoyable trail that runs from the school trail near the bridge to Berg Pond on Rengerman Hill Road.  Beautiful old trees, stunning fungi and a lovely brook enhance the hiking trail.  A huge glacial erratic is located just before the descent to the pond road.  Put on your hiking shoes, grab a walking stick and enjoy the serenity and beauty of this trail!