[at-l] Cooperation & Trust for Public Lands

[lorac4491 at linkamerica.net (Coosa Donaldson)]

http://www.enn.com/direct/display-release.asp?objid=D1D1366D000000FE6E903120B6069043

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The Skiff Mountain Forest project is a cooperative effort involving nine landowners working with the Trust for Public Land (TPL) to preserve a network of forested properties that straddle the Kent-Sharon town line in northwestern Connecticut. All nine landowners have reached tentative agreements with TPL to sell conservation restrictions on their land under the FLP. The Kent and Sharon Land Trusts have both been instrumental in identifying landowners with an interest in the program. The nearly 1000-acre project area will be protected for forest management and watershed protection, and provide important linkages to over 6,000 acres of existing protected land in Kent and Sharon. 
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Skiff Mountain Forest and its surrounding landscape are located in an area of significant regional and national importance. The 2,168-mile Appalachian Trail, the country's foremost regional hiking trail, directly abuts these lands and will greatly benefit if these forestlands are protected. The properties are also located within the state-designated Housatonic Riverbelt Greenway that extends through 29 towns in Connecticut in Massachusetts and links together existing trails within the river corridor and provides the Housatonic River, one of the nation's Most Endangered Rivers for 2004 according to American Rivers, with an important buffer from surrounding development.



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