PROPERTY MANAGEMENT:
The Challenge of Stewardship
by Bill Horne, President, Branford Land Trust

"Herein lies our shared responsibility. The land we own must be managed to the public good. The easements we hold must be monitored and enforced. If we fail to take care of the land we've protected, we will have failed our public trust. We will have undermined the whole foundation on which voluntary land conservation rests."

Jean Hocker, President of the
Land Trust Alliance Exchange,
Summer, 1994

Since its founding in 1967, the Land Trust has acquired and preserved over 700 acres of land in Branford for the benefit of the town's residents. More than 90 individual tracts are located throughout the town, from Short Beach to Stony Creek and from Long Island Sound to the northern-most part of town. Some tracts are less than an acre of woods, tucked into residential neighborhoods, while others are large areas of woods, fields, wetlands and ponds with extensive trail systems. An ever-increasing number of salt marsh properties line the tidal creeks and rivers that flow into the Sound. We even own a few small islands near Short Beach and Stony Creek.

As our holdings have grown, so has the challenge of caring for them. New properties have to be posted and maintained. The diverse nature and geographical dispersion of the properties requires a broadly based management organization, and we have been fortunate that many Land Trust members have risen to the occasion. About 30 members serve as Tract Stewards for one or more properties, monitoring the tracts, keeping them clean and the trails clear and, when necessary, organizing work parties of other volunteers to carry out bigger projects. In addition to caring for our own properties, the Land Trust cooperates with the Outer Island Advisory Council, of which we are part, to help with maintenance on Outer Island. There is no shortage of things to be done.

An even bigger challenge is to determine the best way to preserve our property for future generations. We can keep the tracts clean and the trails clear and otherwise let nature take its course. In many cases, this is the most appropriate management policy. But in other instances, doing so means passing up opportunities to maintain, improve, or create habitat that would enrich the natural communities on our tracts, or failing to protect rare species that exist there, or watching as invasive non-native species over-grow an area, crowding out the natives and reducing the biological diversity of the area. Other decisions will have to be made about appropriate use. Is a tract a good site for developing new trails? Can cyclists or horseback riders use the trails without damaging them or interfering with the enjoyment of the areas by others? Should some properties be 'improved' to provide parks or roadside observation facilities? And how do we organize ourselves to reach our goals? Balancing the benefits and costs of different management policies is a challenge that will be faced with greater frequency in the coming years. Meeting it will require the active involvement of as many members as possible, both in planning and in implementation.

If you're interested in these issues, or simply want to spend a few hours working with other members on trail maintenance, we have a place for you. Contact Bill Horne (488-6146) or Richard Radune (488-) about coming to a meeting of the Property Management Committee. All members are welcome. Working together, we can insure that the Land Trust will continue to be a good steward of BranfordÕs natural riches.