Conservation & Stewardship

Stewardship

Stewardship

The primary goal of the Darien Land Trust is to preserve and protect open space in Darien. Preservation of open space benefits our community by adding quality-of-life values for the residents of our town, including the preservation of its rural character.

Over the years, the Land Trust has continued to pursue its goal of identifying, acquiring, maintaining and preserving areas to hold as open space for the benefit of the Darien community.

The Darien Land Trust holds nearly 220 acres of land. The DLT recognizes that open space and wildlife habitat are not always the same thing.

Stewardship

The Land Trust Stewardship Committee is responsible for monitoring and maintaining all Land Trust properties.

All work done on Land Trust property must be organized and paid for by the Land Trust.

The Land Trust has a legal right to inspect each property and enter it at reasonable times for monitoring purposes.

Each property is inspected by a Land Trust Trustee at least annually.

A formal Property Inspection Report is filed for each parcel. The Stewardship Committee oversees any remediation indicated by the Property Inspection Reports.

Neighbors

The Darien Land Trust normally inspects each of its properties during the Spring. After the annual inspections are completed, remediation is prioritized and implemented as required.

The remainder of the year, we rely on neighbors to act as our de-facto stewards. Neighbors who notice any evidence of trespass, vandalism, dumping, encroachment, or safety hazards are encouraged to contact the Land Trust.

We expect our neighbors to respect our property boundary lines and not encroach on Land Trust property in any way. This includes the dumping of leaves, wood chips and other vegetation. By the same token, we hope neighbors will contact us if they feel their property is being affected by anything occurring on Land Trust property.

Contact

Elizabeth Mathus, Executive Director – 203.655.4148