First Forever-Wild Conservation Easement Established in Sharon, CT

A version of this press release first appeared in the print edition of the Lakeville Journal on August 14, 2025.

Sharon, CT — The Sharon Land Trust and Northeast Wilderness Trust joined forces to further protect more than 700 acres of forest and wetlands in Sharon, CT through a forever-wild conservation easement. This is the first forever-wild easement granted in Sharon. All seven parcels of the Jackson Peck property—an ecologically significant landscape on and around Sharon Mountain—are now safeguarded in perpetuity, ensuring they remain free from development, logging, and motorized use.

The protected property features upland forests, beaver ponds, 88 acres of wetlands, and more than 1.9 miles of streams, including Mill Brook. It also supports six rare, threatened, or endangered species, according to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

The Jackson Peck properties lie adjacent to Sharon Land Trust’s Sharon Mountain Preserve, other Land Trust-held easement lands, and the Housatonic State Forest. Together, these protected areas form a large and connected network of conserved land. Forests on the Jackson Peck properties range from mature maple and oak uplands to red maple swamps, vernal pools, and beaver meadows—habitats that support wildlife such as the tri-colored bat, eastern ribbon snake, American Kestrel, and Alder Flycatcher.

In December 2024, ownership of the land was transferred to the Sharon Land Trust through a generous gift from the former shareholders of the Jackson Peck Land Company, who conserved and stewarded the land for nearly 100 years since the company’s founding in 1927. In addition to the 700-plus acres protected under the easement, the donation included an additional 23 acres—primarily open fields—that will remain in active agricultural use.

“The preservation and conservation of the land in its natural state was the primary concern of the shareholders of the Jackson Peck Land Company when they made the decision to donate their shares, and thus the acreage on Sharon Mountain, to the Sharon Land Trust,” shared Caroline Herrick, shareholder and Treasurer of the Jackson Peck Land Company. “Although much of the property was already under a conservation easement, it was becoming increasingly diﬀicult for the shareholders, a number of whom were descendants of the company’s founders, to give it the attention it deserved.

The additional resources and expertise provided by the Sharon Land Trust and Northeast Wilderness Trust will ensure that the land remains ecologically uncompromised forever, a win-win situation for the environment and thus the entire community.”

The forever-wild easement was made possible through Northeast Wilderness Trust’s Wildlands Partnership, a program that provides partner land trusts across New England and northern New York with financial and technical support to protect more of their lands as forever-wild.

“The Jackson Peck project is a powerful example of collaborative conservation benefitting people, wildlife, and the planet,” said Caitlin Mather, Land Conservation Director at Northeast Wilderness Trust. “Very little of Connecticut is protected as forever-wild, making every acre preserved as such a victory for human and nonhuman communities alike. Thanks to Sharon Land Trust’s eﬀorts and the Wildlands Partnership, this ecologically vibrant property now has the freedom to become an old-growth forest.”