South Norfolk Wildlands Easement

Norfolk, CT 600 acres

A forever-wild conservation easement held by Northeast Wilderness Trust protects a 600-acre forest block in northwestern Connecticut owned by Norfolk Land Trust (NLT).

NLT’s purchase of the property was made possible by the Wildlands Partnership, which provides financial and technical assistance for land trusts working to protect more of their lands as forever-wild. The easement marks the first collaboration between NLT and Northeast Wilderness Trust.

The forever-wild outcome for the South Norfolk Wildlands caps a more than 40-year effort by a group of Norfolk families to permanently preserve this cherished forest. The group bought several parcels of the forest in the 1980s to stave off development. NLT began purchasing pieces of the property in the early 2000s, and in 2024, with financial assistance from the Wildlands Partnership, acquired a neighboring 235-acre tract. The forever-wild conservation easement on the property ensures that this victory for Norfolk’s human and nonhuman communities will never be reversed.

The property’s rich ecology will benefit from that secure future. The State of Connecticut’s Natural Diversity Database indicates that at least 10 rare or endangered species call the South Norfolk Wildlands home, including three species of bat and sharp-lobed hepatica, a spring wildflower. Also documented on the property are two state-designated “key habitats,” Mixed Northern Hardwood Forest and Central Appalachian Oak-Pine Forest, and 26 acres of vibrant wetlands.

Combined with Northeast Wilderness Trust’s Cornwall Wildlands and Salisbury Easements, the South Norfolk Wildlands boosts Connecticut’s forever-wild acreage and habitat connectivity in the northwestern corner of the state. Nearby are also Dennis Hill State Park and the 7,500-acre Great Mountain National Forest—stitching together a tapestry of conserved lands that will ease wildlife passage across the landscape.

Photography by Eric Bailey.