Holcombe Hill Wildlife Preserve — a Newtown Forest Association, Inc, (NFA) property on Great Hill Road — recently went from being a hidden gem to having upwards of 500 to 1,000 people visit a day.

Maintaining properties like Holcombe Hill Wildlife Preserve takes effort and money to keep the private properties pristine for passive public recreation, according to NFA board President Dr Aaron Coopersmith.

With the current pandemic climate offering extra down time, more people than ever are looking for opportunities to go outside. Coopersmith said, “The busy crazy world has been refocused,” and that is possibly what is driving more people to local outdoor havens like Holcombe Hill Wildlife Preserve.

Very few people know that Holcombe Hill Wildlife Preserve — and other properties overseen by NFA, Coopersmith said — is not a town property. It is not maintained by tax dollars. It is maintained to preserve the natural vision of Newtown.

“We’re trying to maintain what is pure,” said Coopersmith in a recent interview.

He has been part of NFA for 11 years, and he said the organization’s dedication to preserving local landscapes is for the ongoing benefit of the town’s citizens. Sharing the local open spaces and the excitement they bring people is “worth everything,” he opined.

He wants people to know that the NFA’s properties, like Holcombe Hill Wildlife Preserve, are open to the public. At the same time, NFA has the lowest number of memberships of land trusts in the state, he shared. That means people are visiting the sites without supporting them. When visitors notice trees down or other things that need maintenance, he said he hopes they ask themselves if they are doing their part to help out, which can include picking up after themselves.

From his family and growing up in Newtown, Coopersmith “learned it’s more wonderful to give a gift than to receive one.” And the NFA lands are gifts to local citizens.

Exciting, Challenging Year

Other NFA board members recently weighed in by e-mail about how the local properties have been impacted this year.

“2020 saw a dramatic increase in visitors to our preserves, as we are private and were not subject to the government closure of public parks and open space,” NFA board Treasurer Guy Peterson wrote. “The NFA also deferred the start date of hiring our summer interns until we could ascertain how best to direct and supervise them. Some goals for the year were also deferred — these included fundraising efforts and our efforts to hire for the first time an executive director to help all aspects of our organization.”

Peterson explained that the NFA is independent from the Town of Newtown and dependent on its members and private donations to support its operations.

“The NFA’s all-volunteer board of directors is responsible for running the day-to-day operations of the land trust and have no paid administrative staff,” Peterson wrote. “The NFA is nationally accredited, which means that it has adopted Standards and Practices which were favorably evaluated by an independent accreditation board of land trust professionals. Additionally, the NFA owns over 110 individual parcels, totaling over 1,300 acres, that when grouped make approximately 55 preserves; these preserves are inspected annually in some capacity, with boots on the ground or through the use of aerial photography. The NFA also holds a number of conservation easements over some privately owned land; what this does is preclude the owner (and subsequent owners) from developing the property in perpetuity.”

The conservation easements, according to Peterson, are not open to the public.

NFA board Vice President Bart Smith said 2020 has been an unexpected year that brought a significant increase in use and an appreciation of the association’s properties. That has been exciting and challenging.

“The cost to maintain and expand the land we preserve continues to grow,” wrote Smith. “We are not supported by any tax dollars and all of our owned properties are open to everyone at no cost. Through these past months, it has become obvious that the open spaces and rural character of Newtown are important to everyone. Now, more than ever, public support will help us preserve the rural character of Newtown, for generations to come.”

NFA board member Robert Eckenrode said seeing the crowds of people visiting the preserves has been “amazing.”

“We are pleased to have seen a large increase in visitors to [Holcombe Hill Wildlife Preserve], Cherry Grove, Nettleton, and Bruno Preserves for folks to hike, explore, and just relax,” wrote Eckenrode. “It’s the restorative powers of these protected forests meadows streams and ponds that are the real natural resources we oversee.”

The NFA, Eckenrode explained, is dedicated to conserving some of the wildest places in Newtown and regionally advancing the conservation of open space lands for passive recreation, natural resources, native plant, and wildlife habitat with forest, meadows, streams while maintaining the rural character of the town.

“In Newtown we have wild places in everyone’s neighborhood, so we consider everyone our neighbor,” Eckenrode said. “We’d like to have more folks in town join us as a member and donate their time and share their passion for conserving these wild places.”

Smith noted that people may be surprised while reviewing the NFA’s website, newtownforestassociation.org, to learn that “there is probably a property very near your home, that you can easily go to and walk or just spend some time with nature.”

Of those visiting the properties, Smith said he hopes they remember, “If you bring it in, bring it out. Enjoy everything the land has to offer and leave it as you found it.””

Eckenrode added, “With an uptick in hiking and dog walking the fields and trails, leashed dogs and owners taking their deposits off the property is required. During this time we recommend everyone be considerate [of] fellow visitors by following social distancing guidelines while enjoying their stay.”

And Peterson noted, “Motorized vehicles, hunting, and trapping are prohibited on all NFA properties. As desirable as our preserves may be for these types of activities, most properties are explicitly deed restricted from allowing such activities. In addition, neighbors encroaching on our property is also expressly prohibited; this means no dumping yard debris, expanding ones mowed lawn or driveway to extend beyond their legal boundaries, placing any structures on our preserves or harvesting trees without the express written permission of the NFA. The NFA’s property inspection process has identified several encroachments and is currently working to remediate these on a one by one basis with our neighbors.”

In the ninth month of the year, NFA board members offered some future plans.

Smith said NFA is looking at preserving new properties for preservation and enjoyment in the near future and it is attempting to bring on a full-time director “to help us grow and serve the community better.”

Eckenrode said more informal events — like guided hikes, scouting projects, pollinator gardens and meadows, providing intern educational opportunities, and working regionally as a founding member of H2H, a 22-town regional conservation partnership — are some of the plans on NFA’s horizon.

More information about NFA, its properties, and how to support the association, is available at newtownforestassociation.org.