New Haven, CT—The agreement this week by the Connecticut Yankee Council of the Boy Scouts of America to sell their 253-acre Deer Lake property in Killingworth to Pathfinders is a victory for land conservation and for every citizen of Connecticut.
David Anderson, Land Campaigns Manager for Save the Sound, said:
“Conserving this land will preserve some of Connecticut’s great natural resources, including forest, streams, and Deer Lake itself. Protecting some of Connecticut’s last remaining contiguous forest land from development helps keep intact the natural habitat of wildlife from bobcats to thrushes. In addition, it protects all of us because this undisturbed forest captures pollutants and cools stream water before it reaches Long Island Sound.
“We commend Pathfinders, who did a tremendous job of shepherding this property to a conservation solution with a remarkable grassroots fundraising campaign. We thank the Trust for Public Land, The Nature Conservancy, the Connecticut Land Conservation Council, the Connecticut Forest and Park Association, the Connecticut Audubon Society, the Killingworth Land Conservation Trust, and many other organizations as well as hundreds of individual citizens who worked together to save Deer Lake. The support of U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, state Attorney General William Tong, state Senator Christine Cohen, and Nancy Gorski, First Select of Killingworth, was also integral to this movement’s success. We also thank the Connecticut Yankee Council for extending their initial deadline to allow time for community conversations and for Pathfinders to pull together a competitive offer.”