Trout Brook Valley State Park Reserve is a parcel owned by the state of Connecticut that is part of the larger Trout Brook Valley Preserve (also known as the Trout Brook Valley Conservation Area), located in Easton,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. The full conservation area covers and comprises several contiguous parcels in the

towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

of Easton and Weston, bordering the southeast corner of the

Saugatuck Reservoir The Saugatuck Reservoir is a reservoir in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, that straddles the border between the towns of Redding, Weston, and Easton. Its completion is marked by the creation of the Samuel P. Senior dam of the Saug ...

. It is managed by the Aspetuck Land Trust. The

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

portion of the preserve offers opportunities for hiking and hunting.

History

In 1994, the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company (BHC) began to entertain the notion of selling the 730 acres of undeveloped property it owned which bordered the southeast corner of the Saugatuck Reservoir. In 1997, BHC's parent company, Aquarion, BHC and a developer signed a contract to develop 103 luxury residences and a golf course on the property. In 1998, the Aspetuck Land Trust and the Coalition to Preserve Trout Brook Valley spearheaded an initiative to save the parcel from development. They were joined in the effort by Connecticut Fund for the Environment, Citizens for Easton, the Easton garden club, hiking and mountain biking groups, birding enthusiasts, naturalists and others including actor/philanthropist

Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...

and his family. In September 1999, 685 acres of the Trout Brook Valley land were purchased from BHC/Aquarion with $5.3 million raised by the Aspetuck Land Trust and the Nature Conservancy and $6 million from the state of Connecticut. Forty-five acres in neighboring Weston were purchased by the municipal government.

References

External links

Trout Brook Valley State Park Reserve
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Trout Brook Valley Conservation Area Trail Map
Aspetuck Land Trust {{authority control State parks of Connecticut Parks in Fairfield County, Connecticut Protected areas established in 1999 1999 establishments in Connecticut Easton, Connecticut