The
Eastern Connecticut Forest Landowners Association
(ECFLA)/Wolf Den Land Trust is a nonprofit 501-(c)(3) organization. Our mission is to:
- promote the wise management of forest lands
as a natural resource.
- provide an ongoing source
of any and all information that members may need to make informed
decisions concerning their forest land.
- work
to make continuous professional forestry assistance more accessible
to the small forest landowner.
- work to make
the ownership of forest land more attractive as an investment.
- improve
communications among landowners, foresters, mill owners,
timber harvesters and other members of the forest products industry.
- protect open space and professionally manage demonstration forests through WDLT
The ECFLA/Wolf Den Land Trust
is really two organizations in one:
- Since 1978, ECFLA has
been providing
member forest landowners with the information and assistance
to become informed and responsible stewards of the land. Although
originally formed to help Windham County landowners, ECFLA
has expanded its role to cover all of Connecticut and adjacent
areas in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. About 10% of our
members live outside of Connecticut. (See a historical perspective: ECFLA: 25 Years Young by S. Broderick)
- Wolf Den Land Trust was
founded in 1984 to provide "demonstration
forests" that
employ stewardship practices that protect both forest and wildlife
habitat. We currently hold ten parcels totaling more than 450
acres.
All are actively managed by professional foresters and are
open to the public for passive recreation. To learn more about
the Wolf Den Land Trust, click here.
 We
are an organization run by forest owners,
for forest owners! We are not trying sell anything
but the concept of being a good steward of your land. ECFLA/Wolf
Den Land Trust represents nearly 300 forest owners and their
families who actively manage approximately 20,000 acres of
woodlands and associated ponds, streams and wetlands. Nearly 10%
of our current membership lives outside of Connecticut but has
found a connection with who we are and what we do.
We publish an annual directory of local resources for woodland
owners and host field programs. We also publish a high quality
quarterly newsletter with informative articles for both the forestry
novice and the seasoned professional. The newsletter provides a
great deal of information to our readers who represent a diverse
audience. ECFLA/WDLT also holds an annual Forestry Fair and other
educational programs that we sponsor or
co-sponsor with other organizations. We try to schedule at least
one field event annually where we walk a property that has just
completed a forestry related practice such as logging, habitat
improvement, woods road construction/drainage, etc. Forestry, wildlife
and other natural resource professionals who donate their time
to support our organization typically lead these tours.
What can ECFLA/WDLT do for you and your friends and neighbors?
- Provide valuable information about silviculture
- Provide contacts with people who have expertise in the area about which you are trying to learn
- Provide opportunities to get out in the woods to see good, and possibly not so good, forest practices
- Introduce you to people who have similar interests
- Provide you with important education that you may use in your community to influence land use for future generations, i.e. work on the wetlands commission, or participation with the zoning board to effect planned growth.
The
majority of Newsletter articles are useful to private landowners
regardless of where they live. The goal of this website is to
reinforce our mission of providing educational material
to members and non-members alike. It contains the following information:
We
invite you to consider joining ECFLA/WDLT
after you have checked out our website and get a sense of
who we are. If you would like to join, click here. |
