What's happening at your land trust . . .

Native Plant Month

It's official! Recently, the Connecticut Legislature added a designation of April as Native Plant Month to Public Act 25-59: An Act Designating Various Days, Weeks and Months. The Act amends the general statutes to proclaim the month of April of each year as Connecticut Native Plant Month in recognition of the importance of native plants to the state's rich biological heritage. 

Birds, butterflies, moths, and other small insects rely on native plants for their existence and to sustain a healthy ecosystem. Celebrate Native Plant Month by requesting native plants at your local plant nursery for your yard or a community garden space near you. And next fall, take advantage of your land trust's native plant propagation workshops at the Hamden Seed Library to learn how to grow native plants easily from local ecotype seed. Check out a variety of native plants to grow. 

Spring Events

We have a host of events coming up this spring. Read more about them in your HLCT Spring 2026 Newsletter. Not a member yet? Join us now. 

Now through June 6 - Free Seeds: Your land trust is pleased to partner with the Hamden Seed Library at the Hamden Public Library with free seeds available now through June 6. Find out more here. 

​Friday, April 17, 8pm - Peeper Prowl: Join us for a spring peeper nature walk at our Johnson's Pond property. HLCT Board Member Jim Sirch will lead a walk and discuss the life cycles of these fascinating amphibians. Meet at the entrance near Thornton Street and Connolly Parkway. 

Friday, April 24 to Monday, April 27 - The City Nature Challenge. Be a part of this annual 4-day global community science initiative, where cities and regions compete to document and celebrate their local biodiversity using the iNaturalist app. Find out more here. 

Saturday, April 25, 10am to 3pm - Hamden Earth Day Celebration. Visit us at our table for handouts on native plants and nature activities for kids. Find out more here.

Thursday, May 21, 6:30pm - Kettle Ponds: Join us for a presentation at the Hamden Senior Center (enter from the back of the building) sponsored by your land trust and the Six Lakes Park Coalition with UConn Professor Robert Thorson who will speak about kettle ponds and why they are so important to protect. Refreshments will be served. 

Saturday, May 30, 10am - Bald Eagle Watch: Join us to observe and learn more about the bald eagles nesting across the street from the former Porto Tire Service (2490 State Street) at our Henry and Irene Garguilo property. Rain date is the following day, same time. 

Wild Bees & Monarchs

Native bees and monarch butterflies need our help. Now you can download two great handouts from our friends at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station: 5 Ways to help Wild Bees and 5 Ways to help Monarchs. Find out all you can do to help native bees and monarchs and share these colorful handouts with your friends who care about protecting our environment and biodiversity. 

Your land trust is an active partner and participant in the Connecticut Pollinator Pathway initiative. The HLCT is involved in a number of ways:

Collaborative Projects: HLCT works with the Cheshire Pollinator Pathway and other local groups to create pollinator corridors along the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail.

Active Initiatives: We co-host events, such as film screenings regarding pollinator conservation, with the Cheshire Pollinator Pathway.

Habitat Creation: HLCT conducts restoration with native plants designed to support bees and birds like at our property Jepp Brook Preserve. 

Seed Library: In partnership with the Hamden Public Library, the HLCT helps with the Hamden Seed Library, which provides free native pollinator seeds to the public. 

​​About Six Lakes

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Owned by out-of-state Olin Corporation, Six Lakes is a 102.5-acre fenced-off property in Hamden, Connecticut, featuring mature forests, hiking paths, and six beautiful ponds. Home to deer, waterfowl, birds, fish, and turtles, its diverse habitats include a cattail marsh, a red maple swamp, and a 150-year-old oak-pine forest as well as wetlands that connect to the Regional Water Authority’s Lake Whitney water supply. Sadly, it is also a heavily polluted former industrial site contaminated with heavy metals, PCBs, solvents, and petroleum from decades of munitions testing and waste dumping by the Olin Corporation. Despite a 1986 consent order filed by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the site remains fenced off and awaiting remediation. Your land trust is part of the Six Lakes Park Coalition (SLPC), a group working to try to ensure that Six Lakes eventually becomes a valued natural and recreational resource open to the public. Last year, students at the Yale Environmental Justice Law and Advocacy Clinic worked with the SLPC to learn more about the history of this parcel and its use and abuse. Read the resulting white paper or a summary of its findings. Find out more about this remarkable property at sixlakespark.org.