Chester Land Trust: Letter from the President

THE CHESTER LAND TRUST

Chester, Connecticut

Welcome to the Chester Land Trust (CLT) website (chesterlandtrust.org) !!!

We are an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded primarily through membership fees and donations (which are deductible from your Federal taxes). Your generosity allows us to protect open spaces and provide places where anyone can go to enjoy nature in quiet peaceful settings.

Preserve Highlights
You can take a stroll along a flowing brook, have a snack at a picnic table or simply sit and relax in a gazebo at the Carini Preserve (30 Water Street). It’s a short walk from Chester’s historic village and lies at the confluence of Great Brook and Pattaconk Brook and forms a part of Chester Creek. If you enjoy bird watching, go to the adjacent Scudder Preserve (34 Water Street). You can sit on one of our granite benches that overlooks Chester Creek. Want to go hiking? Visit the Little Rock Nine Trail at Motley Preserve (100 Cedar Lake Road). These Preserves have their own parking areas and are easy to access.

Our War Against Invasive Plant Species
Our experience has made it abundantly clear that non-native invasive plants such as Japanese Knotweed, Oriental Bittersweet and Multiflora Rose have the potential to completely overtake and replace all the native plant species in our Preserves. This was happening with Japanese Knotweed at Carini Preserve and prompted us to initiate an intensive invasive plant management program in 2021. Although the program is labor intense and costly, it has been extraordinarily successful. If you haven’t been to the Carini Preserve lately, go there and you will see lots of native plants but very little Japanese Knotweed. Some of the natives were planted, others emerged spontaneously after the Japanese knotweed invasion receded.

We removed several clusters of Tree of Heaven from several of our properties since this invasive tree is a favorite site for an invasive insect called Spotted Lantern Fly to lay eggs and multiply. This invasive insect can kill a variety of trees and crops. Spotted Lantern Fly infestations were first seen in Pennsylvania, but they have also been seen in Chester, usually on or near Tree of Heaven.
We believe that it is important to maintain the native plant architecture in our preserved properties whenever possible but recognize that this takes a lot of work.

Works in Progress
Bill Myers, our immediate past President, has been actively engaged in efforts to provide easy and safe access to the Piquet Preserve and is developing a hiking trail on this 8-acre property. CLT began removing non-native plants (particularly Multiflora Rose) and replacing them with native grasses, shrubs, and trees at the 3-acre Rayner Preserve, which is located on West Main Street near the entrance to Route 9. We have created a small parking area at the Rayner Preserve but advise caution in its use because West Main Street is a busy road.

I assumed the role of CLT President in January 2025 and invite you to send me an email (mdcressman@hotmail.com) if you have any questions about CLT, want to become a CLT member, do some volunteer work or have some ideas that you’d like to share with me.

Kind regards,
Michael Cressman
President, Chester Land Trust
July 1, 2025

Letter from
the President