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Stewardship Plan Contract Awarded for The Preserve

The parcel’s name is The Preserve, but since the forest in Old Saybrook, Essex, and Westbrook was preserved in 2015, the owners had not been able to develop a formal plan for conservation (though not for lack of trying). That changes this month.

In 2016, the Town of Old Saybrook sought bids from firms interested in developing a Forest Stewardship Plan for The Preserve. Unfortunately, that bidding round did not yield a viable proposal.

This February, the Conservation Management Committee of The Preserve, working with the Trust for Public Land, tried again. This time, two bids were received. This stewardship plan project will be administered by and funded by the Trust for Public Land on behalf of the owners of the open space, which is nearly 1,000 acres.

After reviewing the two bids, in March the Conservation Management Committee, composed of First Selectman Carl Fortuna, Jr., for the town and William E. Hochholzer for the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP), voted to approve award of the contract to GEI Consultants Inc., a national company with offices in Glastonbury. The GEI proposal for $28,000 was the lower of the two bids.

The overall goal of the project is for the contractor “to develop a long-term FSP [forest stewardship plan] that is sensitive to maintaining and/or improving the overall character of the forest and natural communities within it, protecting threatened plants and animals, cultural features, and unique habitats; [and] increasing habitat diversity through managed changes in forest composition, age, and structure while also providing for and maintaining public access, recreation, and educational opportunities.”