Natural Resource Inventory and Assessment - Town of Guilford

APPENDIX G-1
Natural Scenic Resources
Comparison of NRIAC’s “Natural Scenic Resources” with LAC’s “Areas of Conservation Interest” and
GPA’s “Favorite Scenes and Places”
Guilford’s natural beauty has inspired the recognition of the Town’s scenic areas in many documents.
Below is a rudimentary comparison of the Natural Resource Inventory’s “Natural Scenic Resources” with the
Land Acquisition Committee’s (LAC) “Areas of Conservation Interest” and Guilford Preservation Alliance’s
(GPA) “Favorite Scenes and Places” with the respective subject lists following below.
It should be noted for clarification purposes, that the latter two lists also appear in the 2002 Town of
Guilford, Connecticut Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD), the former as Appendix 3 therein, and the
latter in the text, under Policy A: Preserve Guilford’s Character and Cultural Landscape”, page 29. In the
POCD, the Planning and Zoning Commission is directed to “develop a range of strategies and zoning
regulations to preserve and protect (these) 17 favorite scenes and views and special places” and the Board
of Selectmen is directed to continue purchase of open space identified in the LAC report.
Each of these lists was generated in response to different issues. Each has application today in various
planning efforts. The comparison was completed primarily to demonstrate how the NRIA natural scenic
resources list is distinct. Many of the areas we all know to be “scenic” are listed in each of these three lists—
there is much cross-over—however, the objective behind each listing effort differs fundamentally.
Additionally, it is important to point out a cross-over of purpose between these efforts. For example,
several sites identified in the LAC document list as areas to be preserved (e.g. shellfish beds) may not
appear listed in the NRIA as a “natural scenic resource”, but may be identified elsewhere in the NRIA
document as an important ecological or open space resource.
GPA Document:
DESCRIPTION: A survey sponsored by the GPA in 1984, resulted in a listing of 16 of the respondents’
favorite scenes and places in order of preference in the document, A Visual Analysis of Guilford, Connecticut, by
Lori Ann Regis, which was referenced in the GPA Master Plan for Preservation and Scenic Conservation, 1986, as
revised 1995. This list, (with the addition of a seventeenth area, Faulkner’s Island) is included in the POCD
and these areas are identified by location and photograph on Map 3, “Guilford: Locations of Special Places”;
Town of Guilford: Maps for the Plan of Conservation and Development, (undated), a companion to the POCD.
BASIS FOR LISTING: This list indicates areas of special significance to townspeople who were survey
respondents without regard to criteria based on objective scenic qualities or natural resource value or
function and without regard to preservation status of the geographic area or feature. It should be noted
because survey returns were limited, scoring was based on a small sample, and e.g., “the view of fields from
Great Hill Road near Cooks Lane to the northwest” was placed on the List by virtue of the 9 votes it had
received for favorite place.
Natural Resource Inventory and Assessment Town of Guilford, CT G-1a
Appendix Appendix