Natural Resource Inventory and Assessment - Town of Guilford

the Scenic Roads Advisory Committee, a bi-municipal group. (See Section G.)
• Lower Connecticut River Focus Area (LCRFA): Guilford lies within the LCRFA, one of nine areas
identified in the 1998 DEP Connecticut Resource Protection Project Focus Area Program. The
focus area, recognized as a “multiple high value resource,” includes land in the Town’s
northwestern and northeastern corners and an area near the East River marshes.
• Coastal Management Area: In 1980 the fragility and critical importance of coastal areas spawned a
federally-mandated regulatory program administered at the state and local level. Guilford’s
coastal area management district, containing many kinds of coastal habitats and coastal resources
and covering approximately 17 percent of the town, was adopted in 1983. (See Section B.)
• Faulkner’s Island: Situated approximately 4 miles off the Guilford coastline, the Island is owned
by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife
Refuge. National Audubon, which identifies sites that provide critical habitat for birds under its
Important Bird Area Program (IBA), recently designated the Island a state IBA for nesting
common tern and the federally-endangered roseate tern. This site will likely soon be identified
as a continentally significant site. American Bird Conservancy designated Faulkner’s Island as a
nationally important site in its independent IBA program.
• East and West River marsh complex: This area of marshes and associated uplands is an extremely
important bird breeding grounds and migratory stopover site and supports several state-listed
species. In 2004, National Audubon designated this area a global IBA due to its saltmarsh
sharp-tailed sparrow population.
• Long Island Sound: The geopolitical boundary of Guilford extends southward to the
Connecticut/New York line, roughly in the middle of Long Island Sound. 5 The Sound is
recognized as an “Estuary of National Significance” and is part of the National Estuary Program.
Regional Compact
In 1998 Guilford joined 16 other municipalities in signing the Metacomet Ridge Conservation
Compact. This is the only inter-town conservation compact involving land in south central Connecticut.
The Compact is an inter-town agreement to protect and preserve the integrity of the system of basalt ridges
and formations that stretch from East Haven/Branford, through Guilford, and north into Massachusetts.
The existence of the Compact recognizes the need for a regional approach when a natural feature exceeds
municipal boundaries and the individual municipality’s ability to comprehensively care for its welfare. (See
Appendix H-2.)
Proposed Regional and National Initiatives
Among proposed regional initiatives are three which seek to provide greater public access to, and
enjoyment of open space and the natural environment: a Shoreline Greenway Trail sponsored by private
citizens that would link four coastal towns, the Connecticut Coastal Area Bird Trail proposed by DEP to
promote coastal eco-tourism and a Canoe/Kayak Trail from Guilford Harbor to Foote’s Bridge on the East
River sponsored by National Audubon. A fourth trail initiative, under the auspices of the Connecticut Forest
and Park Association, concerns a National Scenic Trail nomination under study for Guilford involving a possible
extension of the Mattabesett Trail to the shore. (See Section I. for further discussion of the above initiative.)
H.5 Open Space Inventory
Open Space Inventory
As shown in Appendix H-1 and depicted on Map H-2, about 7,287 acres of land are now protected as
committed open space. Ninety-nine percent of this open space is owned by the four largest landowners in
Guilford: SCCRWA, GLCT, the State of Connecticut, and the Town of Guilford, as detailed below.
Natural Resource Inventory and Assessment Town of Guilford, CT H3
Open Space