Congratulations to Bart Jones, awarded the Katchen Coley Award for Excellence in Conservation by the Connecticut Land Conservation Council.

Championing Nature’s Legacy

Bart Jones has been President of the Cornwall Conservation Trust since 2011 and a board member since 2009. An all-volunteer board runs the organization, supported by a small part-time staff. CCT was accredited in 2016 and its accreditation was renewed in 2021. Under Bart’s leadership, CCT has greatly accelerated its pace of conservation. Now CCT owns 2,178 acres of beautiful preserves with hiking trails that provide quality habitat and climate resilience for wildlife and plants. Miles of well-maintained trails provide people with places for quiet enjoyment. In addition, CCT holds 767 acres in conservation easements.

Among Bart’s noteworthy accomplishments:

  • Completed eight purchases totaling 764 acres with state grants under the Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition program
  • Accepted the iconic Cathedral Pines preserve donated by The Nature Conservancy
  • Placed 375 acres of core forest into forever wild conservation
  • Greatly increased the number of hikes, lectures, and hands-on workshops, as well as increasing the attendance for these events. In 2023, there was at least one program per month, and often as many as three, about Mushrooms, Plants, Nocturnal Animals, Trail Building, Trail Hikes, Birdsong, and more.

In 2017, hundreds of acres of forestland owned by a prominent hedge fund manager went into foreclosure. Bart proposed a Square Mile Forest Project, assembling and motivating conservation organizations and the state to preserve the land. Nearly all this land was conserved. CCT purchased 114 acres through the OSWA program, and the State purchased the rest and added it to Wyantenock State Forest.

Thank you, Bart, for your dedication to conservation and community in Cornwall and the greater Northwest Corner.

📸: Bart Jones pictured above

A message from Bart Jones:

Dear Friends of CCT,

I  appreciate so many emails sent to me with congratulations for Connecticut Land Conservation Council’s Katchen Coley Conservation Award.

I really felt the award was not meant for me personally but for the whole of Cornwall Conservation Trust. I couldn’t have done any of the things CLCC said I did without the support of our paid conservation team, our board of directors, our partner land trusts, and all our volunteers and donors going back to our founding in 1987.

There will be an opportunity to celebrate CCT’s success and this award with CLCC later in the year. So, thank you and stay tuned.

Best regards,

Bart