Pictorial Gazette - New bill to protect 'Preserve': "State Rep. James Spallone, D-Essex, has proposed a bill calling for $10 million in state funding to help purchase the mostly forested and undisturbed 1,000-acre parcel nicknamed 'The Preserve' in northwest Old Saybrook, a portion of south central Essex, and a small section of northeast Westbrook.
While previous bills called for $8 million, the increase came after River Sound Development, the property's owners, rejected an offer from the state Department of Environmental Protection, DEP, to purchase the property for $7.5 million, Spallone said.
River Sound Development is a subsidiary of the Wall-Street investment firm Lehman Brothers.
While this undeveloped land is home to a variety of animals, it also contains the watersheds of the Oyster River, Trout Brook, and Mud River, three important waterways that drain into the Long Island Sound.
The Connecticut Fund for the Environment, CFE, describes the parcel as 'one of the last vast pieces of coastal forestland of its kind between Boston and New York City.'
'This property is a top priority for the DEP,' Spallone said, adding that he feels it would be a great addition to the 16,000-acre Cockaponset State Forest."
