GOSA: Advocating for land, water, and wildlife in Southeastern CT since 1967.
And there are fabulous hiking trails on all our properties!
GOSA and Land Conservation
GOSA, first organized in the late 1960's as the “Save the Haley Farm Committee,” successfully opposed a 250-unit duplex housing project proposed for the site. GOSA raised matching funds and encouraged the state to establish the 200-acre Haley Farm State Park in 1970 and to later add 57 additional acres in 2002. Haley Farm is beloved by all with its many trails and spectacular views of Palmer Cove and Fishers Island Sound. The interior fields and forest provide a wonderful habitat with magnificent transverse stone walls. GOSA serves as a Friend of the State Parks, providing stewardship activities, an annual Earth Day clean-up, and, since 1985, funding for the annual field mowing.
GOSA Education and Outreach
GOSA hosts community hikes on its properties during events like CT Trails Day and works with local schools, scout troops, church groups and other associations to educate the public on the importance of open space, wildlife and habitat restoration, and other topics that can be customized to your curriculum. Students and teachers interested in educational activities utilizing GOSA open space
(including hikes, research projects, student internships and service learning opportunities) are encouraged to contact us.
GOSA and Environmental Advocacy
GOSA has a long history of environmental advocacy. We work with developers and
land use commissions to promote better project designs and advocate for the protection of natural resources, habitat, and drinking water, as well as protection of the vital waterways and estuaries of Long Island Sound.
GOSA and Water Protection
GOSA encourages best management practices for stormwater runoff, and has provided expert testimony during land-use proceedings and regulatory hearings. All of the undisturbed land protected by GOSA’s efforts helps to preserve the quality of Long Island Sound water, key to our regional recreational use and fishing
and shell-fishing industries. GOSA participated in the Groton Utilities Drinking Water Quality Management Plan (DWQMP) whose motto is Ben Franklin’s “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” One of the group’s key findings—that drinking water quality can be affected by runoff from themost distant reaches of a watershed—prompted both DWQMP and GOSA to support low impact development practices in lieu of providing no treatment or highly engineered management systems.
GOSA and Habitat Restoration
GOSA received two United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program (WHIP) grants. Our team of volunteers works tirelessly following both the WHIP and UConn Department of Forestry work plans to restore meadows, encourage shrubby habitat, improve streamside corridors, and remove countless invasive species.
The Merritt Family Forest WHIP, a three-year plan to restore a former meadow area, was completed in 2011. The fields are now alive with birds and other key species.
The Sheep Farm WHIP is a demanding and detailed restoration of 21 acres scheduled over five years through 2015. Eight dilapidated structures were removed and the ground planted with native grasses, shrubs and flowers. Old fields were cleared of invasive species and seeded with native grasses and flowers.
The Fort Hill Brook corridor and five acres of a new forest is undergoing selective tree cutting to allow light to encourage shrubby habitat. GOSA volunteers, in cooperation with experts from the USDA and UConn, deserve credit for “WHIPing” the land into shape.
GOSA and Community Collaboration: Cross-Town Trail
GOSA, the CT Dept of Energy and Environmental Protection, the Town of Groton, and Avalonia Land Conservancy have collaborated to create a cross-town trail that traverses approximately 1,700 acres of state, town, and privately-owned land from Bluff Point to the Mystic River. This new trail starts at Bluff Point State Park, crosses the railroad bridge to Haley Farm State Park, passes through Mortimer Wright Preserve, The Merritt Family Forest, Beebe Pond Park, Moore Woodlands, and ends, appropriately, at Town's End. The trail is approximately six miles long from start to finish. A map of this trail is available on GOSA’s website.
To establish an association of persons committed to environmental preservation,
conservation of open space and passive recreational areas, and protection of water resources in Southeastern Connecticut
To educate the public about the value of open space, water resources, conservation, and environmental preservation
To enlist public support and funding for environmental protection projects, including
promotion, acquisition and maintenance of open space for public use either alone or in cooperation with governmental agencies or with other nonprofit organizations qualifying for tax exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (or the corresponding section of any future United States Internal Revenue Code).
