The Skiff Mountain South Preserve is a magnificent 320-acre property featuring tranquil woods, inviting trails, a beaver pond, a stream, a hidden meadow, and abundant wildlife. We invite you to walk the trails (see posted map), take pictures, reflect on nature’s grandeur, and otherwise enjoy the Preserve, leaving the land as you found it.

 

With tremendous help from Skiff Mountain neighbors, members of the Kent and Sharon communities, and partnering conservation organizations including the Trust for Public Land , Sharon Land Trust, and an award from the State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection through the Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition program--the Kent Land Trust purchased what is now the Skiff Mountain South Preserve from Kent School in April 2003. In 2009, several nearby properties gained permanent protection through conservation easements funded by the US Forest Service’s Forest Legacy Program, creating linkages between the Skiff Mountain South Preserve and over 7,000 acres of protected property. This regionally important conservation area, known as the Macedonia Forest Block, encompasses private parcels along with the Pond Mountain Nature Preserve, Macedonia Brook State Park, and the Appalachian Trail corridor, plus land owned by Northeast Utilities, Sharon Audubon, and the Sharon Land Trust.

 

The Skiff Mountain South Preserve’s linkages and its habitat diversity make the property suitable for a wide range of wildlife. Birds, in particular, are very fond of the place. Since 2001, Marvelwood School students led by Science Chair Laurie Doss have netted, banded, recorded and released birds here. Avian visitors documented to date include the great blue heron, snow goose, wood duck, broad-winged hawk, yellow-billed and black-billed cuckoo, American woodcock, scarlet tanager, winter wren, least flycatcher, worm-eating warbler, Lawrence’s warbler, blue-winged warbler, black-throated blue warbler and cerulean warbler. In 2016, the Macedonia Forest Block gained recognition as a State Important Bird Area, thanks in part to the careful research conducted by Marvelwood School.

 

Consistent with the mission of the Kent Land Trust, use of the Skiff Mountain South Preserve is limited to noncommercial, passive recreational activities. For more information about the property please contact the Kent Land Trust at (860) 488-9185 or info@kentlandtrust.org.