Protected Lands

For over four decades Save the Sound has been working to protect Connecticut and New York’s mountain landscapes and wetlands, the forests that filter your drinking water, and the islands and special coastal places that ring Long Island Sound. These treasured lands keep your air and water clean, provide critical habitat for birds and wildlife, draw leaf-peepers and tourism dollars to our state, and provide open spaces where you find relaxation, adventure, and a connection to nature.

But in our highly populated region, important lands are increasingly at risk of being lost forever.

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That’s where Save the Sound comes in. In the past we’ve brought together the unique mix of skills in our toolbox to:

  • conserve 18,500 acres of water company land in the largest single land conservation purchase in the history of Connecticut. Along the way, we secured legal protection for another 40,000 acres and helped develop an incentive system that rewards water companies for conserving land;
  • permanently protect 1,000 acres of coastal forest, known as The Preserve, in Old Saybrook, Essex, and Westbrook. It’s now home to an expanding network of trails that provide hiking and bird-watching for visitors from around the region; and
  • strengthen protections for the trees that give Connecticut neighborhoods their character.

Today, we are fighting to save Plum Island, NY, an 840-acre island in eastern Long Island Sound, making sure that the lands that filter your drinking water and make your hometown beautiful are preserved, as well as a coastal forest of 236 acres adjoining the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve in East Lyme, CT.

We invite you to learn more about these land conservation efforts, and how you can use your passion to take action.


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August through September
The ​Connecticut Cleanup Program is a state-wide effort hosted by Save the Sound as part of Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup. Join us this August through September by registering to cleanup our beaches, rivers, parks, and natural spaces. Sign up today.

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