January 27, 2010

Voters in Madison yesterday approved the town’s purchase of the former Griswold Airport property, comprising 42 acres of open grasslands, a rare coastal forest, and critical tidal marsh habitats. The vote was 3,347 yes to 2,371 no. The Town plans to refurbish the site and open a new coastal park, with athletic fields, walking trails, and enhanced wildlife habitat and viewing areas. Audubon will be working with the Town to ensure that plans for the site are enacted in the most ecologically responsible manner possible. We’re also working with Stop Griswold Overdevelopment and the Trust for Public Land to raise the remaining $1.7 M required to complete the purchase.

The 42-acre property, located on the Boston Post Road, is adjacent to Hammonasset Beach State Park and includes prime wetland habitat, upland forest, and significant frontage along the Hammonasset River. The former airport property was sold to LeylandAlliance in 2007 and permits to construct 127 units of housing on the land were subsequently granted.

The property is a key component of the globally significant Hammonsasset ecosystem and an ecological gem in its own right. The Hammonasset/Hammock River estuary, including the State Park and Griswold Airport property has been recognized as an Important Bird Area of global significance due to the large nesting population of Saltmarsh Sparrows found there. This marsh system hosts among the highest documented nesting densities of this species anywhere in the world. This species is of high global conservation concern, listed as globally ‘Vulnerable’ by BirdLife International and at high risk of extinction, primarily as a result of rising sea levels and the highly developed nature of the landscape it inhabits. This sparrow only nests in high tidal marshes found from Maine to Virginia. Its entire available nesting habitat is smaller in area than the state of Connecticut. The Hammonsset area, including the airport property is also critical for many other species of birds as nesting, foraging, wintering and migratory stopover habitat. Over 300 species of birds have been recorded in the area.

This victory was a true partnership and Audubon Connecticut is grateful for the role played by many organizations in efforts to protect this key coastal property over the past 12 years, including: the Menunkatuck Audubon Society, Stop Griswold Overdevelopment, the Trust for Public Land, Connecticut Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound, Citizens for a Clean Hammonasset, Rivers Alliance, The Nature Conservancy, the New Haven Bird Club, the Connecticut Ornithological Association, the Hartford Audubon Society, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Connecticut Sierra Club, the Connecticut Audubon Society, the Friends of Hammonasset, Madison Land Conservation Trust, The Connecticut Foundation for Greater New Haven, and many other partners. This simply would not have happened without the hard work of everyone involved.

"This is a tremendous victory for people and for wildlife," said Tom Baptist, executive director of Audubon Connecticut, the state organization of the National Audubon Society. "When most of us think of globally important conservation issues, we think of the Amazon Rainforest or the Great Barrier Reef, but the Griswold Airport land is a globally significant Important Bird Area right here in Connecticut. We owe a great debt of thanks to the remarkable bi-partisan coalition of state elected officials, town selectmen, citizen advocates, our partners at the Trust for Public Land, the developer and, most of all, to the people of Madison, who chose to preserve this unique site as a coastal park. This is a local action that will make a global difference for generations to come."

Check out Griswold Airport’ on Google Maps
Click here to download an overview of the campaign to save the Griswold Airport Land.