Most people in North Haven have driven past a North Haven Land Trust property without knowing it. The nonprofit owns 21 parcels around town, from a quarter-acre lot on Roberta Road to 19.5 acres along the Muddy River, and together they add up to about 133 acres of land that will stay woods, wetlands and meadow for good. The trust’s newest piece is also its most storied: Wah Wah Taysee, the old Scout camp off Ridge Road near Sleeping Giant.
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The trust is a volunteer group, and right now it is asking for more of them. “The North Haven Land Trust is currently seeking dedicated volunteers to support our ongoing land preservation efforts within the community,” the group posted on its website. Here is who they are, what they own and how to get involved.
Fifty-four years of saving land, one parcel at a time
Connecticut business records show North Haven Land Trust, Inc. was registered as a nonstock corporation on Sept. 11, 1972, and the group’s seal still reads “Incorporated 1972.” Its stated purpose is to preserve “the natural resources of the land, wetlands, woodlands, and open spaces promoting plant and wildlife,” along with “unique scenic and historic sites.”
The trust also commits to promoting scientific study and educating the public about local natural resources. And it makes a point that matters to anyone who lives here: “The properties held by the North Haven Land Trust are available to all North Haven residents and will be allowed to develop in their natural state.”
The trust’s own property list shows how the holdings were built over five decades. The oldest acquisitions on the list are the Humphrey property (3.70 acres, Nov. 25, 1974) and the Gruson land (3.73 acres, Dec. 28, 1976). The Stoddard parcel followed in 1979, and Potwine Mill and Renee Lane came in 1981.
The 1980s were the busiest decade. The trust added Papa Lane in 1983; Indian Rock and North Hill Farms (12.73 acres) in December 1984; Muddy River (19.5 acres) in 1986; Roberta Road, also in 1986; Justine Drive, Brockett Farm Road (18.34 acres) and Hansen Farm (7.38 acres) in 1988; and Kickapoo Trail in 1989. Bernadette Park, Sara Circle and the Antony, Jason, and Gulliver Scott Land followed in 1994. Pine Hill Estates (11.4 acres) came in 2008, Founders Preserve in 2014 and 205 North Hill Road in 2023.
Why the logo is a snowy owl
The trust’s seal tells one of the better local nature stories. It shows a snowy owl, a bird whose normal home is the Arctic tundra. According to the trust, during the winter of 1971 to 1972, one “made a temporary home in the Quinnipiac marsh, where it was seen and photographed by many people near Sackett Point Road.”
That was the winter before the trust was incorporated, and the group adopted the owl as its symbol. The seal, the trust says, stands for its main purpose: “to preserve land in its natural state, both as a refuge for wildlife and as a resource for the education and enjoyment of the people of North Haven.”
Wah Wah Taysee: from Scout camp to open space forever
The trust’s biggest recent move came in June 2024, when it bought Wah Wah Taysee, the wooded camp at 4200 Ridge Road near Sleeping Giant State Park. The trust lists it at 15 acres in its property table, and the Connecticut Yankee Council of the Scouts calls it a 16-acre property.
The name comes from Longfellow. According to the trust, Wah Wah Taysee is the Ojibwe name for firefly used in “The Song of Hiawatha.” The trust says the original owners, the Greist family, named the property and spent a lot of time there. Their son was an avid Boy Scout, and because Scouts could not travel during the Depression, the family decided it was the right place for his troop to camp. They later donated it to the Scouts. The Scouting council says the land was donated to it in the early 1950s for wilderness training.
“Over the years, thousands of both Boy and Girl Scouts along with other youth groups have had the opportunity to experience this peaceful escape into nature,” the trust wrote. The camp has a pond, four small campsites, two camping shelters and a couple of primitive outhouses.
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The Scouts’ side of the story is in a council update signed by its president, Jim Accomando, and other leaders. A volunteer properties committee reviewed how the camp was being used, the update says, and found that only “a handful of units have used the camp each year.” The committee recommended selling. The council then accepted the land trust’s offer, made “in cooperation with the neighboring community,” which, the council wrote, “will preserve the land as open space in perpetuity.”
Scouts are not losing the place entirely. Both the trust and the council say the trust intends to let Scouts keep using the property, including for camping, and the trust says it will develop a plan to continue environmental education there. The purchase was supported by funding from the Connecticut Land Conservation Council’s TAG grant program, according to the trust.
The work of turning a camp into a preserve is not glamorous. Photos the trust posted from the property show visitors on a boardwalk trail through the woods, families out on a group walk, and a crew with tripods and survey equipment in one of the clearings.
Who runs it
The trust is run by an all-volunteer board. Its 2026 board of directors, as listed on its website, is led by President Rick Garner, with Lana Ives as vice president and life member, Gail D’Addio as treasurer and Sandra Stetson as secretary. Heidi Boettger is past president. The other directors are Walt Brockett, Kim Carew, Mark CoFrancesco, Dan Hott, Liz Knope, Bryant Munson (also a life member) and Don Rocklin. Claudia Giulietti, Peter Madden and John Tibor serve as 2026 associates.
The trust is also building local business support. It recently welcomed K&J Tree Service as “our first dedicated corporate sponsor” for an upcoming sponsorship campaign.
How to help
“We rely on your support to continue our preservation efforts,” the trust says, and there are a few simple ways to pitch in:
- Volunteer: The trust is looking for volunteers now. Message the group on Facebook or Instagram, or use the contact form on northhavenlandtrust.org, and it will share current opportunities.
- Join: Memberships are offered through the Join page on the trust’s website.
- Meet them in person: The trust lists a “Meet the North Haven Land Trust” table on Saturday, Nov. 21, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Liuzzi Gourmet Food Market, 322 State St.
- Businesses: Ask about the corporate sponsorship campaign.
If you go
- Organization: North Haven Land Trust, Inc., a nonprofit founded in 1972
- Mail: P.O. Box 262, North Haven, CT 06473
- Email: northhavenlandtrust@gmail.com
- Web: northhavenlandtrust.org
- Holdings: 21 properties, about 133 acres, open to North Haven residents
- Newest: Wah Wah Taysee, 4200 Ridge Road, acquired June 2024
Have you walked one of the land trust’s properties, or camped at Wah Wah Taysee as a Scout? Tell us your memories. And if there is a North Haven business or organization you think deserves a profile, we want to hear about it.
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