Mill District Preserve

HLT’s Mill District Nature Preserve is a 117-acre parcel in West Hartland that adjoins HLT’s Bassett-Kell

Preserve, Audubon Connecticut’s Pasquariello Wildlife Sanctuary and a portion of the upper Tunxis State Forest block. The Preserve was obtained in 2019 and 2020 by HLT with funding awarded through the Audubon CT In Lieu Fee Program grants as well as assistance from the Farmington River Coordinating Committee. As ecologist Harry White has described the property in the Conservation Management Plan for the Mill District Nature Preserve, “The Preserve is a mosaic of upland to lowland mixed woodlands, marsh and shrub swamp, vernal pools and seeps, brooks and mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) stands in the Transition Hardwoods Zone. It lies on the watershed divide between the East Branch and West Branch of the Farmington River, a National Wild and Scenic River.”