fmaceachern@wiltonvillager.com

WILTON — A former Wilton man well known for his commitment to nature and ensuring there was open land for Wilton residents to enjoy had a section of Schenck's Island named after him.

The Wilton Land Conservation Trust dedicated three acres in the name of the late Richard C. Wheeler at a ceremony which took place Saturday, May 3, at 10:30 a.m.

"He would go there and just work by himself. He was the volunteer's volunteer," said long-time friend George Ongley.

Wheeler died in 2003, at the age of 86.

Wheeler was involved in conservation issues all his life, said Ongley and was a longtime member of the conservation commission.

"His wife (Mary Beth) was also a conservationist herself and she was a great help to him," said Ongley.

She lives in Wallingford.

Schenck's Island was a natural showcase because of its location in Wilton Center and Wheeler recognized that, said land trust member Tom Burgess.

"He thought what a good showcase this would be to have this land cleaned of all the invasive plants and vines and weeds," said Burgess.

He said former land trust member, Tony Grassi, who currently lives in Maine inspired the move to reclaim the land.

The land was used by the Schenck family as pasture for their farm animals but over time shrubs and trees began to occupy the land along with invasive plants and weeds not native to the area, said Burgess.

It's easy for the area to be attacked by non-native plants, said Theresa Mucci.

The Wilton resident is a landscape architect who is working on the project.

"It's bordered by a road, a railroad, a river and construction downstream," said Mucci. As if that wasn't enough in making it easy for non-native plant seeds to find their way to the island, flooding has also contributed to the problem, she said.

"Last year there were two, 100-year floods and it was washed over with invasive seed," said Mucci.

She works with Larry Wiener, a Pennsylvania-based landscape architect who is also involved with the restoration. Wiener said it's important to ensure removing non-native plants doesn't harm the native plants.

"It's actually complicated, you have to be pretty precise," said Wiener.

The plan is not to restore the area to pasture land as it was in the days when cattle grazed in the area, said Mucci. Instead the plan is to ensure native plants are allowed to thrive and Wilton residents can enjoy passive recreation by walking through the area, she said.

The land trust either owns, or manages, more than 700 acres in 101 separate parcels of land in Wilton.