Woodstock

Campert Preserve

Joe Campert, the founder of Bungee Lake, in Woodstock, donated a group of properties around the lake to the land trust in 2017. The properties are forested and contain a mixture of mature white pine, hemlock, and red oak. A healthy mountain laurel thicket is in one section of the land, and a couple of small streams traverse the properties. Currently, there are no trails for the public to access the properties.

“It’s good habitat for birds,” explained Andy Rzeznikiewicz, the land trust’s land manager. “We expect to find nesting Black-throated Green Warblers, Blackburnian Warblers, Pine Warblers, and Northern and Louisiana Waterthrushes, to name a few of the noteworthy bird species around the lake. Joe Campert wanted to see these lands protected forever. We are happy he has trusted the Wyndham Land Trust to take on that duty.”

Campert created Lake Bungee in the early 1950s, although the dam he built was almost swept away after back-to-back hurricanes dumped over two feet of rain on Connecticut in August of 1955 (the same rainfall that destroyed much of Putnam). Today, there are over 400 homes in the Lake Bungee Tax District.

Campert is a well-known figure in Woodstock. He developed Witches Wood Lake in the 1960s and operated the O-Ho-Ho Ski Area and Christmas Tree Lodge until it closed in 1987. He piloted a Piper single-engine four-seat airplane and took off from a runway he constructed behind his house on Lake Bungee.