‘Hidden’ Halfway River Sees Restoration Money

By Kendra Bobowick

A favorite spot for Land Use Deputy Director Rob Sibley, the Halfway River off Route 34, may be too easily overlooked. “Most people driving by won’t find it — it’s got some great buffering,” he said. The buffering, for one, made the difference recently.

An award of $326,400 for a Halfway River Fishery Access project is included in the Housatonic River Basin Draft Natural Resource Restoration Plan. “This buffer is exactly what they were looking for to protect the Housatonic and we thought from the get-go it was a gem,” Mr Sibley said. The buffer also proves a point: “The Halfway River has reportedly come through as one of the cleanest streams in town.”

The award is the long-anticipated answer for the contaminating PCBs that washed downstream along the river corridor in 1999 from the Pittsfield, Mass., General Electric (GE) plant. Newtown’s project is among only 27 out of an original 92 preliminary proposals to receive funding through a more than $7 million GE settlement for restoration and environmental projects in Connecticut.

The town will close on a 12-acre parcel along Route 34 that leads through the woods to the Halfway River. With a time frame of two years or less, the Halfway River Fishery Access project will preserve undeveloped riverside property and create access to the “high quality wild trout fishery.”

What does that mean? “The Housatonic benefits from side stream confluence,” Mr Sibley said. Trout thrive in the cold trickling waters including the Halfway River that feeds into the Housatonic. Mr Sibley explained, “[Fish] go up the tributaries where the water is clear, where they have safety.” They breed. “People will say, ‘Oh, look at the minnows.’” They are seeing fingerlings, or young trout. “It’s a nursery,” he said. “It’s one of the areas where the fish persist and feed into the Housatonic.”

He loves the location. “Early on a Sunday morning if you have 20 minutes to walk trails off Jordan Hill, do it; it’s incredible,” he said. “This is good stuff, this is what it’s all about.”

In partnership with the Trust for Public Land, town officials intend to preserve the acres that form a larger passive recreation corridor of Monroe property off Jordan Hill Road. Mr Sibley anticipates public access to stream banks rarely decorated with foot traffic. “It will take a couple of seasons to reach the point so it’s as we want it to be,” he said. He needs time to assess “the best passive access,” to include parking and hiking. The town’s parcel will connect to trails on the Monroe side of Jordan Hill.

The headwaters start in the New Lebbon Road area and flow unnoticed through to Lyrical and Serenity Lanes, down Jordan Hill, and beneath Route 34 to a spot most visible where the water spills into Lake Zoar at Eichler’s Cove.

Spilling like popcorn Monday were snowflakes dropping into the Halfway River, but chances are likely that no one saw the water soak them in.

Quietly passing over smoothed stones and beneath winter’s creaking tree trunks, the river will soon be more easily accessible to residents intent on a quiet hike in the woods.

Visit HousatonicRestoration.org for more details about the Housatonic River Basin Natural Resources Restoration Project addressing compensation for harm done to the environment.