Pole Bridge Open Space Preserve Dedicated

By Dottie Evans

More than 60 people attended last Saturday morning’s dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony at the Pole Bridge Preserve, which concluded before the rain began.

They parked along the road and climbed the steep access trail into the 21-acre wooded property that was recently purchased by the town with open space funds and a matching state grant.

When they reached their destination high among the hemlocks, they found relief in the form of camp stools, a tent for shade, food, and drink. There was even hot coffee and enough chocolate chip cookies to satisfy a small army.

The Aragones family, former owners of the 21-acre parcel, had returned for the celebration. Also present were members of the Ad Hoc Open Space Task Force, as well as area nature educators, town officials and interested residents, who all stood by to watch while Mrs Aragones cut the red and blue ribbons spanning the nature trail.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal handed her the scissors and State Rep Julia Wasserman was among the cheering onlookers.

“This day is the culmination of a lot of hard work, and I want to thank everyone here who helped make it happen,” said Ad Hoc Open Space Task Force Chairman Rob Sibley.

He noted that with the acquisition of 21 acres, a 115-acre preserve had been created because the Aragones property was linked to other town-owned parcels already set aside as open space.

Nature educators on hand to lead bird, forest, and wetland walks included Ed Gilman, an ornithologist from Greenwich Audubon, Renee Baade of the Western Connecticut Bird Club, John Longstreth, manager and forestry expert from the Bent of the River Audubon Center in Southbury, and Ellen Turner, an education director also from the Southbury Audubon center.

While these individuals showed visitors some of the treasures of the preserve, many townspeople gathered under the forest canopy to enjoy refreshments and examine the numerous maps and literature laid out by open space committee members.

Newtown student Amanda Nickerson had brought along living specimens captured from a vernal pool in her back yard and temporarily contained in two small aquariums. They included a wood frog tadpole and salamander larvae.

Someone discovered an empty box turtle shell along the trail, and Mr Longstreth found the cottony white evidence of the woolly adelgid parasite on the hemlock needles.

“This forest is in transition,” he said, “because the hemlocks are under stress. Also, I can see that the deer have foraged extensively here, as shown by the lack of understory plants.”

Dedication Prompts

Question: What’s Next?

Legislative Council member Tim Holian was on hand for the dedication as was Conservation Official C. Stephen Driver.

Mr Driver commented that the Pole Bridge purchase was just one more example of the recent heightened level of awareness in town about the need for preserving Newtown’s environmental integrity and sensitive wetlands.

“Judy Holmes deserves credit for coming in at the beginning and refusing to give up,” Mr Driver said of the former open space committee chairman who was also present for Saturday’s dedication.

Newtown Trails Book mapmaker and longtime resident Al Goodrich, who is also a member of the Ad Hoc Committee, has worked alongside Mr Sibley, Pat Barkman, Jane Nickerson, and others on the task force to create a seven-mile greenway and walking trail through the town’s open space lands with Fairfield Hills serving as the hub.

“The greenway is an exciting concept,” Mr Driver said.

“If the parcels that have already been set aside are linked, and with just a few more acquisitions, the trail could stretch all the way from here to Lake Lillinonah,” he added.

Some of the land for possible greenway trails has already been set aside by the Newtown Forest Association, by the state as parkland, and by Northeast Utilities in the form of easements. Just recently, the Open Space Task Force gained permission from the state to negotiate an under-highway crossing along the Pootatuck River between Exits 10 and 11.

The group is hoping to open the greenway a year from now in spring 2004.

But Saturday, May 31, 2003, was a day to celebrate what had already been accomplished at the Pole Bridge Preserve, and it was a happy occasion for all involved.