Preserving Nature’s Fields And Streams

By Kendra Bobowick

Autumn’s crunch accompanied each step where fallen leaves cluttered the ground Tuesday afternoon at the end of Trades Lane.

Slipping through overgrown golden rod, milk weed, and late season brown-eyed Susans blooming alongside Deep Brook were conservationist Patricia Barkman, Holmes Fine Gardens owner Dan Holmes, and Candlewood Valley Trout Unlimited (CVTU) chapter President James Belden, who also is campaigning for a Legislative Council seat in November’s election. They searched through waist-high growth for spruce trees, willows, and birch they had planted in recent years to bolster the land buffering Deep Brook.

“Look at that willow, just a spindly thing two years ago,” said Mr Belden, reaching for the tree and slapping his palm against the sturdy trunk. Several years ago, groups including the town, the CVTU, and the Newtown Tree Project partnered to sponsor the plantings to “recreate” the forest area along the stream banks where the group stood this week in a field that once was part of the Fairfield Hills waste water treatment plant. “We’ve been waiting to get in here and help these struggling trees,” said Mr Holmes. Mr Belden added, “Now, It’s time to come back for maintenance.”

“We need to maintain the investment,” Mr Holmes said. The trees — planted with the help of Reed Intermediate School students — looked healthy, however, with abundant wildlife surrounding them. A few feet away, Ms Barkman bent down to point out a praying mantis poised on a grassy stalk, blending in shape and color. Standing, she shielded her eyes to view the flood plain space along the river. “Look, a monarch,” she said, as a deep orange and black-rimmed butterfly caught the sunlight.

Tugging at invasives as she went, Ms Barkman pointed out the bittersweet vine reaching the riverbank’s treetops; autumn olive trees also choking out native plant life on the rocky slop down to the shallow water. Climbing the bank was Conservation Commission Chairman Joe Hovious. Dark, wet stones in hand, he scraped at what he hoped was a macroinvertebrate sample — a small water insect without a backbone, which helps indicate a stream’s health. “Anybody home,” he joked, looking at what he believed was a caddis. He then answered himself: “Nope. It has already hatched.” The caddis indicates a healthy stream.

Nearby, Mr Holmes pinched a wildflower’s leaves between his fingers to test its scent, glancing at several of the tree plantings nearby and thinking of coming weeks’ efforts to maintain the site. With him in the quiet field, Ms Barkman agreed that the place was beautiful. Mr Belden also looks with relief toward several days of scheduled maintenance for the riparian buffer zone — lands adjacent to a stream, often areas containing native grasses, flowers, shrubs and trees that line the stream banks.

Five years from now, Mr Belden hopes the field will resemble a second-growth forest. He welcomes the chance to improve an area used by the public while improving the environmental health. The fact that the area is also open to the public “makes it a great project, for the people, the fish, the praying mantis, everybody.”

Volunteer for one of three consecutive Thursdays at anytime between 10 am and 4 pm to help maintain a restored habitat at the end of Trades Lane near Deep Brook and Al’s Trail October 22, 29, and November 5. Bring hand tools and gloves to assist with clearing invasive plants and vines. Training provided.