Housatonic Valley Paddle Club Is Launched

By Dottie Evans

Area canoe and kayak enthusiasts will be interested to know that a regional paddle club has formed and will be conducting monthly meetings in Newtown. The club is currently looking for members as well as ideas concerning possible excursions and events. They are also looking for ways to improve communications among members through the website www.hvpaddleclub.org.

The Housatonic Valley Paddle Club meets at 7 pm every third Wednesday of the month at the CL&P headquarters off Barnabus Road at Exit 9 in Newtown.

“We had been meeting at the Colorado brewery in Danbury, but it was very noisy. This is a much better location,” said Susie Hackel, a teacher from New Milford.

Bethel resident Trish Ashcroft has been working to get news of the club publicized and Newtown resident Beverly Kieras of Eden Hill Road has been a member since fall. Sandra Cox of Woodbury, interviewed following the club’s April 16 meeting, said that members come from all over the greater Danbury area.

“So far, the club is still in the informal stages of getting organized,” Ms Cox said.

“We’re a social group and we love being out on the water. One of our first goals is to help out during a Still River cleanup day. It can be a teaching tool and we want to pay something back to the river for the privilege of paddling on it,” Ms Cox said.

The North-Flowing Still River

The Still River is a northward flowing tributary of the Housatonic and is an important component of The Housatonic Valley River Trail, a 38-mile canoe and kayak water trail that was established in 1999. Groups such as the US Department of Interior National Park Service and the Housatonic Valley Tourism District banded together with towns and environmental groups along the River Trail to designate and protect the waterway.

The Housatonic River originates in Pittsfield, Mass., and flows south to Long Island Sound. Its northern tributary, the Still River, originates in Danbury and follows a course parallel to northern Route 7 through Brookfield and into New Milford, where it joins the Housatonic at Lover’s Leap and Lake Lillinonah.

The Still River is noted for two outstanding and unusual features –– its northerly direction of flow and its yearly habit of flooding across vast acreage of forests and meadows in southern New Milford. Over centuries, a significant number of ecologically threatened plants and animals have found an ecological niche in this floodplain because of the unique limestone subsoil and rare alkaline environment that exists there. Native Americans once camped along the Still River and the American Indian Archaeological Institute in Washington, Conn., has conducted several digs along its banks over the past 20 years.

Bob Keller of The Trading Post, a canoe and kayak outfitting business located on the Kent Road in New Milford, attended the April 16 paddle club meeting and spoke enthusiastically about time spent paddling down the north-flowing Still River.

“The Still is a gentle, slow-moving river –– a delight for paddlers because once in it, you have no idea where you are. You could be in the Amazon. You can hear Route 7 nearby but you can’t see it,” said Mr Keller.

His business is organizing a special In-Water Paddle Day May 17 to demonstrate equipment and offer information about local paddle opportunities.

Corporate Sponsors Offer Help

Also addressing the Housatonic Valley Paddle Club at the April meeting was James Bellano, director of the Housatonic Valley Economic Development Community (HVEDC).

 Among its many projects, the HVEDC manages the River Trail and is working to enable free-standing organizations such as the Newtown-based paddle club to operate independently. It is hoped that such grass-roots groups will act as watchdogs as well as stewards for the waterway.

One challenge for local paddle clubs, Mr Bellano said, would be cleaning up blockages in the Still River such as fallen trees and accumulated trash or debris. The club might also identify and improve the “put-in and take-out” landings along the Still or work on portages around a series of falls in northern Brookfield at the Four Corners area of Route 7.

Paddle club member Ed Foss agreed to act as liaison between the club and HVEDC for upcoming projects.

The Housatonic Valley Paddle Club was formed June 2002 at a special canoe and kayak event organized by The Trading Post. Ms Cox said she was asked to “man the club table” for them. Slowly other paddling enthusiasts gathered around the table and decided to form a regional club with the Trading Post as sponsor.

“It’s helpful to have someone in the [paddling] community that will not necessarily give you financial backing, but who has done a lot of paddling. They act as a sounding board,” said Ms Cox.

While members of the fledgling club agreed it would be important to assist in efforts on the nearby Still River, they were just as concerned with beefing up their own infrastructure so their club could become better organized.

“We need to refine the web page and set up a calendar of events,” said Ms Cox.

They also want a way to post messages in an informal “chat group” or “buzz board,” in order to   pass along news of favorite paddling launch sites. The Pond Brook Launch Site off Newtown’s Hanover Road was mentioned as one desirable spot, providing access to Lake Lillinonah.

“Kayaking is so much fun. We need an active website to be able to keep track of weather conditions, establish a [river] flow phone to find out quickly where the good paddling is. Maybe also find someone to go out with,” said Ms Hackel.

 The In-Water Paddle Days event, sponsored by The Trading Post, LLC, is scheduled for Saturday, May 17, and Sunday, May 18, from 9 am to 3:30 pm at Lynn Deming Town Park (one mile off Route 7) off Candlewood Lake Road in New Milford. Contact phone number is 860-354-3276.