On Saturday, May 14, the Harwinton Land Trust made improvements to the Bull Pond area that was devastated by the 2009 wind storm.  Our accomplishments included:

Installation of wooden posts to provide a barrier at the edge of the steep bank near the dam,

installation of a bench at a scenic location near the boardwalk crossing,

weeding and mulching flower gardens around the land trust signs and observation deck,

The Land Trust wishes to thank the following for their good work:  Tamara Christensen, Steve Craig, Gary Griffin, Steve Kaczynski, Karen Kelleher, Bob Orciari, Donna Potwin, Eric Rahn, Glen Richardson, Elaine Sederquist, and Peter Thierry with special thanks to Larry Connors for constructing our new beautiful and comfortable bench.

With the lack of snow this winter, the Land Trust has been able to get out and make improvements at Meadowview. Work centered on plans to extend the existing trail through the marsh located beyond Meadowview Pond. To improve views for hikers, small trees and brush were removed from the marsh.

With safe ice by late January, Land Trust volunteers were able to walk out on Meadowview Pond to install a wood duck nesting box. Meadowview Pond should be an ideal habitat for wood ducks.

Nesting boxes are intended to provide cavity space for wood ducks that are unable to excavate their own holes for nesting. According to the CT DEEP, wood ducks were on the brink of extinction by the early 1900s, but have recovered. Their recovery is partly due to the installation of nesting boxes.

The Harwinton Land Trust had another productive work party at our Meadowview property on November 14, 2015. The turnout of volunteers was excellent and the chilly fall weather was perfect for the work that needed to be done. Big thanks go to Ken Baldwin, Bruce Baldwin, Larry Connors, Steve Craig, Tamara Christensen, Gary Griffin, John Grustas, Karen Kelleher, Rob Lesniewski, Bob Orciari, Bob Sederquist, and Elaine Sederquist. Together, we were able to extend a boardwalk that will go across the dike of Meadowview Pond, clear a trail loop back to the dike boardwalk, open up a nice view of the large marsh, and clear around the new parking area to provide visitors a clear vision of where the trail begins. It’s amazing to see how nice the area has become from what was once an impenetrable mass of briars interspersed between patches of soggy ground.

This September (2015), volunteers from the Harwinton Land Trust improved several trail sections at its Bull Pond Preserve and Meadowview properties. These trail sections in need of improvement. They were a little soggy or rocky-rooty ‘n rutty. Now they’re completely smooth and dry.

Work began once 10 yards of process gravel were delivered to each area.

Larry Connors used his personal tractor to haul material from the gravel pile to the work site.

Gravel was cleanly dumped into wheel barrows that were lined up side-by-side.

The gravel was then hauled to spots that needed improvement, up to 100 yards away.

Finally, the gravel was raked smoothly to fill in ruts and soggy spots.

The work was hard, but everyone who helped came away with a great sense of satisfaction for a job done well done. Many thanks go to all our Land Trust volunteers for  helping to make this project a big success.

These improvements will last a long time, but don’t wait to visit.  They make an easier walk for you – just in time to enjoy this wonderful fall weather!

Save

The Harwinton Land Trust is happy to have had the opportunity to receive another day of community service from the Wilderness School of Connecticut. The School is run by the CT Dept. of Children and Families.  It is designed to foster self esteem, personal responsibility, and interpersonal skills of young boys and girls attending the program. As part of the program, the kids are required to perform community service work.

Last year, the Wilderness School helped the Land Trust at Bull Pond and Forever Forest. This year, on August 4, 10 kids and four school counselors helped at our Meadowview property. They accomplished a great deal. They hauled lumber over a long distance to a planned boardwalk site, spread stone over a newly created parking area, installed sign posts, and opened a barway through a stone wall. This work will improve hiking access through Meadowview which will make the area more welcoming to the public.

In early June, a 250-ft. boardwalk was built at Meadowview by volunteers of the Harwinton Land Trust. The boardwalk spans a soggy part of the Land Trust property and moves the trail farther away from private property and closer to the scenic marsh.

Big thanks go to Rob Lesniewski, the Trust’s Land Steward at Meadowview, for heading things up. Many thanks also go to Herb Etter, Gary Griffin, Bill Lindquist, Elaine and Bob Sederquist, and Bob Orciari. The volunteers worked hard to complete 250 feet of boardwalk in only two mornings, but came away with a great sense of accomplishment.

Visitors to the property can now walk to Meadowview Pond without getting their feet wet, at least during normal weather conditions. It will also provide much better views of the large marsh for wildlife observation. The Land Trust is excited about completing the new boardwalk and hopes people will take the time to visit Meadowview. Street-side parking is available on Meadowview Drive at the bottom of the street’s long hill and just past the guard rails. The trail begins just to the right of the Land Trust sign. It takes only about 10 minutes to reach Meadowview Pond.

Thank you Eagle Scout Alex

The Land Trust wishes to thank Harwinton resident, Alex Colombie for completing his Eagle Scout project at Forever Forest. His project to construct an observation deck with a bench overlooking a large marsh is an important addition to the area’s trail system. A great deal of planning and effort went into his project. Just to get the tools and building materials to the location required that he and a half dozen other scouts had to lug heavy lumber a quarter mile in through the woods. Each scout had to make six trips back and forth, which means they had to hike a total of three miles–even before they could start work on the deck! Alex and his friends should be proud of the good work they did to benefit the residents of our town.

On October 25, 2014, the Trust held a Grand Opening for its newly established trail system through the 50 acres of woodland adjacent to Bull Pond. The weather and foliage was perfect, and we had an excellent attendance of about 50 visitors throughout the morning’s event. All visitors said that they were very impressed with the new trails and with the attractiveness of the area. They were led through four separate, but interconnected trails. Hikers found the trails to be well-marked, dry and easy to walk. We were impressed by the number of seniors that hiked the trails, especially a 93 year-old lady who completed the loop to the back end of Bull Pond. We hope the hikers that came to the Grand Opening will pass their experience onto their friends—they’ll be surprised at how nice the area is.

On Saturday, April 26 and Saturday, May 3, the Land Trust held two planting parties at Bull Pond and Forever Forest with the intent to make both areas more attractive for visitors.

Bull Pond

We hope the plantings will allow full recovery of the cleared area that had been devastated by the 2009 windstorm.  The edge of the pond was planted with 18 high bush blueberry plants and 20 small mountain laurels to help stabilize the eroding shore.  Two flowering crab apple trees were planted next to the wildlife observation deck to provide shade and beauty.

In the cleared hillside, approximately 40 hemlocks and 10 red oaks were planted for reforestation.

Now that the plants are in place, we’ll need to regularly brush cut around them to make sure that the briars and tall weeds don’t re-infest the area.

Forever Forest

We hope to improve the visual appearance of the entry trail as it passes between a wetland and private property. To better naturalize this section of trail, approximately 60 hemlock trees were randomly planted between the trail and the private property, as well as on a hillside overlooking that property.

Very few hemlocks are present in Forever Forest, which is dominated by hardwoods, such as oak, maple, hickory, beech, and birch.  Unlike the hardwoods, the hemlocks will provide greenery and a scenic buffer through the year.

A Round of Thanks

Both planting parties were very successful, and all plants were healthy and in great shape.  We had very good turn-outs both mornings, especially considering the very rainy, raw day of April. The many hands made the hard work of planting trees in rocky-rooty soil go smoothly.  Both mornings actually turned out to be great fun, and we all walked away with a good sense of satisfaction with a job well done.  The Land Trust wants to thank everyone who took part in the plantings — the crew at Bull Pond:  Bob Orciari, Liz and Martin Brayboy, Howard and Sue Rood, Herb Etter, Rob Lesniewski, Larry Connors, Bill, Meghan, and Caite Tracy, Liam Curran, Anthony Erwin, Mike Carlson, and Jesse Quinn-Alger and the crew at Forever Forest:  Bob Orciari, Cheryl and Jeff Ganoe, Bill Tracy, Bill Lindquist, Elaine S., Anthony Erwin, and the Foote family–Stacy, Rick, and their young son, Ricky. A big thumbs-up goes to the energetic digging provided by Lewis Mills students, including some from the Eco-Action Club.  Jeff Ganoe was most helpful in pre-work party brush cutting at Bull Pond, so that we didn’t have to fight through extensive briars to plant the trees.

We are most grateful to the Community Foundation of NW CT, which fully funded the cost of plants and planting material.  The Foundation’s funding was crucial in allowing our trust, with its very limited budget, to complete this important project.

Forever Forest Printable Map 2013