CONNECTICUT Woodlands 40 YEARS OF ENVIRONMENTAL FUNDING ALSO: WHAT SHALL INHERIT THE BACKYARD? The Magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association Summer 2012 Volume 77 No. 2 About Connecticut Forest & Park Association and Connecticut Woodlands Magazine Barrie Robbins-Pianka A hiker approaches an all-terrain vehicle. Middletown’s Common Council voted in May to ban quads and dirt bikes from city and private land, setting an example in local ordinances that land trusts hope will ripple out to other towns. Connecting People to the Land Annual Membership Our mission: The Connecticut Forest & Park Individual $ 35 Association protects forests, parks, walking Family $ 50 Connecticut Woodlands is a quarterly trails and open spaces for future generations by magazine published since 1936 by CFPA, the connecting people to the land. CFPA directly Supporting $ 100 private, non-profit organization dedicated to involves individuals and families, educators, Benefactor $ 250 conserving the land, trails, and natural community leaders and volunteers to enhance resources of Connecticut. and defend Connecticut’s rich natural heritage. CFPA is a private, non-profit organization that Life Membership $ 2500 Members of CFPA receive the magazine in the relies on members and supporters to carry out mail in January, April, July, and October. its mission. CFPA also publishes a newsletter several times Corporate Membership a year. Our vision: We envision Connecticut as a place of scenic beauty whose cities, suburbs, Club / Non-profit $ 75 For more information about CFPA, and villages are linked by a network of parks, to join or donate online, visit our website, Sustaining $ 100 forests, and trails easily accessible for all people www.ctwoodlands.org, or call 860-346-TREE. to challenge the body and refresh the spirit. We Landmark $ 250 picture a state where clean water, timber, farm Give the gift of membership in CFPA. Stewardship $ 500 Contact Marty Gosselin at 860-346-TREE. fresh foods, and other products of the land make a significant contribution to our economic and Leadership $ 1000 Advertising Rates for Connecticut Woodands cultural well-being. Half page: $180 per issue / $600 yearly (four issues) Connecticut Woodlands Quarter page: $90 per issue / $300 yearly Published quarterly by the Eighth page: $60 per issue / $200 yearly Connecticut Forest & Park Association, 16 Meriden Road, Design services available for a fee. Rockfall, CT 06481-2961 Indexed in the Connecticut Periodical Index, Printed on recycled paper ISSN 00106257 Telephone: 860-346-TREE Fax: 860-347-7463. E-mail address: [email protected] World Wide Web site: http://www.ctwoodlands.org 2 | CONNECTICUT WOODLANDS | SUMMER 2012 CONNECTICUT Woodlands The Magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association SUMMER 2012 Volume 77 No. 2 CONTENTS FEATURES DEPARTMENTS 6 CALL IN THE REINFORCEMENTS, 4 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE. BUT From WHERE? Generosity. Forty years of environmental funding. By Eric Lukingbeal. By Christine Woodside. 5 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE. 10 What SHALL INHERIT THE BACKYARD? Task force seeks balance between trees Native Connecticut plants grow and power outages. on nursery shelves but struggle in By Eric Hammerling. the wild. By Kathleen Groll Connolly. 5 EDITOR’S NOTE. Out on York Mountain, looking down 13 MAPLE SYRUPING BASICS. on New Haven. Get ready for the next maple syrup By Christine Woodside. season now. By Steve Broderick. 14 FROM THE LAND. The value of hay. By Jean Crum Jones. 16 ESSENTIAL Facts OF LIFE. It is easy being (a) green (school): CFPA's early work on green school curricula will help schools apply for federal recognition. By Lori Paradis Brant. 18 TRY THIS HIKE. Along the shore of Lake Lillinonah. By Diane Friend Edwards. 20 WALKCT. Just say thanks. By Leslie Lewis. 22 OBITUARY 22 ENVIronmental UPDate State agencies set traps for invasive insect. Burlington man charged in shooting of bear. 23 ON THE TRAILS : On the Cover The cascades at Kent Falls State Park. Correction: Gary Jordan An old mislabeled photograph led the editor to misidentify the man on the left in the cover photograph of our winter 2012 issue. He was not John Camp, but an unknown foreman for Mitchell Company of South Windsor. Our apologies for the mistake. SUMMER 2012 | CONNECTICUT WOODLANDS | 3 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE The ConnectiCuT ForesT & Park assoCiaTion, inC. OFFICERS GENEROSITY PRESIDENT, ERIC LUKINGBEAL, Granby BY ERIC LUKINGBEAL VICE-PRESIDENT, WILLIAM D. BRECK, Killingworth VICE-PRESIDENT, GEOFFREY MEISSNER, Plantsville ost mornings, and some evenings, I walk our Australian VICE-PRESIDENT, DAVID Platt, Higganum Shepherd around the corn and alfalfa fields behind our VICE-PRESIDENT, Starr SAYRES, East Haddam house in Granby. The fields are owned by the eighth gen- TREASURER, JAMES W. DOMBRAUSKAS, New Hartford eration of farmers whose ancestors settled in Granby more SECRETARY, ERIC HAMMERLING, West Hartford M FORESTER, STEVE BRODERICK, Eastford than two centuries ago. It’s hard to say if the path around the fields (less than a mile, but a good 20-minute walk) is open to the public. DIRECTORS Now and then, I run into another walker. There are snowshoers RUSSELL BRENNEMAN, Westport and skiers on occasion. Rarely, a snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle ROBERT BUTTERWORTH, Haddam will make the circuit. In hunting season, a few hunters will scatter StarlING W. CHILDS, Norfolk their decoys and take some Canada geese. RUTH CUTLER, Ashford When we moved here almost 30 years ago, we asked the farmer if it ANNIE deBOER, Middletown would be okay to walk around the fields. He said yes, without asking us LAURENCE DIAMOND, Coventry Eric Lukingbeal CAROLINE DRISCOLL, New London any questions. He could easily have said no. All he’s ever gotten in return ASTRID T. HANZALEK, Suffield from us is a phone call when we saw some horses loose in the corn. JEAN CRUM JONES, Shelton The idea of private property is said to be fundamental to democracy in this coun- DAVID LAURETTI, Bloomfield try. One of the “sticks” in the bundle of rights composing the idea of private proper- MICHAEL LECOURS, Farmington ty is the right to exclude others. Here at the Connecticut Forest & Park Association, DAVID K. LEFF, Collinsville SCOTT LIVINGSTON, Bolton we depend on the generosity of landowners to waive their right to exclude others. LINDA MACARY, Clinton The 825 miles of the Blue-Blazed Hiking Trails could not exist otherwise. Some of LAUREN L. McGREGOR, Hamden our trails are kept open on a handshake basis; there is often no written agreement. JEFFREy O’DONNELL, Bristol Some landowners do not want anything in writing. When property passes to the DEBORAH C. SpalDING, Guilford next generation, sometimes the new owners are unaware of our handshake deal, and RICHARD WHITEHOUSE, Glastonbury they are reluctant to continue the arrangement. Some decide to close the trails over HONORARY DIRECTORS their lands, and we try to find alternative routes. Sometimes, an arrangement that has GORDON L. ANDERSON, Glastonbury worked for decades is ended by the thoughtless acts of a few litterers or noisemak- HARROL W. BAKER, JR., Bolton ers. Even though Connecticut has a landowner liability law, there is always the fear RICHARD A. BAUERFELD, Redding of lawsuits. GEORGE M. CAMP, Middletown Although much can go wrong, the general trend among forest landowners favors ANN M. CUDDY, Lakeville SAMUEL G. DODD, North Andover, MA generosity. That is why the trails have lasted so long and continue to be added to JOHN E. HIBBARD, Hebron over time. Our executive directors—John Hibbard, Adam Moore, and now Eric PHILIP H. JONES, JR., Shelton Hammerling—are quite persuasive in negotiating these handshake deals and keeping EDwarD A. RICHARDSON, Glastonbury them in place when threatened. L. P. SPERRY, JR., Middlebury Americans’ notions of private property are deeply rooted, and we resist the idea SALLY L. TAYLOR, Mystic HENRY H. TOWNSHEND, New Haven that the public has a right to walk on private lands. But in some European coun- SIDNEY Van ZANDT, Noank tries, and especially in Scandinavia, generosity is reflected in law. In Sweden, the right of common access (allemansratten, “every man’s rights”) allows anyone to STAFF hike or camp for a night or two, on private land, provided no damage is done. The COMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATE, JENNIFER BENNER, Roxbury right is even guaranteed in the Swedish constitution. In other Nordic countries, it is EDUCATION DIRECTOR, LORI PARADIS BRANT, Rockfall FOREST & PROGRAM DIRECTOR, GOODWIN FOREST CENTER, statutory. The precise details of the law vary from one country to another, but the STEVE BRODERICK, Eastford principle—often referred to as the right to roam—is of ancient origin and not con- TRAIL STEWARDSHIP DIRECTOR, CLARE CAIN, Niantic troversial. In those countries where it exists, an organization like CFPA would not FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ASSISTANT, LINDA CUNNINGHAM, Portland even need to ask for permission. MEMBERSHIP & MARKETING DIRECTOR, As we use the trails, we should reflect on the generosity of those landowners who MARTY GOSSELIN, Durham have chosen not to exercise their clear right, as Americans, to keep us off their land. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ERIC HAMMERLING, West Hartford And if we happen to meet them while hiking, let’s tell them how thankful we are. WalkCT DIRECTOR, LESLIE LEWIS, Lyme DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, JAMES W. LITTLE, Hebron LAND CONSERVATION DIRECTOR, Eric Lukingbeal is a lawyer. LINDSAY MICHEL, West Haven ADVANCEMENT ASSISTANT, KARA MURPHY, Guilford OFFICE MANAGER, TERESA PETERS, Durham EDITOR, CHRISTINE WOODSIDE GRAPHIC DESIGNER, KAREN WARD 4 | CONNECTICUT WOODLANDS | SUMMER 2012 m EDITOR’S NOTE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR‘S MESSAGE Out on York Mountain, Task force seeks balance between looking down on New Haven trees and power outages few Saturdays ago, my daughter, Elizabeth, who is 23 now and has a job, apartment, and BY ERIC HAMMERLING life of her own, invited me to go hiking with A her and her work friend, Kasia, who is about n late April, I began serving on a new state task force with the same age.