CONNECTICUT Woodlands THINKINGABOUTTREES The Magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association Summer 2008 Volume 73 Number 2 CONNECTICUT Woodlands The Magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association The Connecticut Forest & Park Association, Inc. Officers PRESIDENT, David Platt, Higganum VICE-PRESIDENT, Jean Crum Jones, Shelton VICE-PRESIDENT, Eric Lukingbeal, Granby VICE-PRESIDENT, David Sullivan, Haddam TREASURER, Gordon L. Anderson, Glastonbury SECRETARY, Eric Hammerling, West Hartford Directors Mark Ashton, New Haven Richard A. Bauerfeld, Branford William Breck, Killingworth Russell L. Brenneman, Westport George M. Camp, Middletown Starling W. Childs, Norfolk Ruth Cutler, Ashford Laurence Diamond, Coventry Caroline Driscoll, New London Astrid T. Hanzalek, Suffield David Leff, Collinsville Geoffrey Meissner, Southington Karen Mignone, Fairfield Thomas Mongillo, North Branford Randall Miller, Hamden Stephen C. Parsons, Cheshire Donald L. Snook, Westport Colin Tait, Norfolk Richard Whitehouse, Glastonbury Glenn D. Dreyer The state’s largest tree is this sycamore in Simsbury, named for former resident Gifford Honorary Directors Pinchot, first U.S. Forest Service chief. See page 8. Harrol W. Baker, Jr., Bolton Richard F. Blake, Milford Clyde S. Brooks, Gibsonia, PA Conserving Connecticut Annual Membership Ann M. Cuddy, Lakeville The Connecticut Forest & Park Association is a Individual $ 35 Samuel G. Dodd, Mansfield Center private, non-profit organization dedicated since Family $ 50 John E. Hibbard, Hebron 1895 to conserving the land, trails, and natural Supporting $ 100 Philip H. Jones, Jr., Shelton resources of Connecticut. Benefactor $ 250 Edward A. Richardson, Glastonbury The Connecticut Forest & Park Association is David M. Smith, Hamden affiliated with the National Wildlife Federation, Life Membership $ 2500 L.P.Sperry, Jr., Middlebury the National Woodland Owners Association, Sally L. Taylor, Mystic Henry H. Townshend, New Haven the American Hiking Society, and Earth Share. Corporate Membership Club $ 50 Staff Connecticut Woodlands Nonprofit $ 75 Executive Director, Eric Hammerling, West Hartford Published quarterly by the Sustaining $ 100 Trail Conservation Coordinator, Ann T. Colson, Clinton Connecticut Forest & Park Association, Landmark $ 250 Development Director, James W. Little, Hebron Middlefield, 16 Meriden Road, Rockfall, CT Stewardship $ 500 Administrative Coordinator, Teresa Peters, Durham 06481-2961. Leadership $1000 Administrative Assistant, Linda Cunningham, Portland Land Conservation Coordinator, Damon Hearne, Higganum Indexed in the Connecticut Periodical Index, Education Coordinator, Lori Paradis Brant, Beacon Falls ISSN 00106257. WalkConnecticut Coordinator, Leslie Lewis, Lyme Telephone: 860-346-2372. Fax 860-347-7463. EDITOR, Christine Woodside E-mail address: [email protected] GRAPHIC DESIGNER, Karen Ward World Wide Web site: http://www.ctwoodlands.org Printed on recycled paper 2 CONNECTICUT WOODLANDS Summer 2008 CONNECTICUT Woodlands The Magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association Summer 2008 Volume 73 Number 2 Contents FEATURES DEPARTMENTS 8 The Notable Trees Project. A dedicated 4 President’s Message. CFPA’s role in Trails Day. group of tree experts and volunteers By David Platt. measure and document Connecticut’s big and historic specimens, because this con- nects people to the deeper importance of 5 Editor’s Note. trees. By Christine Woodside. 5 News of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association. Eric Hammerling begins work as 10 In Hartford. Urban trees stop pollution, executive director. improve health, and beautify. Foresters report on how this city’s trees stand out. By Jack Hale and Christopher Donnelly. 7 Environmental Update. A tale of public-private partnerships: the federal Wild & Scenic designa- tion for the Eightmile River. By Eric Hammerling. 12 In Old Saybrook. A tree committee mem- ber shares the wisdom planting 500 14 Obituaries. The Rev. George McLean Milne, saplings brought him. For instance, some longtime CFPA president and author of the book people don’t like trees. By Kathleen Groll Connecticut Woodlands. Additional obituaries on Connolly. page 26. 16 From the Archives. Kornel Bailey’s 1983 retrospec- tive on the beginning of the Mattabesett Trail. 18 From the Land. The ancient apple tree. By Jean Crum Jones. 20 Essential Facts of Life. How to become a citizen frog scientist. By Lori Paradis Brant. 22 Book Review. A volume on edible forest gardens. By Robert Ricard. 23 Stumpage Report. Current prices for standing timber. 24 Poem. The Mountain. By Eric Peters. 25 Trail Mix. Spring workshop roundup. Volunteers appointed. 26 From the WalkConnecticut Director. A walk among the trees. By Leslie Lewis On the cover: 27 Recognizing CFPA’s donors. This 211-year-old black walnut Development News. tree on the old Waldo Homestead in Scotland is the largest known 31 CFPA Store. Buy books, maps, and clothing black walnut in New England. Photo by Glenn D. Dreyer. SeasonSummer 2007 2008 CONNECTICUT CONNECTICUT WOODLANDS WOODLANDS0 3 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE THE NEXT GENERATION:WE SPEAK FOR THE TREES BY DAVID PLATT side.org). This year, hundreds of families participated in this seven- week, statewide event, and the level of participation continues to t’s been a month since Connecticut Forest & Park Association grow. DEP Commissioner Gina McCarthy and her terrific staff are to Icoordinated the largest Trails Day in the country, with 130 events. be commended for this program because it helps cultivate a new gen- I have always liked Trails Day. Think about it: for a whole day or at eration of environmental stewards. least a good part of it, the kids and adults have a good reason to turn Trees are the focus of this issue of Connecticut Woodlands. At off their TVs and computer games to go outside to CFPA, we like to say (in true Dr. Seuss “Lorax” parlance) that “we experience the Connecticut landscape! speak for the trees.” Working with land trusts, DEP, and other CFPA played a big role in Trails Day, and we’re groups, CFPA has conserved thousands of acres of forests across the proud of that. It is one of our signature events, which state through our land and trail conservation programs. These efforts makes great sense given our commitment to con- focus, in approximate order of priority, on protecting lands that host serving and creating forests and parks, and our work any of the Blue-Blazed Hiking Trails, lands that are “working forest to carve out and maintain the over 800 miles of Blue lands,” and lands that enhance state forests and parks. Blazed Hiking Trails. This year CFPA sponsored 19 This is our niche, and it is an important one given the sprawl-style hikes and trail maintenance workshops, all led by development that threatens these vital natural resources. Our land dedicated volunteers. This is what the Blue Trails and and trail committees and volunteer trail managers work very hard on Christine Woodside CFPA President CFPA’s WalkConnecticut program are all about. On this part of our mission, as does our staff. The next time you are David Platt Trails Day, and for the last few years, we have been enjoying a walk on the trails or a visit to the forest, realize that your working with the Connecticut Department of support of CFPA (www.ctwoodlands.org) plays a large part in help- Environmental Protection on its “Great Park Pursuit,” a component ing to make your experience possible. of DEP’s “No Child Left Inside” program (see www.nochildleftin- 4 CONNECTICUT WOODLANDS Summer 2008 NEWS OF THE FROM THE EDITOR CONNECTICUT FOREST & PARK ASSOCIATION onnecticut Woodlands magazine will C be entering a new phase starting in the fall. Its publishers, the Connecticut Forest & Park Association, will print much of the member news, development news, and pro- gram listings, in a new newsletter. The newsletter will be packed with information that is up-to-the-minute. Ultimately it will be available on the CFPA Web site (www.ctwoodlands.org). We have long talked about covering more environmental and conservation news in Connecticut Woodlands. With the creation of the newsletter, Connecticut Woodlands will devote more pages to reporting these stories that are so important to its members. We also will publish essays, photographs, and musings CFPA photos by and about CFPA’s staff. Adam R. Moore, On June 7, Eric Hammerling begins the National Trails Day hike up Talcott the former executive director, will write a col- Mountain on the Metacomet Trail. Behind him is a staffer of U.S. Rep.Chris umn about New England. Murphy, who introduced the New England Scenic Trail Designation Act in January. Please feel free to contact me at christine.wood- [email protected] if there are matters you would Eric Hammerling Becomes Executive Director like to read about. Eric Hammerling, an experienced con- He advised the Massachusetts Environ- — Christine Woodside servation professional who headed the mental Trust on grant programs from 2001 Farmington River Watershed Association to 2003. As a waste management specialist for five years, became executive director of for the Center for Ecological Technology in the Connecticut Forest & Park Association Northampton, Massachu-setts, from 2002 in May. He replaced Adam R. Moore, who to 2003, he coordinated the Massachusetts COMING IN THE NEXT ISSUES OF had led CFPA since 2001 and who depart- Material Exchange, a program to reduce ed in April for a new job heading the waste by brokering exchanges between Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation on Martha’s waste producers and those would re-use the CONNECTICUT Vineyard. waste; and worked on an integrated pest Mr. Hammerling said he had become management project at facilities where chil- WOODLANDS interested in CFPA while watching its staff dren are present. members speaking before the General He became executive director of the Fall 2008 Assembly on all sorts of issues, especially Farmington River Watershed Association in that of all-terrain vehicles. “I loved the way 2003. During his time there, Mr.Hammerling that CFPA took on the issue,” he said. He worked to encourage the U.S. Congress WASTE added that he was excited when the oppor- authorize a three-year feasibility study to evalu- tunity arose to work with CFPA.