Kiss Your Ash Goodbye? Also: a Father Channels Wild on the New England Trail 13 Imperiled Ecosystems, New Series
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CONNECTICUT Woodlands CFPA’S LEGISLATIVE INSIDE AGENDA for 2015 KISS YOUR ASH GOODBYE? ALSO: A FATHER CHANNELS WILD ON THE NEW ENGLAND TRAIL 13 IMPERILED ECOSYSTEMS, NEW SERIES The Magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association SPRING 2015 Volume 80 No. 1 The ConnectiCuT ForesT & Park assoCiaTion, inC. OFFICERS PRESIDENT, ERIC LUKINGBEAL, Granby VICE-PRESIDENT, WILLIAM D. BRECK, Killingworth VICE-PRESIDENT, DAVID PLATT, Chester VICE-PRESIDENT, STARR SAYRES, East Haddam TREASURER, JAMES W. DOMBRAUSKAS, New Hartford SECRETARY, ERIC HAMMERLING, West Hartford FORESTER, THOMAS J. DEGNAN, JR., East Haddam DIRECTORS RUSSELL BRENNEMAN, Westport ROBERT BUTTERWORTH, Deep River STARLING W. CHILDS, Norfolk R. RICHARD CROCE, Killingworth RUTH CUTLER, Ashford THOMAS J. DEGNAN, JR., East Haddam CAROLINE DRISCOLL, New London ASTRID T. HANZALEK, Suffield DAVID LAURETTI, Bloomfield MICHAEL LECOURS, Farmington CHRIS DONNELLY SCOTT LIVINGSTON, Bolton Can you see the whippoorwill here? This ground nester hopes you can’t. See page 20. JEFF LOUREIRO, Canton ERIN McGRATH, WesCFPA LAUREN L. McGREGOR, Hamden JEFFREY O’DONNELL, Bristol RAYMOND P. RADIKAS, Glastonbury Annual Membership ALEX J. SIEBERT, WesCFPA Connecting People to the Land Individual $ 35 RICHARD WHITEHOUSE, Glastonbury Our mission: The Connecticut Forest & Park HONORARY DIRECTORS Family $ 50 Association protects forests, parks, walking GORDON L. ANDERSON, St. Johns, FL Supporting $ 100 trails and open spaces for future generations by HARROL W. BAKER, JR., Bolton RICHARD A. BAUERFELD, Redding connecting people to the land. CFPA directly Benefactor $ 250 GEORGE M. CAMP, Middletown involves individuals and families, educators, ANN M. CUDDY, Ashland, OR community leaders and volunteers to enhance PRUDENCE P. CUTLER, Farmington and defend Connecticut’s rich natural heritage. Life Membership $ 2500 SAMUEL G. DODD, North Andover, MA JOHN E. HIBBARD, Hebron CFPA is a private, non-profit organization that JOSEPH HICKEY, Wethersfield relies on members and supporters to carry out JEAN CRUM JONES, Shelton its mission. Corporate Membership PHILIP H. JONES, JR., Shelton Club / Non-profit $ 75 EDWARD A. RICHARDSON, Glastonbury Our vision: We envision Connecticut as a L. P. SPERRY, JR., Middlebury place of scenic beauty whose cities, suburbs, Sustaining $ 100 SALLY L. TAYLOR, Mystic and villages are linked by a network of parks, SIDNEY VAN ZANDT, Noank Landmark $ 250 forests, and trails easily accessible for all people STAFF to challenge the body and refresh the spirit. We Stewardship $ 500 TRAILS PROMOTION MANAGER & ENGAGEMENT ADVOCATE, picture a state where clean water, timber, farm JENNIFER BENNER, Rockfall Leadership $ 1000 EDUCATION DIRECTOR, LORI PARADIS BRANT, Rockfall fresh foods, and other products of the land make TRAIL STEWARDSHIP DIRECTOR, CLARE CAIN, Niantic a significant contribution to our economic and EVENTS AND VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR, cultural well-being. ELIZABETH FOSSETT, Meriden MEMBERSHIP & MARKETING DIRECTOR, MARTY GOSSELIN, Durham Connecticut Woodlands EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ERIC HAMMERLING, West Hartford DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, JAMES W. LITTLE, Hebron Published quarterly by the ADVANCEMENT ASSISTANT, KARA MURPHY, Guilford Connecticut Forest & Park Association, LAND CONSERVATION DIRECTOR, 16 Meriden Road, LINDSAY SUHR, North Haven FOREST & PROGRAM DIRECTOR, GOODWIN FOREST CENTER, Rockfall, CT 06481-2961 JAMES PARDA, Coventry Indexed in the Connecticut Periodical Index, Printed on 60% Recycled, OFFICE MANAGER, TERESA PETERS, Durham ISSN 00106257 FSC and Green-e Certified Paper EDITOR, CHRISTINE WOODSIDE Telephone: 860-346-TREE COPYEDITOR, ROBIN GOLD Fax: 860-347-7463. GRAPHIC DESIGNER, KAREN WARD E-mail address: [email protected] Web site: ctwoodlands.org 2 | CONNECTICUT WOODLANDS | SPRING 2015 CONNECTICUT Woodlands The Magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association SPRING 2015 Volume 80 No.1 CONTENTS FEATURES DEPARTMENTS 6 KISS YOUR ASH GOODBYE. 4 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE. In the two years since scientists Thoughts on Aldo Leopold. confirmed that the insect emerald ash By Eric Lukingbeal. borer had arrived in Connecticut, state foresters have started cutting down 5 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE. healthy ashes to salvage the timber. No success without “U.” By Jerry Milne. By Eric Hammerling. 8 CONNECTICUT’S 13 IMPERILED 13-16 CFPA IN THE COMMUNITY. ECOSYSTEMS. CFPA’s 2015 Conservation Agenda Pitch pine–scrub oak barrens: for the Land and People First in a series. of Connecticut By Emery Gluck. 22 TRY THIS HIKE. 12 LAND CONSERVATION: Exploring the Naugatuck Trail. NEW AUERFARM STATE PARK By Diane Friend Edwards. SCENIC PRESERVE. A public–private partnership for 24 FROM THE LAND. JERRY MILNE perpetuity. By Lindsay Suhr. Rhubarb, the vegetable that tastes Woodpeckers have stripped the bark like a fruit. and the paint on recently-marked 17 FINDING MEMORIES ON WILD TRAILS. By Jean Crum Jones. boundary trees, showing infestation On the New England Trail, in the by emerald ash borers. 25 ON THE TRAILS. spirit of Cheryl Strayed, a father finds A guidebook evolves: Plans for wild landscapes inside himself. the next edition of the Connecticut By Rich Novak. Walk Book. 20 NESTERS ON THE FOREST FLOOR. 26 OBITUARIES. Many birds like ruffed grouse and Jeffrey Bradley, Joseph Voboril. whippoorwill still prefer living on the ground, where amazing adaptations keep them blended in. By Diane Friend Edwards. On the Cover: Emerald ash borers have infested this ash tree. The proof is that the lighter inner bark shows. Experts call this “blonding.” Wood- peckers looking to eat the insects inside have stripped the bark. PHOTO BY JERRY MILNE, CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION SPRING 2015 | CONNECTICUT WOODLANDS | 3 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Thoughts on Aldo Leopold BY ERIC LUKINGBEAL the week, he taught at the University of Wis- struck him: Juvenile sandhill cranes are not consin. No hermit or recluse, he had a wife called chicks but colts. Robins begin their recently agreed to and five kids. morning song in the spring when the light speak to a group on Today, Leopold may be best known for his reaches 0.01 candlepower. He cites research behalf of the Con- “golden rule,” which he explained in “Land that Wisconsin deer hunters kill at least one I necticut Forest & Ethic,” an essay included in A Sand County illegal deer, and leave the carcass to rot, for Park Association. The Almanac and Sketches Here and There: “A every two legal bucks taken. topic they want to hear thing is right when it tends to preserve the Some of Almanac could have been written about is broad and a integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic last week. “The disappearance of plant and little vague—CFPA and forests. At about the community. It is wrong when it tends oth- animal species without visible causes, despite same time, another group asked me to be erwise.” Leopold is also known for his pas- efforts to protect them, and the irruption on a panel to watch and then discuss Green- sionate advocacy of the notion that our eco- of others as pests despite efforts to control fire, a film about Aldo Leopold. This coinci- nomic well-being could never be separated them, must, in the absence of simpler expla- dence of two requests gave me an excuse to from the well-being of the environment. nations, be regarded as symptoms of sick- revisit Leopold’s ideas. As most who think Later, Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wiscon- ness in the land organism,” he wrote in his of themselves as conservation-minded, I sin, the founder of Earth Day—and also a essay, “Wilderness.” He continued, “Both have read Leopold’s short classic, A Sand resident of Dane County—would make are occurring too frequently to be dismissed County Almanac and Sketches Here and There the same point, when he said, “The global as normal evolutionary events.” (Oxford University Press, 1949). That was economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the One thing Leopold was very clear about— a long time ago, when I was in my 20s, not environment.” economics could not be the basis for a land yet a lawyer. I was reading a lot of the stan- Here is what surprised me as I read the ethic. Here’s what he said in his essay, “Land dard conservation stuff at the time, including book again. There is a lot of the misanthrope Ethic”: Henry David Thoreau, Edward Abbey, Far- and pessimist in Leopold’s writing. He could One basic weakness in a conserva- ley Mowat, John Muir, and Rachel Carson. be quite caustic about his fellow man. Con- tion system based wholly on economic So, I thought that I should reread A sider this: “How like fish we are: ready, nay motives is that most members of the Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here eager, to seize upon whatever new thing land community have no economic and There if I were expected to talk about some wind of circumstance shakes down value. When one of these non-eco- Leopold, and that reading it would take me upon the river of time.” And this: “The nomic categories is threatened, and if into quite familiar territory. I’m glad I read it modern dogma is comfort at any cost.” He we happen to love it, we invent subter- again, but it didn’t seem like the same book could also be negative about the prospects fuges to give it economic importance. I thought I’d read. (I’ve had similar experi- of conservation itself: “But all conservation Leopold died of a heart attack at 61 in ences rereading other books, such as J. D. of wildness is self-defeating, for to cherish we 1948, while helping a neighbor fight a grass Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye). Many of you must see and fondle, and when enough have fire, only a week after hearing that the man- reading this believe that you know Leop- seen and fondled, there is no wilderness left uscript that would become A Sand County old. A Yale Forest School–educated forester to cherish.” At times, I felt he was channel- Almanac had been accepted for publica- (Class of 1909), he worked for the U.S.