Newsletter of the West Rock Ridge Park Association Fall 2019

Summit drive will be open through the last weekend of October. Come out and enjoy the spectacular view!

From the President: At the recent gathering of the Friends of Connecticut State Parks, co-president Pam Adams noted the successes of the Passport to the Parks: attendance at CT’s state parks increased by 10% in 2017, and again by 10% in 2018; people are using the parks all day long, and are using them more throughout the year. The funding from the Passport improves park staffing and planning. Both Pam and CFPA President Eric Hammerling noted, however, that there will likely be ongoing efforts to divert this funding to other causes. We who know the value of Connecticut’s state forests and parks must thus be vigilant to ensure that the funding from the Passport to the Parks continues to be applied to the parks, to provide for the essential staffing and maintenance that Connecticut’s citizens want. Please contact your legislators to state again how important the state’s parks are, and to impress on them how important it is that the Passport to the Parks funds continue to be dedicated to the state parks. The articles in this issue of Ridgelines highlight the many ways we can all enjoy – and help preserve and maintain – our beautiful West Rock Ridge State Park: Jim Sirch, a wonderful educator and guide, led an autumn nature walk this month along Baldwin Drive. This hike was co-sponsored with the Hamden Land Conservation Trust, West Rock Ridge Park Association, West River Watershed Coalition, and the Connecticut Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound. We are grateful to work together with these partner organizations, and we are grateful to Jim for sharing his knowledge and his love of nature. Barrie Collins’ article (page 2) reminds us that we have this park because ordinary citizens saw the value of preserving the land and persuaded the state legislature to create the park and its conservation area. The task remains ongoing; as parcels within the park’s conservation area come up for sale, it is essential that the state acquire the parcels that are essential to the park’s integrity, and essential that we all advocate for our park. There is lots of history to be found – and researched – in this park: see Tom Ebersold’s article (pages 3-4) about the Margaret Fisher fireplace in the Westville area of the park – and then enjoy a hike to see it yourself! Steve Broker’s article (pages 5-6) highlights the joys of an autumn day in the park – exploring by kayak, identifying birds, plants, animals, seeing favorite areas from a different vantage point. Tom Ebersold leads hikes and organizes trail maintenance gatherings, to share his love of the park and ensure that the trails are at their best for all to enjoy. See his remembrances (page 7) and trail report (page 9). And we are grateful to Park Supervisor Jill Scheibenpflug and her team for their work maintaining our park! --Ted (Theodore B.) Lynn

Ridgelines, Fall 2019 The Lost Lot - and a Bit of Park History By Barrie Collins

The state DEEP recently decided not to acquire Lot #44 on Brooks Rd. in Bethany, one of the last of two available in the state park's Conservation Area in that town. It lies between the steep western wall of the ridge itself and a scenically designated town road. Regional water company land lies on the opposite side of the road. The department felt the lot had no significant benefit to water quality protection and did not contain any endangered/threatened wildlife. The parcel is currently for residential sale. The regional water company bought the other parcel. While we all recognize the financial strain of land acquisitions, especially in today's world, there has never been a good or easy time to buy or think long-term in regard to land. What we have today is it. A brief review of how the citizens of the four towns in which the park is located created the park over many decades is a story worth recalling. It is indeed a true people's park in terms of imagination, determination, hard work and dogged persistence through multiple petitions, public hearing attendance time (even some lack of understanding of residential zoning value initially) and constant legislator contacts. In the early 1970s the city of New Haven owned the West Rock Park, which included Baldwin Parkway along the ridge, constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s. But in the 1960s, what grew in the imaginations of Dr. William Doheny of Hamden, ecologist Dr. Stephen Collins of Bethany and Peter Cooper, a conservation lawyer in Woodbridge, was the possibility of creating a regional park, whereby their towns and New Haven would come together as a larger entity. The three men, all active in their own town's conservation activities (and "young whippersnappers" in Cooper's words) had important local considerations in mind: Hamden concerned with the threat of overdevelopment with sewers near the ridge; Bethany with a break in residential zoning with a 1,000 ft commercial TV tower application at the north end; and Woodbridge, protection of adjoining historic and farmland areas and Konold's Pond. All three saw the potential for an exciting state park. Cooper provided the legal framework of the legislation for a state park, delineating an overall Conservation Area to the nearest road in each town. The legislation provided that every time land within the Conservation Area came up for sale, the state would have right of first refusal to buy it on the same terms (after a review) to be added to the park system. The legislation also established an advisory council of three representatives from each of the four towns. After three years of trying, the park legislation passed the General Assembly unanimously, but was vetoed by Governor Ella Grasso, apparently under pressure from state park officials concerned with the creation of a local advisory panel for the first time. (Today, it is still the only CT state park with such an advisory council!) Upset by the veto, park supporters in the four towns again pressured legislators, who passed the park's creation over the veto unanimously on July 21, 1975. The overall effort, from preliminary study to final legislation, took over ten years. As a result of the creation of the park, the lands protected have incrementally increased from New Haven's 800+ acres to about 1,800 acres. Today, the park is second largest in CT and has the second largest concentration of rare and endangered species of any park in the state. The advisory council continues to focus the state's attention on the importance of protecting the integrity of the existing natural areas in the Conservation Area, with the knowledge that any development not only impacts the area developed, but pushes back the core forest for at-risk species which are dependent on a buffer space between them and human habitation. Each parcel currently in its natural state, if converted to residential development, creates a hole, not only in the parcel developed, but also pushes back the boundaries of the core forest of the conservation area. Each parcel is part of a design of conservation and is intended to be analyzed for its importance as part of the whole. Largely the legislation has worked, but sometimes it does not.

West Rock Ramblers, a recently-founded trail running group, has a Saturday run most weeks from Lake Wintergreen (usually 8 a.m. start at the parking lot), and often a Sunday run. If you’d like to join in, please join the “West Rock Ramblers” Facebook group (no cost, no obligations, just a forum for communication).

2 Ridgelines, Fall 2019 Margaret Fisher Memorial Fireplace By Tom Ebersold

Along the West River in West Rock Ridge State Park, a short distance north of Amrhyn Field in Westville, is a neglected stone structure about 10 feet wide and five feet tall at its highest point. The structure has no identifying information to offer any clues about its identity and purpose. The center section is the tallest, flanked by side walls about three feet tall, which, in turn, are framed by a lower wall about two feet tall, finally ending at both sides with a stone wall about one feet high. Extending from the center section is a stone platform. From the river side of the structure, the walls are somewhat higher because the ground slopes toward the water. I discovered the first details when I came across (and purchased) a postcard entitled ““Margaret Fisher Memorial Fireplace, West Rock Park”, which shows the fireplace with a person dressed as an Indian kneeling in front of it. The back of the postcard, which has a postmark of Aug. 11, 1944, describes the park, not the fireplace.

Fireplace Discussed in Park Board Minutes The postcard told me the name of the fireplace, but left me wondering, “Who was Margaret Fisher and why did they build a fireplace in her memory?” The answer came much later as I was reading through the past minutes for the New Haven Board of Park Commissioners. At the April 8, 1921 meeting, it was reported, “The West Rock Park Committee submitted a sketch with plan and specifications for the erection of the Fisher Memorial Fireplace by the Campfire Girls of New Haven. It was voted that the report of the Committee be approved and permission granted to erect the fire-place on the site proposed.” As part of his monthly report on June 10, 1921, Park Superintendent Gustave X. Amrhyn (for whom the ballfield near the fireplace is named) wrote, “A very attractive fire-place has been erected in West Rock Park near the River and directly under the cliffs, by the Camp Fire Girls in memory of the late Miss Margaret Fisher, one of their members. The dedication services were held on June 5th, when the structure was turned over to the City of New Haven and accepted by President [Theodore S.] Woolsey of the Park Commission.” As a historic note, the Parks Department was constructing the last portion of Regicides Drive and the parking lot at the South Overlook during 1921. The only other reference to the fireplace in the minutes came on October 19, 1945, when the Park Superintendent Walter L. Wirth wrote this in his monthly report describing work of the department’s mason, commenting about his work installing “new concrete-wooden slab benches in place of the present rotted ones” in four locations across the parks, including eight at West Rock Park. “He has also made repairs at the Margaret Fisher Memorial fireplace at the base of West Rock and has repaired the stairway leading from the base to the summit of West Rock. He is now working repairing the giant stairway leading from Rice Field to the summit of East Rock.”

3 Ridgelines, Fall 2019 Margaret Fisher Biography At this point I knew the Camp Fire Girls of New Haven had the fireplace constructed in 1921 to honor Margaret Fisher, but I was still wondering, “Who was Margaret Fisher? Why was she being honored?” The breakthrough clue came from the website titled “24 Amazing Old Images Reveal Forgotten Historical Treasures of New Haven, CT.” The site displays 24 historic postcards of New Haven, including five from West Rock, with details about each postcard. This and other sources were used to write the following section. https://www.knowol.com/information/connecticut/old-pictures-new-haven-ct/ Margaret (April 30, 1894-Nov. 7, 1919) was the daughter of Professor (Feb, 27, 1867-April 29, 1947) of Yale University, and Margaret Hazard Fisher (May 31, 1867-Jan. 8, 1940), whom he married on June 24, 1893. Daughter Margaret was showing signs of mental problems by 1918 and had been diagnosed with . Professor Fisher had her treated by Dr. Henry Cotton at the New Jersey State Hospital at Trenton (now called the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital). Cotton subscribed to a discredited theory called focal sepsis that mental illness resulted from in the body. Believing that removing infected tissue would resolve the problem, Cotton removed portions of Margaret’s bowel, and colon, eventually resulting in her death from a treatment-related on Nov. 7, 1919 when she was 25 years old. Even after Margaret’s death, Fisher still believed in Cotton’s theory. Professor Irving Fisher Biography I had not heard of Irving Fisher, who apparently was a famous and brilliant mathematician, economist and inventor. According to the website for the Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Fisher taught at Yale from 1890-1935, starting in the Department of Mathematics, then moving to the Department of Political and Social Science, and ending his career in the Department of Economics. https://cowles.yale.edu/archives/ irving-fisher He made a fortune when he invented an index card filing system in 1910, and later lost most of that money, as a result of the Oct. 28, 1929 stock market crash. He has famously had to live down his prediction about the market. On Oct. 16, 1929, The New York Times published an article entitled “Fisher Sees Stocks Permanently High; Yale Economist Tells Purchasing Agents Increased Earnings Justify Rise. Says Trusts and Sales Finds Special Knowledge, Applied to Diversified Holdings, Shifts Risks for Clients.” The lead to the article reads, “Stock prices have reached ‘what looks like a permanently high plateau,’ Irving Fisher, Yale economist, told members of the Purchasing Agents Association at its monthly dinner meeting at the Builders Exchange Club, 2 Park Avenue, last night.”

Fisher Gravesite at Evergreen Cemetery The three Fishers are buried at Evergreen Cemetery, which is located on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard (Route 10) in New Haven, north of Route 1 (Columbus Avenue). Getting back to the fireplace, the records do not state who paid for the fireplace, whether it was the Camp Fire Girls or the Fisher family. I think it safe to say that given his wealth at the time that Irving Fisher paid for the memorial. Camp Fire Girls and Fireplace Location The organization is now known as Camp Fire and according to its website, www.campfire.org. Camp Fire Girls was started in 1910 to provide girls with outdoor learning experiences, which boys had. The organization became co-ed in 1975, and evolved its name over time to the present Camp Fire name. The organization does not have a Connecticut council in 2019. I could find no information online regarding when the New Haven council ceased operations, when the fireplace was used, and when it was essentially abandoned. The postcard shows features that are missing from the current fireplace, or have been damaged over time, including large stones on the wall at the top of the fireplace, metal brackets to hold a pot over the fire, bricks in the fireplace area, and a stone patio in front of the fireplace and wall. I cut down the invasive winged euonymus near the fireplace, and will attempt to place back some of the stones that have fallen off it. I would also like to sweep away the dirt to see if I can uncover the terrace underneath, assuming it still exists. To reach the fireplace, follow these directions. From the footbridge over the West River, near Valley and Blake streets, turn left and head north with the river on the left and the ballfields on the right, following the Blue- Yellow blazes of the Westville Feeder. A short distance into the woods, an unmarked trail heads downhill toward the river. The fireplace is on the left along the river in about 250 feet. The total distance from the bridge is 0.2 miles.

4 Ridgelines, Fall 2019 West River and Konold's Pond By Stephen P. Broker

Early fall in Southern Connecticut offers great opportunities for connecting with nature in seasonal transition. On September 30 of this year, I decided to take advantage of the warm temperatures and blue skies, highlighted with billowing cumulus clouds, to canoe once again on the waters of Konold's Pond and the West River. Hikers, birders, and other nature enthusiasts know that West Rock Ridge is bordered on the west by a series of impoundments of the West River, including Lake Watrous, Lake Dawson and Konold's Pond. Wintergreen Brook flows along the east side of the ridge, with Lake Wintergreen as its main impoundment. The presence of flowing streams and open waters on either side of the ridge greatly enhances the biological diversity found on West Rock, our biogeographical "island." I was seeking a broad range of bird species in fall migration. I also sought wetland plants that were past their flowering periods but well into their late summer and fall fruiting periods. I expected that Konold's Pond would be choked with floating and emergent vegetation and that canoeing would be challenging. I was not wrong. A narrow, meandering ribbon of river channel flows through Konold's from its northern inlet to the low dam at the south end. Away from this flowing water, my canoe immediately encountered dense expanses of Fragrant Water Lilies (Nymphaea odorata), Arrow Arum (Peltandra virginica), Smartweed (Polygonum punctatum), and Waterweed (Elodea canadensis). Patches of Big-leaved Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia) and Wild Rice Grass (Zizania aquatic) further slowed down the canoe. I wanted to explore the edges of the pond, so most of my time was spent using the paddle as a pole through the shallow, heavily clogged waters. This proved tiring but well worth it. Konold's Pond is an important waterbody for duck species that breed and overwinter, including Wood Ducks, Mallards, and American Black Ducks. I observed well over one hundred Wood Ducks, sixty Mallards, and a dozen American Black Ducks during my 2 1/2 hour canoe trip. In addition, I saw 5 Great Blue Herons and 5 Great Egrets foraging in shallow water. My field notes from a March 15 trip to the West Rock ridge top show that on that date I observed ten Great Blue Herons at the tree-covered island rookery in Konold's Pond, with seven occupied nests. Later ridge top trips revealed that by April 8 these nests had been deserted. What happened? I learned the cause of abandonment of the rookery on April 10 when I observed a pair of Bald Eagles settling briefly in the tallest of the heron nests. Herons had been occupying this rookery since the initial two nests were constructed on the island 10 years ago. The new presence of eagles drove the herons away in 2019. Apparently, the eagles did attempt to nest on the island, but they gave up when the heron nest they selected subsequently collapsed. 5 Ridgelines, Fall 2019 In addition to ducks and herons on this canoe trip, I observed six Double-crested Cormorants on the pond, five Solitary Sandpipers, and a pair of adult Mute Swans with two growing young. I could hear the calls of Red-bellied, Downy, and Hairy Woodpeckers from surrounding upland trees. A pair of Common Ravens appeared over the West Rock ridge line, flying north and issuing their loud kronking calls. Several Eastern Phoebes lined the east side of the pond, repeatedly bobbing tails and sallying out to catch insects in the air. Frogs were everywhere through the pond, hopping from lily pad to lily pad and quickly disappearing from sight. Painted Turtles were hauled out on logs. A pair of Red-shouldered Hawks and three Turkey Vultures sailed along the shear west-facing cliffs of West Rock. I finally found open water when approaching the inlet at the north end of Konold's Pond, and I entered the narrow, tree- and shrub-lined West River. There, I continued to look for birds and for a different community of riverine wetland plants. The river has a sand and silt substrate, very different from the thick muds that lie just a few feet below water's surface throughout Konold's Pond. It was tempting to get out of the canoe for a brief, cold, secluded swim. Resisting the urge, I instead photographed the plants along stream borders, including Bur-reed (Sparganium eurycarpum), Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), Silky Dogwood (Cornus amomum), and Common Winterberry, or Black Alder (Ilex verticillata). All were bearing fruits in abundance. Additional Wood Ducks and Great Blue Herons flew out of the forested floodplain. Several Gray Catbirds, attracted to the fruit colors of fall, were swallowing the abundant red winterberries. A male House Finch appeared in one of the many stream-side Red Maples, overgrown with Wild Grape vines. Witch-Hazel, Red Osier, and Bebb Willow lined the stream banks. Half an hour later, I returned to Konold's Pond, paddled and poled closer to West Rock, and took a series of photos of the ridge line and the abandoned quarry where Peregrines Falcons again held territory in 2019. This breeding season, the resident peregrine female of the last four years was present through April 10, but she was replaced a week later by an interloper, a year-one female. This new arrival to West Rock is color-banded, black/green 06/BW. I have contacted the Bird Banding Laboratory in Maryland to learn where she originated. At first, the resident male (the tiercel), persisted in driving the new, young female out of the quarry space, but by April 24 the male and the young female were sharing prey items. Now, we wait until 2020 to see if this new combination of peregrines will be able to produce and fledge young.

Most of my observations through the year at West Rock are made from the ridge top. Using binoculars and spotting scope from the top of the abandoned quarry site overlooking Konold's Pond reveal some of the bird life on the West River system. Periodic canoe trips on the pond always are valuable for understanding the connections between upland and lowland ecosystems. It was a very rewarding fall day to be out in nature, this time exploring the watery environment and also enjoying the west-facing ridge line from down below.

6 Ridgelines, Fall 2019 West Rock Remembrances By Tom Ebersold

Barrie Collins, the editor of Ridgelines, has been soliciting memories from people associated with West Rock Ridge, and these are my rambling thoughts on hiking, trail maintenance, and how they relate to West Rock. I lived in Queens, N.Y. from birth until age 24 when I moved to Connecticut in 1988. Hiking was not an option where I lived since there were no parks of any size nearby that had hiking trails. Biking has been my primary recreational activity for most of my life, and I have been leading bicycle rides for Sounds Cyclists Bicycle Club since 1990. I gradually moved into hiking as a winter activity because cycling in temperatures below 50 degrees is not fun for me. I also added kayaking as an additional warm weather activity starting around the early 2000s. My early impressions of hiking were not favorable. I did a handful of hikes with my brothers and their friends in the Adirondacks when I was in my 20s and really grew to dislike hiking because those types of hikes involved trudging up a steep hill for mile after mile, sweat dripping into my eyes, and after enjoying a great view at the top, pounding down the steep hill, ending up with sore knees and feet. One of the things I like about hiking in Connecticut and at places like West Rock is that you can summit in 15 minutes and then have extended distances along ridgelines that have reasonable changes in elevations. I would be very interested to know the first time I hiked at West Rock, but have no record of that event, either written or in photos. My earliest recollection was hiking with a Young Member group some time in the late 1990s or early 2000s. We met at the West Rock Nature Center and hiked in the Lake Wintergreen area. The first hike I ever led for the Appalachian Mountain Club was a beach walk at Hammonasset State Park on Dec. 14, 2002. My first hike for the AMC as a leader at West Rock was Dec. 24, 2005. We met at the Lake Wintergreen parking lot and hiked about six miles, doing a loop around the lake and the trails to the north. The next West Rock hike was Feb. 18, 2006 when we did a 9-mile loop from Lake Wintergreen, reaching as far north as the overlook of Farm Brook Pond. Leading hikes at West Rock at that time was a challenge because nobody appeared to be maintaining the trails (other than the Regicides Trail), and trail connections were not always clear. On one hike, I was planning on hiking north on the Regicides Trail and then turning back on the Purple Trail. There was only one problem, which I discovered when I could not find the connection: the Regicides Trail and Purple Trail did not connect to each other! Someone quickly looking at the map, as I had done, could easily make that mistake. We came to the paved overlook of Baldwin Drive to Glen Lake in Woodbridge, and walked south along Baldwin Drive to the Purple Trail where badly faded dark blue blazes marked the trail start. On one of my hikes in 2007, I got lost on the Red Trail heading south in the section bracketed by Mountain Road, and ended up in someone’s backyard. I know the exact spot because the trail takes a 90-degree turn and someone had created a trail to their yard that headed straight, so it was the obvious choice in an area where the blazes were faded. I later went back and tossed lots of brush on that bootleg trail to make sure someone else did not make the same mistake. I had been talking for years about needing to get involved with trail work somewhere, but always had excuses about a bicycle ride, paddling trip, or hike I wanted to do. Getting lost was the event that pushed me to get involved. I decided to do work at West Rock because it needed the help and it was reasonably close to my residence in Milford. In August 2007, I contacted Lori Lindquist, then the supervisor of West Rock and other parks, and asked her for permission to reblaze the Red Trail. She granted me that permission and I reblazed from the South Overlook to the northern part of Mountain Road, starting on Aug. 28, 2007. On one of those blazing events, I walked up the steps to the South Overlook at dusk to find a conservation officer waiting to close the gate because my car was parked there. When the Red Trail blazing was complete, I asked Lori for permission to extend the Red blazes along the gravel road leading up to Farm Brook Reservoir, and the trail up to the overlook of the reservoir, neither of which was blazed. This work also involved pruning back the trail. I then moved to reblazing the White Trail and eventually all the trails in the park with the exception of the Regicides Trail, which had its own trail crew at the time. I assumed responsibility for the three Blue Trails at West Rock in 2011. I also spearheaded other projects with permission from Lori and subsequent park supervisors, including making trail connections, such as the Regicides Trail with the Purple Trail and the Yellow Trail, relocating badly eroded trail sections, installing water bars and rock steps, constructing bridges in soggy areas, and cutting down invasive plants. An important project has been removing the trash tossed at the park over the years, including thousands of bottles and cans. I have done occasional trail blazing and clearing at the Naugatuck State Forest in Hamden, which borders Brooksvale Park. In 2015-16, I received permission from Gerard Milne, state forester, to blaze trails and woods roads at the Naugatuck Ridgelines, Fall 2019 7 State Forest, West Block, in Naugatuck, Oxford, and Beacon Falls. I occasionally help out on work parties on the Applachian Trail in Connecticut. Since 2007, West Rock and trail work have become part of my identity, along with battling invasive species. As of September 2019, I have logged almost 1,800 hours of work on the trails at West Rock and gotten help from others for another 950 hours of trail improvements. I lead a few hikes a year there to showcase the park and my work. On every hike, I have several people who have never been to the park. I lead an occasional bicycle ride there on the paved roads and easy trails. I have kayaked there a couple of times, but Lake Wintergreen is too small to offer much interest to someone like me who likes to paddle 8 to 10 miles on a trip. In 2010, I created a website for the park, which has detailed information about the park and how to enjoy it. In recent years, I have been researching and compiling the history of the park, spending many hours reading and compiling park records in the form of annual reports and minutes. I have read minutes from the 1880s to 1970s, so I am almost done with that project. Once I have all my information, I will write up the history and will eventually publish it in some form, perhaps a book and definitely online.

Editor’s note: We are grateful to Tom for his dedication to the park and his hard physical work! This is the seventh in a series of articles on West Rock Ridge memories. If you would like to contribute an essay or article to this series, please email us at [email protected].

PARK UPDATE By Jill Scheibenpflug, Park Supervisor

The last two seasons we have changed the hours for the park road to Judges Cave and the South Overlook. The five o'clock closure was made for safety reasons. I didn't want the Park Patrolmen closing the park in the dark. The park is technically open for hiking until sunset and visitors can still park at Lake Wintergreen. The use of Lake Wintergreen has increased in recent years. The closure of Sleeping Giant last summer had an impact. I would like to see the parking lot expanded -- visitors are parking in the street, and with the sharp corner it is dangerous. Law enforcement issues: The dumping of bulk trash on the New Haven side of the park on Springside Avenue is becoming an issue. It seems that someone built a small parking lot on what is supposed to be State land. The city has cleaned it up in the past, and the last time it was a group of volunteers. If it keeps happening, we will have to somehow block the parking area that shouldn't be there anyway. Bulk waste dumping has been a big problem for us and the city of New Haven. People are also leaving abandoned vehicles at this parking lot. ENCON responded to the abandoned vehicle and the bulk trash. A few weekends ago we had a smash-and-grab at the park. ENCON responded before New Haven got there. A woman's purse was stolen out of her car that was parked at the Baldwin Drive gate. We need to post signs warning visitors not to leave anything valuable in parked vehicles. Maintenance: * The front entrance needs to be paved, I have been discussing it with DOT * The walls at the summit still need to be repaired. * We replaced the Judges Cave sign. We are using a vandlguard coating to protect it from graffiti instead of the Lexan. * The Clivus toilet at Lake Wintergreen is overused so it doesn't decompose as it should. We are looking to replace it with a vaulted unit that the National Park Service uses. * Tom Ebersold and his team of volunteers hav been working on the trails. I want to thank Tom and all of his team for all their work in the park. * The patio at the shelter needs some masonry work; it has some cracks in the cement between the stones. * We did cut about 25 dead trees along the park road. Most of them were hemlock and ash.

I am glad to see that people are hiking, biking, kayaking, and enjoying the park.

8 Ridgelines, Fall 2019 Improved Orange and White Trails Highlight 2019 trail report By Tom Ebersold, Volunteer Trails Manager

A spruced-up Orange Trail and a relocated section of the White Trail are the highlight of trail maintenance at West Rock in 2019, along with the continued battle against invasive plant species. With the reopening of Sleeping Giant State Park in June, after being closed for 13 months due to storm damage, there are fewer people using West Rock. I reblaze trails about every five to six years to keep the blazes fresh and visible, and having last been reblazed in October 2013, it was time for an update on the Orange Trail. This certainly was a trail work bargain because I found a sampler of orange paint (tending toward the tangerine hue) on the oops paint shelf at Home Depot that I purchased for 50 cents. I reblazed the entire quarter-mile trail in an hour and still had some paint remaining. The middle portion of the Orange Trail has gotten way too wide in a rocky sections area with little understory. In some places, the trail had become eight feet wide. In a series of visits with assistance from Bob Stobierski and John Rek, we carried limbs and rocks from off-trail to define the trail path to a width of three to four feet and to block off areas where we do not want people walking. One more visit should complete this project, but it needs to wait until a hard freeze, so there is no risk of disturbing a yellow jacket nest, in search of brush and rocks. I learned this the hard way while cutting resprouting autumn olive along the Red Trail near Mountain Road in late August. As always, I felt searing white-hot sting of the yellow jackets before I saw them, and by the time I ran back to my car with them in pursuit, I received 10 stings. I am not allergic in a deadly way, but the stings are incredibly painful and I could see the venom pooling under my skin in a way that appeared to be a tuberculosis test. This is only the third time I have been stung at West Rock and the previous two times, I got stung in two to three spots. On all three occasions, I was off-trail doing work, so keep this in mind and stay on trail (which people should do anyway) when hiking in late summer to early fall when these pests are most aggressive. Since that time, I have been using a mesh suit to protect me against bugs while in the woods. The other major project was relocating a portion of the White Trail, north of the Purple Trail, to higher, dry ground out of the lower, muddy areas. With help from Bob and Jeff Heath, we moved a 0.2-mile section of the trail. The project required raking leaves to define the path and doing some light trimming to clear branches hanging over the new trail section. I blazed the new section and Bob painted out the blazes on the now former trail. The challenge will be getting people to abandon the older trail, so the erosion can heal and new growth can establish itself. When I bicycled the trail in late September, it appeared people were using the new section and not the old trail. There is one more section about 0.1 miles long that is south of the Purple Trail that still needs relocating, and hopefully this can be moved within the next year. During the colder months, different work events focused on invasive species in various locations, including along Baldwin Drive, the Gold Trail, and the Teal Trail near the ballfields. We are successful in uprooting many invasive plant species, but in the never-ending battle, there are always more invasives to sprout in their place. The ones that are too big to pull we cut, and these invasives need repeated recutting as they resprout, and the intent of this recutting is to kill the roots. Into the fall and winter, I plan to walk different trail sections to prune back seasonal overgrowth, continue to target invasive plants, and finish the narrowing of the Orange Trail. The trails that I have walked have needed only some light trimming with the rare bigger limbs to cut. We removed the following items of trash from West Rock in 2019: 19 buckets’ worth of trash, chrome trim from a car, a hubcap, one tire on a rim, and a second tire not on a rim. Helpers in 2019 not mentioned above included the following: Lindy Briggette, Donna Caraglio, Eli Cleary, Colin Doyle, Mike Doyle, Christoph, Lucas and Oliver Geiss, Donna Henderson, Chuck Hilton, Scott Howland, Mark Kiley, Mike Melanson, Rob McWilliams, Peter Sagnella, and Ron Zlotoff. These Quinnipiac University students helped out in April for the annual Big Event: Reese DelGrande, Christopher Morisi, Alec Ameneno, Ryan Margiotta, Nicholas Currie, Ryan Chalt, Brian Boehone, Hasan Tekalop, and Jeffrey David. [Editor's note: We who love West Rock Ridge are lucky to have such a dedicated group!]

9 Ridgelines, Fall 2019 WEST ROCK RIDGE PARK ASSOCIATION NEW MEMBERS Address: 648 Mountain Road, We warmly welcome the following new members Hamden, CT 06514 to the West Rock Ridge Park Association: http://westrockpark.wordpress.com Larry Gall of Westport (Life) [email protected] Deborah Johnson & Joseph Paolillo of Hamden Board of Directors Stephen Broker, New Haven HOW TO JOIN OR RENEW Barrie T. Collins, Bethany Send your name, address, phone number, and email William Doheny, Hamden address, along with your dues to: Tom Ebersold, Milford WRRPA Membership, Amy H. Lynn, Hamden 648 Mountain Road, Hamden, CT 06514 Theodore B. Lynn, Hamden Steven Massey, Bethany Donald Menzies, Woodbridge Annual dues: $10, Supporting: $20, Life: $150. Joanne Sciulli, New Haven Make checks payable to: Nancy Specht, Hamden West Rock Ridge Park Association David Taddei, Hamden Paul Wetmore, Hamden Please include your interests. We always need help!: Executive Board & Committees Programs, Trail Work, Newsletter, President: Theodore B. Lynn Legislative/Political Action, Membership. Secretary: Nancy Specht Treasurer: David Taddei Membership: Amy Lynn * Your membership helps improve the park! * Program: Nancy Specht We welcome volunteers, on any committee! Trails: Tom Ebersold Newsletter: Barrie Collins & Amy Lynn Photo Credits: 3: Tom Ebersold, postcard collection of Tom Ebersold; 5,6,10: Steve Broker

WEST ROCK RIDGE PARK ASSOCIATION 648 Mountain Road Hamden, CT 06514

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Konold's Pond at the foot of West Rock Ridge in Woodbridge; see article on page 5. Ridgelines, Fall 2019