Fifth in a series of newsletters to keep the community informed about the Wild and Scenic Study process. Lower /Salmon Brook Wild and Scenic Study

Inside this issue... Issue #5 ~ Winter 2010

Page 2 Pages 3 & 4 Page 5 We’re Going to Congress Featured Towns - Burlington & Hartland Meet the Committee Members Crunch, Tear, and Scrape: Origins of A Wild and Scenic Landscape

n this, the fifth Wild & Scenic These areas are punctuated by Study Committee newsletter, we are the familiar traprock ridges featuring Geology as an Outstand- with their cliffs, and these are ing Resource Value (ORV) of the Study not the only rugged areas in Area.I Each of the previous newsletters our towns. Other examples focused on one of the four other ORVs, are the Gorge on Mountain Water Quality, Biodiversity, the Cultural Brook in Enders State For- Landscape and Recreation. Unlike the est in Granby and the well- other ORVs, which we have studied as known Tariffville Gorge on the river and brook corridor resources, the Farmington, where white water Geology ORV encompasses the whole draws international kayakers. area of the ten Study Area towns, Avon, In spite of these dramatic high- Bloomfield, Burlington, Canton, East lights, most of our landscape Granby, Farmington, Granby, Hartland, has a gentle and domestic Simsbury and Windsor. look. This appearance belies The geologic history of the Wild & its geologic origins, which can Scenic Study Area has given it a varied be summed up as “crunch, tear landscape. The westernmost part of the and scrape”. Study Area is upland - hilly terrain with Cr u n c h : One of the things rocky soil. By contrast, Farmington, Avon that makes Geology an Out- and Simsbury, East Granby, Bloomfield standing Resource Value in and Windsor have extensive flat areas our Study Area is the fact that with good to excellent farmland soils. within the ten towns, we con- tain a billion years of geologic history. According to former State Geologist Ralph Lewis, that’s a very long time span for such a small area. The very old- est bedrock of our Study Area, at a billion and forced sea bottom sediments up over years old, lies in western Hartland and is the edge of Proto-North America, leaving a piece of Proto-North America. In the a bit of Proto-North American bedrock far distant past, the Proto-North Ameri- in northwestern Hartland uncovered. can continent and the African continent Today, according to Ralph Lewis, were separated by the ancient Iapetos Sea. “The former eastern margin of North Offshore from Proto-North America lay America is represented by the billion year the Shelburne Volcanic Island Arc. About old gneisses and schists to the west of 500 million years ago the two continents Cameron’s line. Remnants of the Iapetos began to converge. Eventually they Ocean in the form of metamorphosed crushed and metamorphosed the volcanic deep ocean sediments and a portion of island arc, squeezed out the ancient sea, the Shelburne Volcanic Island Arc under- Lower Farmington River/Salmon Brook Wild and Scenic Study Page 2

lie the area between Cameron’s Line two periods of glaciation. As thick sheets The geologic resources of the Wild and the Hartford Basin.” of ice slowly ground their way over the & Scenic Study Area not only include land from the north, they scraped up soil soils that are valuable for growing food Te a r : About 250 million years ago and rock in their paths, carrying the ma- and ridges that offer both refuges for the continents were shifting again as terial along in the ice. When the glaciers wildlife and open space for recreation North America and Africa began to began to melt, a mixture of accumulated but also include the sand and gravel separate. Rifts developed in the earth’s debris was left behind. That unsorted aquifers that are the source of much crust. The actual tear that ultimately material is called till. Somewhere in your of our area’s drinking water. Over separated the two continents devel- town you will find till. When you dig in the years, geologic resources have oped into the Atlantic Ocean, but a it, you find rocks of various sizes, along been important to our communities number of other less significant rifts with sand and gravel. A common feature in many other ways. Some examples also formed, including the Hartford of our area’s uplands, till is one reason include sand and gravel operations in Basin. There, some tears in the crust that many New England farmers aban- Farmington, a traprock quarry in East of the earth were deep enough to al- doned farms to travel to the Granby and brownstone quarries in low lava to flow out. In some places Midwest where soils are much better. Simsbury which provided building ma- it flowed out under the earth’s surface In what might seem like a contra- terials for the Belden Building (Town and cooled underground. This is how diction, the glaciers also provided some Hall today). the Barndoor Hills in Granby and of our towns excellent soil for farming, One of the responsibilities of the Onion Mountain in Simsbury and a very valuable natural resource. As the Wild & Scenic Study Committee is Canton, made of a kind of traprock, glaciers melted, glacial debris blocked to develop an advisory Management diabase, were formed. The softer the flow of watercourses including the Plan with protection goals, priorities material above and around the diabase Farmington River. Glacial debris in and protection tools to conserve and has since eroded, leaving these land- the Farmington area caused the river’s enhance the ORVs, including Geology. scape features we enjoy today. In some water to back up, forming glacial Lake For geology, protection priorities in- other places where rifts developed, Farmington on the west side of the clude protecting agricultural soils and the magma flowed across the land’s ridgeline. Silt and local farms, protecting drinking water surface, over sedimentary material sand settled out of the melt water and aquifers, protecting significant and that had eroded from the mountains eventually became the basis of the diverse geologic features and planning formed during the “Crunch” phase. alluvial soils of the Farmington Valley. for a changing, dynamic river. Some of This magma hardened into the basalt, On the east side of the ridge, melt these priorities are already being ad- another type of traprock, that makes water that formed glacial Lake Hitch- dressed by town and state regulations, up Penwood and Talcott Mountains. cock carried sediments which are the by purchase of conservation easements basis of the excellent soils of the Cen- to protect working farms and by acqui- Sc r a p e : “Scrape” sums up the effects tral Valley, including prime farmland sition of open space. For more discus- of glaciation on our landscape. Most soils in Bloomfield and Windsor. The sion on what might be done to safe- of the glacial deposits in Connecticut international tobacco trade that was guard important geologic resources, result from the Wisconsinian glaciation a major Connecticut export business see the advisory Management Plan on between 26,000 and 15,000 years ago, for many years was possible because of the Wild & Scenic Study website at: although two ages of glacial till indicate these alluvial soils. www.lowerfarmingtonriver.org. that Connecticut has undergone at least Lower Farmington River/Salmon Brook Wild and Scenic Study Page 3 We’re Going to Congress!

nd we’re working hard to make it happen this ington and Salmon Brook. The Management Plan, which will coming summer! accompany a Study Report, will provide guidance for protecting It is almost three years since the Lower Farmington the Outstanding Resources Values which make the two water- River/Salmon Brook Wild & Scenic Study Committee began the courses eligible for designation. processA of seeking a Partnership Wild & Scenic designation for While the documentation of the Outstanding Resource Values these two high quality watercourses with very special attributes that is based on science, the process of getting a designation is a political make them great assets to the ten towns through which they run. one. Congressman Chris Murphy, whose office has been immensely The Committee has determined that there are five Outstanding helpful in dealing with a number of Wild & Scenic related questions, Resources Values (Geology, Water Quality, Biodiversity, Cultural will put together a bill to go before Congress this summer. That means Landscape and Recreation), any one of which would make the that all our work must be completed by April and turned in to him. lower Farmington and Salmon Brook eligible for designation. We’ve relied on help and support from many sources, including The Committee has worked hard to inform town governments, the staff and elected officials, leaders of the ten towns involved in local other organizations and the people of the towns about what the study, local organizations, our representatives to the Connecticut a Wild & Scenic designation would mean for their communities. legislature, our legislators at the Federal level (Congressmen Chris A number of organizations and individuals have already written Murphy and John Larson, and Senators Lieberman and Dodd), Jamie letters to the Committee supporting the designation, as have some Fosburgh from the Boston office of the , and of the ten towns. Gathering endorsements is one project in which of course, all those Study Committee members who have come to Committee members are engaged because without the support of meetings, attended public events and talked to visitors, written articles, the town governments and the people they represent, the Congress produced posters and videos, provided refreshments, buttonholed and the Senate of the United States will not vote to designate our friends and talked about the project, put personal plans on hold to watercourses as Partnership Wild & Scenic. Public support makes work on the Committee, and most likely done many other unrec- the lower Farmington and Salmon Brook suitable for designation. ognized things to help. We offer our heartfelt thanks to all, and look The Committee, and especially Joyce Kernnedy Raymes, our forward to the benefits of having our watercourses become part of the National Park Service Study Coordinator, are also busy putting National Park Service’s Partnership Wild & Scenic Rivers System. together the advisory Management Plan for the lower Farm- Sally Rieger, Chair of the Study Committee

Featured Town: Burlington

he first inhabitants of present-day was independent from Great Britain for even ice was harvested. Burlington were members of the three decades, tradition held that the new Today the Town of Burlington is a rural Tunxis Indian Tribe. The first name for West Britain be selected by the combination of forest, watershed land and English settlers of Connecticut arrived in General Assembly to honor England’s unique neighborhoods. 1636.T In 1640, John Haynes, governor of 3rd Earl of Burlington. Burlington is home to Sessions Woods, Connecticut, negotiated on behalf of the While most 19th century Burlington a 772-acre wildlife management and learn- settlers a purchase from the Tunxis Indians residents engaged in farming, several small ing center that boasts three of a large tract of land west of Hartford. The industries were established, utilizing the with access to the Tunxis . The Burl- newly acquired land was renamed Tunxis water power of Burlington’s numerous ington Land Trust dedicates its efforts to Plantation and in 1645 was incorporated as brooks and streams. Burlington’s small preserving the natural resources of the town the Town of Farmington. The original land mills and manufactories produced a wide including over 30 miles of the Blue-Blazed area of Farmington included the present- variety of products, such as cider brandy, Tunxis Trail. The Farmington River Water- day towns of Avon, Berlin, Bristol, Burling- flintlock muskets, wooden shingles, mantel shed Association keeps watch over our sec- ton, Farmington, New Britain, Plainville, clocks, satinet, carriages, coffins, needles tion of the Farmington River and its banks. Southington and parts of other towns. and charcoal. Burlington’s numerous The Farmington Valley Greenway’s “Rails- Disagreement between two Bristol natural resources were harvested, includ- to-Trails” multi-use path runs along side the parishes led to a split and in 1806 the ing copper from an ore deposit which Farmington and connects to Collinsville to General Assembly allowed the Parish straddles the Bristol/Burlington border, the north and Unionville to the east. of West Britain to establish itself as the granite for building, chestnut for railroad by Paul Rochford Town of Burlington. Although America ties and other building materials. In winter Lower Farmington River/Salmon Brook Wild and Scenic Study Page 4 Featured Town: Hartland

artland lies in the western highlands of Connecticut, half a century ago, yet we are not immune from today’s pressures with the distinction of being the highest incorporated of development. Open space lands make up over 75% of Hartland, town in the state. In geological terms, we have the oldest owned primarily by the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) bedrock of the Lower Farmington River/Salmon Brook Wild & and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection HScenic Study Area. It is in our western section, dates back a billion (DEP). In 1981, after leasing the Gaylord House for 50 years to the years, and is part of Proto-North America. In town, elders know of town, the MDC transferred it to the Hartland Historical Soci- the much younger esker, named the “Windrow”, and the glacial ice ety, and after many years of work, in 1989, it was dedicated as a erratic, “balance rock” is monumental. The microclimate caused by meeting place and museum. In a 2006 town-wide survey, access elevation and atmospheric moisture produces hot, humid sum- to natural resources was a high priority and a land trust was sup- mers with sometimes very violent thunderstorms (even tornadoes), ported by the majority of respondents. With the help of a grant and long cold winters with heavy snowfall and severe ice storms, from the Farmington River Coordinating Committee (FRCC) the as recently witnessed in late 2008. Although the resident moose Hartland Land Trust was formed with a mission to conserve and population feels at home, today’s Hartland residents seem to know manage significant lands. they are “a breed apart” and that for all of Hartland’s beauty and Within our 22,300 acres of land, Hartland possesses a signifi- charm, it is not a place for everyone. cant network of streams, rivers and waterways. Our water quality Early records indicate the Tunxis (the point where the river is outstanding and supplied to over 400,000 Hartford county bends) Indians used the extensive acreage in our section of Con- residents. We are fortunate to be a dual Wild & Scenic corridor necticut primarily as a summer preserve. Records show that the town, participating in both the 1994 National Wild & Scenic first white men to settle here arrived in the 1750s. By 1761 Hartland “Partnership River” designation and the current Lower Farming- was incorporated as the State’s 69th town. ton River/ Salmon Brook Wild & Scenic Study. The headwaters of The colonial settlers carved many farms and homesteads out the West Branch of the Salmon Brook originate in East Hartland of the rough terrain and virgin forests. Many stone walls were and flow into the Lower Farmington River. Hartland’s extensive built and today endow cultural, natural, and aesthetic beauty. The forest system provides exceptional protection for the waterways streams on the East and West Mountains were sources of water and both Upper and Lower Wild & Scenic are supported in our for oxen and power for mills and the “Hollow” was fertile bottom Plan of Conservation and Development. land. Saw mills, grist mills, tanneries, blacksmiths and shops were Our legendary forefathers eloquently write of Hartland as “this operating. One of the first calico factories in America, Ward’s Mill, little strip of earth we affectionately call, This Land of Ours, and opened in 1836 on the West Branch of the Farmington River north we foresee we will continue to be one of the most beautiful small of Hitchcocksville and did a thriving business. towns not only in the State of Connecticut, but in the USA”. Although farming moved west to greener rock-free pas- By Sue Murray tures and the flooding of the valley for the Barkhamsted Reservoir removed all traces of the village of Hartland Hollow Sources: our townspeople continue to be united, hard-working, caring Hartland Natural Resource Inventory people and actively involved with our community and volun- Hartland Plan of Conservation and Development tarily offer their time and talents. History of Hartland, Stanley A. Ransom Today, Hartland is one of the state’s most rural communities The Gaines Notes, Hartland Historical Society and still enjoys much of the same rural character it had more than The Paul Crunden Journal, Hartland Historical Society Lower Farmington River/Salmon Brook Wild and Scenic Study Page 5 Meet the Committee Members

Sue Murray ~ Hartland Paul Rochford ~ Burlington

Born and raised in NY, Sue spent a memorable year abroad in Paul Rochford is one of a high school work/study program. She received her BA degree two Burlington repre- in Environmental Biology from the University of Colorado, sentatives on the Wild & and married a college classmate, Don, and relocated to his Scenic Study Commit- hometown of Hartland. tee. He is also president Sue is an all season’s of the Burlington Land person, treasuring her Trust and a member of organic vegetable and Burlington’s Conserva- winter hardy cactus tion Commission. gardens, and thriving on Paul moved to Con- athletic activities. necticut in 1985 from She has been a Queens, New York. He Materials Manager for credits his conserva- over twenty-five years, tion “bona fides” to experiencing the contrast of close quarter at Sorenson Lighted living in New York to the Farmington Valley’s seemingly Controls, Inc, head- abundant forest and trails. “I was immediately taken with the quartered in Hartford, Blue Trail system”, says Rochford. “A friend from work took a leading indicator light me out on the Tunxis Trail and I instinctively saw the value in manufacturer with integrated LED technology. preserving this resource.” Sue’s strong environmental commitment has driven her to Paul has lived in Burlington since 1996 with his wife and pilot successful green programs at her workplace and locally by three children. her work on Hartland’s Natural Resource Inventory and Plan of Conservation and Development, as well as her participation Sarah Hincks ~ Burlington on the Hartland Land Trust Board and the Lower Farmington River/ Salmon Brook Wild & Scenic Study Committee. Sarah has been on the Board of Directors of the Farmington River Watershed Association since 1997 and is the FRWA representative to the Study Committee. A resident of Burlington, Sarah was Kathy Dunn ~ East Hartland Executive Director of the Kathy Dunn is a resident of East Hartland and a former Water- board member of the Hartland Land Trust. She serves as the shed Association from 1991 Associate Director of the Middle School at the Kingswood- to 1996. Sarah received Oxford School in West her Masters in 2006 from Hartford, CT where she Antioch New England’s also teaches French. Environmental Advocacy Kathy is a canoer, alpine and Organizing Program. and nordic skier, and She spends a lot of time a hiker and camper so hiking and biking and is a conservation efforts are watershed watchdog, as well of great interest to her. as chairing the fund raising She works with students committee for FRWA. daily to cultivate their love of the outdoors and to develop their ability Tom Small ~ Burlington to organize and to make Tom Small is a long time Burlington resident. He is an avid a difference in the world hiker and fly fisherman. Tom serves on the board of the around them. Burlington Land Trust.

www.lowerfarmingtonriver.org www.salmonbrookwildandscenic.org FRWA 749 Hopmeadow Street Simsbury, CT 06070

The Study Committee would like to thank the following organizations that have written endorsement letters in support of the Wild & Scenic designation. If you or an organization you belong to would like to provide a letter of support please contact Sally Rieger at [email protected] or Joyce Kennedy Raymes at [email protected]. Avon Land Trust Canton Historical Society Community Farm of Simsbury Granby Land Trust Holcomb Farm Learning Center McLean Game Refuge Roaring Brook Nature Center Salmon Brook Watershed Association Simsbury Land Trust Tariffville Village Association Wintonbury Land Trust Keep the Woods

Printed on 100% recycled paper. Printed with vegatable based inks.

About the Study Committee

The Study Committee’s membership includes locally appointed representatives from each town in the study area, and representatives from The Stanley Works, CT Department of Environmental Protection (CT DEP), National Park Service, the Farmington River Watershed Association (FRWA), the Tariffville Village Association (TVA), Connecticut Forest and Park Association (CFPA), Pequabuck River Watershed Association (PRWA), and the Salmon Brook Watershed Association (SBWA).

Avon: Granby: FRWA: Diane Field*-Riparian Landowner Carolyn Flint*-Conservation Commission Sarah Hinks*-FRWA Board, Volunteer Harry Spring*-Former Inland Wetlands Eric Lukingbeal*-Land-use attorney, Wetlands Eileen Fielding*-FRWA Executive Director Commissioner Commission member Aimee Petras-FRWA Staff Rob House-Conservationist Hartland: CFPA: Bloomfield: Sue Murray*-Hartland Plan of C&D Committee, Eric Hammerling*-Executive Director Paula Jones*-Conservationist Hartland Land Trust TVA: Kevin Gough*-Conservationist Kathy Dunn*-Hartland Land Trust Wanda Colman-Member, Photographer Burlington: Simsbury: SBWA: Paul Rochford*-Burlington Land Trust Sally Rieger*-Simsbury Land Trust, FRWA David Tolli*-SBWA Board Thomas Small*-Burlington Land Trust Volunteer PRWA: Canton: Margery Winters*-Simsbury Inland Wetlands & Mary Moulton-PRWA President Cynthia Griggs-Conservationist Conservation Commission CT DEP: David Leff*-Author, Former Deputy Commissioner Suzanne Battos-Conservationist Susan Peterson* of DEP Windsor: Maryann Nusom Haverstock* East Granby: Frank Davis*-Chair, Conservation Commission, National Park Service: Ian Clark*-East Granby Land Trust Riparian Landowner Jamie Fosburgh-Rivers Program Manager Mike Krammen*-Engineer Betsy Conger-Loomis Chafee School Science Dept. Joyce Kennedy Raymes-Study Coordinator Farmington: Terry Langevin-Friends of Northwest Park Board Walter Sargent*-Executive Director, Farmington Member * Officially Appointed Land Trust Melissa Vanek-Environmental/Science Educator Larry Schlegel*-Angler The Stanley Works: Josef Treggor-Ecologist/Educator, MERA Kurt Link*-Lean, Productivity & Facilities Mgr., TSW