CONNECTICUT Woodlands THE WORLD OF CURTIS VEEDER INVENTOR WHO DONATED PENWOOD STATE PARK. ALSO: SLOW CLIMATE CHANGE BY USING MORE WOOD The Magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association Fall 2013 Volume 78 No. 3 The ConnectiCuT ForesT & Park assoCiaTion, inC. OFFICERS PRESIDENT, ERIC LUKINGBEAL, Granby VICE-PRESIDENT, WILLIAM D. BRECK, Killingworth VICE-PRESIDENT, GEOFFREY MEISSNER, Plantsville VICE-PRESIDENT, DAVID PLATT, Higganum VICE-PRESIDENT, STARR SAYRES, East Haddam TREASURER, JAMES W. DOMBRAUSKAS, New Hartford SECRETARY, ERIC HAMMERLING, West Hartford FORESTER, STEVE BRODERICK, Eastford DIRECTORS RUSSELL BRENNEMAN, Westport ROBERT BUTTERWORTH, Deep River STARLING W. CHILDS, Norfolk RUTH CUTLER, Ashford LAURENCE DIAMOND, Coventry THOMAS J. DEGNAN, JR., Old Lyme CAROLINE DRISCOLL, New London ASTRID T. HANZALEK, Suffield DAVID LAURETTI, Bloomfield DIANE FRIEND EDWARDS MICHAEL LECOURS, Farmington DAVID K. LEFF, Collinsville Ferns on the Saugatuck Trail. See page 18. MIRANDA LINSKY, Middletown SCOTT LIVINGSTON, Bolton JEFF LOUREIRO, Canton LAUREN L. McGREGOR, Hamden JEFFREY O’DONNELL, Bristol Connecting People to the Land Annual Membership DEBORAH C. SPALDING, Guilford Our mission: The Connecticut Forest & Park RICHARD WHITEHOUSE, Glastonbury Individual $ 35 Association protects forests, parks, walking Family $ 50 HONORARY DIRECTORS trails and open spaces for future generations by GORDON L. ANDERSON, Glastonbury connecting people to the land. CFPA directly Supporting $ 100 HARROL W. BAKER, JR., Bolton involves individuals and families, educators, RICHARD A. BAUERFELD, Redding Benefactor $ 250 community leaders and volunteers to enhance GEORGE M. CAMP, Middletown ANN M. CUDDY, Ashland, Oregon and defend Connecticut’s rich natural heritage. PRUDENCE P. CUTLER, Farmington CFPA is a private, non-profit organization that Life Membership $ 2500 SAMUEL G. DODD, North Andover, MA relies on members and supporters to carry out JOHN E. HIBBARD, Hebron its mission. GRACE W. ELLSWORTH, Haddam Corporate Membership JEAN CRUM JONES, Shelton Our vision: We envision Connecticut as a PHILIP H. JONES, JR., Shelton place of scenic beauty whose cities, suburbs, Club / Non-profit $ 75 EDWARD A. RICHARDSON, Glastonbury and villages are linked by a network of parks, L. P. SPERRY, JR., Middlebury Sustaining $ 100 forests, and trails easily accessible for all people SALLY L. TAYLOR, Mystic Landmark $ 250 SIDNEY VAN ZANDT, Noank to challenge the body and refresh the spirit. We picture a state where clean water, timber, farm STAFF Stewardship $ 500 fresh foods, and other products of the land make COMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATE, JENNIFER BENNER, Roxbury a significant contribution to our economic and Leadership $ 1000 EDUCATION DIRECTOR, LORI PARADIS BRANT, Rockfall cultural well-being. FOREST & PROGRAM DIRECTOR, GOODWIN FOREST CENTER, STEVE BRODERICK, Eastford TRAIL STEWARDSHIP DIRECTOR, CLARE CAIN, Niantic Connecticut Woodlands MEMBERSHIP & MARKETING DIRECTOR, MARTY GOSSELIN, Durham Published quarterly by the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ERIC HAMMERLING, West Hartford Connecticut Forest & Park Association, WalkCT DIRECTOR, LESLIE LEWIS, Lyme 16 Meriden Road, DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, JAMES W. LITTLE, Hebron Rockfall, CT 06481-2961 LAND CONSERVATION DIRECTOR, LINDSAY MICHEL, North Haven Indexed in the Connecticut Periodical Index, Printed on 60% Recycled, ADVANCEMENT ASSISTANT, KARA MURPHY, Guilford ISSN 00106257 FSC and Green-e Certified Paper OFFICE MANAGER, TERESA PETERS, Durham Telephone: 860-346-TREE Fax: 860-347-7463. EDITOR, CHRISTINE WOODSIDE GRAPHIC DESIGNER, KAREN WARD E-mail address: [email protected] World Wide Web site: ctwoodlands.org 2 | CONNECTICUT WOODLANDS | FALL 2013 CONNECTICUT Woodlands The Magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association FALL 2013 Volume 78 No. 3 CONTENTS FEATURES DEPARTMENTS 6 CURTIS VEEDER, PENWOOD, 4 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE. AND THE CONFLUENCE OF NATURE Considering nonnative trees. AND CULTURE. By Eric Lukingbeal. The most famous Connecticut person you’ve never heard about. 5 EDITOR’S NOTE. By David K. Leff. Trail work musings. By Christine Woodside. 11 REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS— USE WOOD. 5 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE. Sustainable tree growth and using Make your plan and react to CFPA’s. local wood products offer keys to By Eric Hammerling. slowing the rate of carbon dioxide emissions. 14 FROM THE LAND. By Gail Braccidiferro MacDonald. Connecticut-grown Christmas trees. By Jean Crum Jones. 16-17 CFPA IN THE COMMUNITY. Get to know the Connecticut 18 TRY THIS HIKE. Forest & Park Association's The Saugatuck Trail: Enjoy pristine historic milestones, conservation woods, water views, and wildlife in programs, and board members. Centennial Watershed State Forest. By Diane Friend Edwards. 20 FORESTER’S NOTES. The Bridgeport chain saw massacre: Vicious attack, motivations unclear; an urban forester assesses the evidence. By Christopher Donnelly. 22 BOOK REVIEWS. An Appalachian Trail novel. A naturalist’s New England. The trap On the Cover: rock ridges. Reviewed by Robert M. Ricard, Scott Gray, and Christine Woodside The view from the Pinnacle in Penwood State Park. See page 6. 26 OBITUARIES. DAVID K. LEFF John S. Greacen. Louis A. Magnarelli. Katharine Truman Smith Coley. 27 WalkCT. What in Blue Blazes? A quick refresher course. By Leslie Lewis. 28 ON THE TRAILS. New England Trail artist-in-residence mounts exhibit. FALL 2013 | CONNECTICUT WOODLANDS | 3 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Considering nonnative trees BY ERIC LUKINGBEAL der if my friend doesn’t have a point. Dave showed me street tree plantings he’s write from my kitch- done in the past year for the town of Caze- en table in upstate novia, and for the City of Syracuse. These New York. About I five years ago, my are either balled and wrapped in burlap, wife and I bought an or grown in his nursery using the Missouri 1850 farmhouse in Gravel Bed system (irrigated gravel, nutri- Cazenovia, New York, ents added). This system results in a very near Syracuse. We’ve dense root mat, with much more root sur- been modernizing it at a pace hindered by face area than bare rootstock. But it has the our meager skills. Our neighborhood is called light weight and ease of planting that balled Pompey Hollow, which is a broad valley about and wrapped in burlap lacks. Volunteers can 500 feet lower than the north-south ridges on manage it easily. You can pick up a 2.5-inch either side. Everyone has a sump pump; ours caliper tree and hoist it over your head. Try runs almost constantly in the spring. Dave, our neighbor several houses to the that with a balled and wrapped in burlap Connecticut Forest south, is the retired owner of a landscap- tree. & Park Association and ing business. He was born here, attended He has supplied a mix of natives and non- local schools and then the State University natives to these two municipalities. His fa- Connecticut Woodlands of New York for a degree in landscaping. In vorites among the nonnatives are Japanese Magazine retirement, he runs a small tree and shrub tree lilac, village green zelkova, amur maack- nursery on the other side of the road, near ia, katsura, maidenhair (gingko) tree, Persian Connecticut Woodlands is a quarterly the creek that winds through our valley. magazine published since 1936 by CFPA, ironwood, hardy rubber tree, and stewartia. the private, non-profit organization Now and then, I’ll help him with some small Japanese tree lilacs are lovely. They line dedicated to conserving the land, trails, landscaping job. My contribution is un- part of the main street in Cazenovia, and and natural resources of Connecticut. skilled, manual labor—digging and hauling. their snowy white blooms in June are a pleas- I am supervised closely. Members of CFPA receive the magazine I’ve described Connecticut Forest & Park ant surprise. None of those trees he listed are in the mail in January, April, July, and particularly rare or any more expensive than October. CFPA also publishes a newsletter Association’s work to him. Recently, I hap- several times a year. pened to mention the Two-Storm Panel natives. Dave grows some of them in the that Eric Hammerling chaired. I told Dave gravel beds. They are all hardy, and around For more information about CFPA, to join or donate online, visit our website, www. about the effort to replace damaged road- Syracuse, that is saying something. ctwoodlands.org, or call 860-346-TREE. side trees with native trees. And I told him At CFPA, we have always thought that about the “Right Tree, Right Place” list public policy—and our policies—ought to Give the gift of membership in CFPA. and about Kathleen Groll Connolly’s article Contact Marty Gosselin at 860-346-TREE. be based on sound science. It is certainly about replacement trees in the summer issue sound science to support native trees and of this magazine. His reaction was not what shrubs as replacements. But my conversa- I thought it would be. ADVERTISING RATES “What the heck is wrong with nonnative tion with my neighbor in upstate New York trees?” he asked, adding, “Often they are leaves me uneasy to be too rigid. Nonna- Half page: better suited to street conditions than na- tives, as long as they are not invasive, could $180 per issue / $600 yearly tives are. At least, be open to the possibil- have a place in our efforts. (four issues) ity that a nonnative, noninvasive tree could Eric Lukingbeal is an environmental lawyer Quarter page: work just as well as a native.” for Robinson and Cole in Hartford. He lives $90 per issue / $300 yearly I had to admit to him that somewhere I in Granby with his wife, Sally King. He is Eighth page: picked up a bias in favor of native trees, es- $60 per issue / $200 yearly pecially as replacement trees for those we’ve the father of two grown daughters, serves on lost in recent storms. With a single excep- his town’s planning and zoning commission, Design services available for a fee. tion—a Dawn Redwood—all the trees I’ve and likes to hike, bike, and renovate old houses, planted myself have been natives.