CONNECTICUT Woodlands CAN A PROSPEROUS STATE REMAIN GREEN? TALKING WITH A PLANNER WHO STOOD UP TO “MEGALOPOLIS” ALSO: IN DEFENSE OF TALL TREES The Magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association Winter 2015 Volume 79 No. 4 The ConnectiCuT ForesT & Park assoCiaTion, inC. OFFICERS PRESIDENT, ERIC LUKINGBEAL, Granby VICE-PRESIDENT, WILLIAM D. BRECK, Killingworth VICE-PRESIDENT, DAVID PLATT, Higganum 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 The benefits of strong, tall trees along town streets often outweigh their threats to electrical wires, an JEFF LOUREIRO, Canton urban forester says. Above, shade trees on Batter Way in New Haven. See page 10. 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 | WINTER 2015 CONNECTICUT Woodlands The Magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association WINTER 2015 Volume 79 No.4 CONTENTS FEATURES DEPARTMENTS 7 CAN A PROSPEROUS STATE 4 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE. REMAIN GREEN? A lawyer brain encounters “It must,” said Joe Hickey, writing provocative ideas about forestry. 50 years ago. Did the state heed his By Eric Lukingbeal. advice? Have we held back “Megalopolis”? 5 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE. By Christine Woodside. Tell your stories from the woods. By Eric Hammerling. 10 IN DEFENSE OF TALL TREES. Identify the valuable and strongest 6 EDITOR’S NOTE. large trees in cities and towns. When trees stopped being fuel and Then work to keep them. started being a crop: Meet the man By Chris Donnelly. who wrote American Canopy. By Christine Woodside. 14 THE JOHN MUIR OF THE EAST? The quiet legacy of Harlan P. Kelsey, 16-19 CFPA IN THE COMMUNITY. a review of Loren M. Wood’s Blue-Blazed Hiking Trails map. new biography. Meet trail volunteers By Kathleen Groll Connolly. Peter Dorpalen and Eric Bengtson. 22 TRY THIS HIKE. Salmon River Trail and Day Pond Brook Falls Trail. By Diane Friend Edwards. 24 ON THE TRAILS. On the Cover: A successful trail running series Rural and developed land bumps against each wraps up. other all over Connecticut. This photo shows Mansfield Hollow Lake near the University of 26 ENVIRONMENTAL UPDATE. Connecticut. News from around the state. PHOTO BY THE U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS 28-29 CFPA VOLUNTEERS RECOGNIZED. Photos from the November 7 dinner. 30 CFPA STORE. WINTER 2015 | CONNECTICUT WOODLANDS | 3 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE A lawyer brain encounters provocative ideas about forestry BY ERIC LUKINGBEAL THE CONCLUSION OF THE PIECE IS THAT but not as many as I had hoped. She does say that forests offer “unambiguous benefits or a long time, I’ve SPENDING A LOT OF MONEY ON to biodiversity and many forms of life.” Not thought of myself FORESTRY TO COMBAT WARMING IS A exactly chopped liver! She doesn’t attempt as “up to speed” HIGH-RISK PROPOSITION. AS SHE PUTS to quantify these benefits. She also agrees Fon the benefits of that trees provide carbon storage, but she forests. Although I’m IT, “WE DON’T KNOW THAT IT WOULD points out that it is not permanent because not a scientist, and COOL THE PLANET, AND WE HAVE GOOD trees eventually die and the carbon goes back have no formal train- REASON TO FEAR THAT IT MIGHT HAVE into the atmosphere. ing in forestry, I’ve The conclusion of the piece is that spend- done a fair amount of reading, including the PRECISELY THE OPPOSITE EFFECT.” ing a lot of money on forestry to combat Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warming is a high-risk proposition. As she (IPCC) summary reports issued every five and I began to look for flaws in her argu- puts it, “We don’t know that it would cool years or so. And I’ve read William Nord- ment. Surely her essay’s title was overstated the planet, and we have good reason to fear haus’s 2013 book, The Climate Casino (Yale to attract readers. that it might have precisely the opposite University Press), which I strongly recom- The thrust of her argument is that “large effect.” mend. I’ve come to believe that forests are scale increases [such as by planting trees] in One of my fellow board members asked, good things, giving us all kinds of ecologi- forest cover can actually make global warm- “What is our position on this?” I think the cal services, such as clean air and water, and ing worse.” This is so, she says, because the right answer lies in CFPA’s long-held belief that if we lose them, we’re in serious trou- dark green color of trees absorbs the sun’s that public policy ought to be based on good ble. More forests could only help us and our energy, instead of reflecting it. She says that science. If Professor Unger’s science is good, planet. My guess is that almost all of our planting trees in the tropics would lead to then we ought to rethink the idea of for- Connecticut Forest & Park Association com- cooling, but doing so in nontropical places estry as a one-size-fits-all partial solution to munity shares in this view of forests as an would lead to warming. global warming. It would work in the tropics unalloyed good. She makes one important claim that is (Professor Unger agrees) but not necessarily Then I read an op-ed piece in the Sep- new to me. The claim is that there is no everywhere else. Of course, the real solution tember 20th New York Times, “To Save the consensus on whether the huge change in is to stop treating the atmosphere as a free Planet, Don’t Plant Trees.” It is by Nadine land use from forest to croplands and pas- public sewer for the disposal of pollutants. Unger, an assistant professor of atmospheric ture has caused cooling or heating. Because chemistry at the Yale School of Forestry we haven’t been able to answer that ques- Eric Lukingbeal is a retired environmental and Environmental Studies. My first reac- tion, we cannot say that planting more for- lawyer. He lives with his wife, Sally King, in tion was a mix of surprise, shock, and dis- ests on a large scale would help. Granby, where he serves on the town’s land appointment. My lawyer brain turned on, My lawyer brain did find a few nuggets trust and planning and zoning commission. About Connecticut Forest & Park Association ADVERTISING RATES Half page: and Connecticut Woodlands Magazine $180 per issue / $600 yearly Connecticut Woodlands is a quarterly magazine published since 1936 (four issues) by CFPA, the private, non-profit organization dedicated to conserving Quarter page: the land, trails, and natural resources of Connecticut. $90 per issue / $300 Members of CFPA receive the magazine in the mail four times a year. yearly For more information about CFPA, to join or donate online, visit our Eighth page: website, www.ctwoodlands.org, or call 860-346-TREE. $60 per issue / $200 yearly Give the gift of membership in CFPA. Contact Marty Gosselin at 860-346-TREE.