NewsBrief Archive
North Stonington Citizens*
Land Alliance NewsBrief
Published each April, June, August, October, December, February
Special e-mails or cards at certain times
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June 2011
Land Alliance Sponsored
2 wonderful North Stonington walks
with
2 wonderful North Stonington families
WALK CLARKS FALLS FARM, MAY 28, SATURDAY, AT HILAIRE AND
KATHIE COTE’S
9:30 am, May 28, Saturday, 32 Clarks Falls Road
To hike trail along Spalding Pond, rock outcroppings, hay fields and corn lots, abundance of wild flowers, wild azalea, lady slippers, white spire, wild blueberry, a resident peacock, and even some chickens. Heavy rain cancels.
Directions: 1/3 mile from Rt 49 and Rt 216 3-way stop, take driveway about ½ mile through fields to house; park along drive.
CT TRAILS DAY CELEBRATION, JUNE 4, Saturday, AT BRAD AND MIMI BORDEN’S
10:00-12:00 pm, June 4, Saturday, 107 Swantown Hill Road
HIKE: a personal invitation from Brad and Mimi Borden, 107 Swantown Hill Road, North Stonington, to walk the moderate, green forested foot trails they have created within their 121 acre family lands. Wear hiking footwear; brook crossings, stands of mature trees, vernal ponds, birds, deer sightings possible. Rain cancels. Yes, to dogs on lead. Brad Borden will lead the walk with Tim Crandall and Bill Hixson.
DIRECTIONS: From Exit 92 off I-95, go Northwest on Route 2 for about 6 miles. Then turn right at Stonington Institute and Swantown Hill Road signs and go 1 mile to trail field parking sign on left.
(Since 1993, Connecticut Forest & Park has been the state coordinator for CT Trails Day as part of The American Hiking Society’s National Trail Day throughout The United States. Last year, Land Alliance was one of the 160 CT groups, with over 2,500 hikers taking part)
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The Earth Day Seedlings at Wheeler Library were a happy lot and hopefully all found a good place to be planted. Over 125 young white pines had their roots wrapped in wet newspaper with a side wrap of plastic if so desired. Many thanks to Kit Johnstone and Madeline Jeffery for the Library arrangement. Both women believe ardently that, yes, Every Day Is Earth Day.
About Water Testing, William Hixson and Joseph DiBrino both began their 2011 Lake and Pond Water Testing this month. A third volunteer has joined them. His name is Craig Charron, and he will be monitoring Billings Lake. The results from each of the year’s testing will be posted on The Land Alliance WEB page (nslandalliance.org or landalliance.org) as well as coming in as reports from the URI Watershed Watch laboratories.
Thank you, Bill Hixson, Joe DiBrino, and Craig Charron, we look forward to your reports and to hear of your experiences out there in the water.
Land Alliance has talked about groups being less and less isolated within their own mission and making a special decision to spread out and work on projects and events with other groups in and out of town. Good show.
Will You Give Land Alliance a Call and sign up for a few hours of volunteer time doing something you feel keenly about? There is a well-rounded variety of tasks available either indoors or outdoors, either working alone or with others, some with pressure of date fulfillment, others without a completion date.
Consider joining our Board, which meets the third Monday of each month at 7:00 pm, at The Elementary School Media Library during the school year or at a member’s home during vacations and Summer. Please give us a call or e-mail, North Stonington’s natural resources and rural environment respond to our care.
Where Land and Sky Meet
In an all day exploration on April 16, several Land Alliance members walked certain North Stonington woods and explored land, sky, and stone works with members of The New England Antiquities Research Association, known as NEARA. Douglas Schwartz led the walk; he is President of Connecticut’s NEARA group. Founded in 1964, with each New England state so rich in its natural resources, each New England state has its own chapter..
The group’s stated mission is:” A non-profit organization dedicated to a better understanding of our historic and prehistoric past through the study and preservation of New England’s stone sites in their cultural context.”
The day in the woods, exploring, discovering, discussing, and photographing with knowing and curious guides was an unforgettable experience, it was like having eyes, heart, and soul opened for the first time to the stone sites around us.
Town Hall’s Web Site Is coming along very well and adds a new informational lode for people. Keep it up, we are counting on these reports.
Here is a big favor to ask of each Commission to help even more. Can there be a clear Meeting Agenda worded separately for each meeting? For sure, can there also be a clear set of matching Meeting Minutes that tells the result of each Commission’s decision including each vote count? The state requires a minimum report and description but residents desire—really need— a follow-through of the details to understand each case.
We townspeople follow meeting summaries as an important way of understanding how and who make many town land decisions.
Stream Corridors Planning, for real, are high on our list, especially after recognizing the potential disasters possible after last year’s serious flooding but also during the present snow melts and heavy rains. Let’s make right now the time for a more personal stream/brook/lake set-up of care together with Town Hall land commissions and resident monitors and caretakers. Working together can make this happen
Land Alliance plans to pursue stream protection as part of the its water monitoring with The University of Rhode Island Watershed Watch Program
There are small but important ways for each individual to feel a part of a larger stream management program. Each of us can use less water in our homes and reduce wastewater discharges into our septic systems or cess pools Each of us can be careful about ridding our homes of. old medicines and pesticides, oils and paints
There is a series of hazardous waste collection days that operates with great efficiency to help. An how about watching with extra caution about what goes into the vegetable and flower gardens and what kin of spray goes onto the fruit trees and lawns.
One of North Stonington’s great natural gifts is its water. .
Land Preservation
Looking for Volunteers: Looking for Board Members
Mushroom Magic: after attending several mushroom walks sponsored by The Land Alliance over the years, a member recently announced with great joy and amazement: that one day several weeks ago as she was raking some leaves in the back yard, there under some old apple trees near stone walls, she actually recognized an early mushroom. It was a single mushroom in the grass and violets—a morel, a wild mushroom that she discovered as one of the morels that can be considered choice eating.
She ran inside to look it up in her books and photographed the morel to record it. She did not pick it or touch it, a cautious non-mycologist Two days later, she returned to find a second morel in the same area.
The area will be well noted, kept a secret until next year for morel gathering
The moral of the morel story: how lucky we are in North Stonington, Here in our backyards and woods is a great place for continuing education about the exciting wild things all around us.
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Just send Land Alliance 2 things that you do at home that help to protect the natural beauty of your place. A list will be. collected so that all of these ideas can be passed along and copied for incentive and enjoyment. Names will be mentioned with approval.
North Stoningtonites have good
Ideas, let’s see some of them.
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Now Is a Good Time To Become a Member!
Thank you for your Renewal.
North Stonington Citizens Land Alliance, Inc.
Box 327,
North Stonington CT 06359
tel: 860-599-5517, in person or message machine e-mail: landallianceinc@gmail.com
web site: nslandalliance.org or landalliance.org,
NewsBrief: Madeline Jeffery, editor: send your articles, preservation thoughts and theories, write, e-mail, or telephone. Let’s hear from you.
Web Site: Betty Perkowski, Web master; give her some good news, photos, copy, let the Web handle new and fresh material.
Open Land Fund: William Hixson , Treasurer: send him a contribution for Land Alliance’s open land fund, large and small amounts, he loves to see our treasury go up.
Membership: $15.00 for each member. PO Box 327, North Stonington CT 06359. As a 501-C-3, all contributions are deductible to the full extent of the law
Board Members: Madeline Jeffery, William Hixson, Julie Lanier, Elizabeth Perkowski, Helen Lauterio, Belinda Learned
(* copyright @2011 by North Stonington Citizens Land Alliance, Inc. NSCLA welcomes its work being used in other publications on most occasions but requests permission use in advance.)
North Stonington
C × I × T × I × Z × E × N × S
Land Alliance
PO Box 327, North Stonington CT 06359