Connecticut Woodlands-Winter 2009

WoodlandsC O N N E C T I C U T

The Magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association Winter 2009 Volume 73 Number 4

INVASIVES From the largest tree to the smallest pathogen

The Connecticut Forest & Park Association, Inc.

OfficersPRESIDENT, David Platt,Higganum

VICE-PRESIDENT, Jean Crum Jones, SheltonVICE-PRESIDENT, Eric Lukingbeal,GranbyVICE-PRESIDENT, David Sullivan,Haddam

TREASURER, Gordon L. Anderson, GlastonburySECRETARY, Eric Hammerling,West Hartford

FORESTER,Dan Donahue

DirectorsMark Ashton, New Haven

Richard A. Bauerfeld, BranfordWilliam Breck, Killingworth

Russell L. Brenneman,WestportGeorge M. Camp,Middletown

Starling W. Childs, NorfolkRuth Cutler, Ashford

Laurence Diamond, CoventryJames Dombrauskas, New Hartford

Caroline Driscoll, New LondonAstrid T. Hanzalek, Suffield

David Leff, CollinsvilleScott Livingston, Bolton

Geoffrey Meissner, SouthingtonKaren Mignone, Fairfield

Thomas Mongillo, North BranfordBob Morrison, ManchesterRandall Miller,Hamden

James Ritchie, Sandy HookStarr Sayres, East HaddamDonald L. Snook,WestportDeborah Spalding, Guilford

Colin Tait, NorfolkRichard Whitehouse, Glastonbury

Honorary DirectorsHarrol W. Baker, Jr., BoltonRichard F. Blake,Milford

Clyde S. Brooks, Gibsonia, PAAnn M. Cuddy, Lakeville

Samuel G. Dodd,Mansfield CenterJohn E. Hibbard,HebronPhilip H. Jones, Jr., Shelton

Edward A. Richardson, GlastonburyDavid M. Smith,HamdenL.P. Sperry, Jr.,Middlebury

Sally L. Taylor,MysticHenry H. Townshend, New Haven

StaffExecutive Director, Eric Hammerling,West HartfordTrail Conservation Director, Ann T. Colson, Clinton

Development Director, James W. Little,HebronOffice Manager, Teresa Peters, Durham

Financial Management Assistant, Linda Cunningham, PortlandLand Conservation Director, Damon Hearne,Higganum

Education Director, Lori Paradis Brant, Beacon FallsWalkCT Director, Leslie Lewis, Lyme

WalkCT Communications Coordinator, Jennifer Benner, Roxbury

EDITOR, Christine WoodsideGRAPHIC DESIGNER, Karen Ward

Conserving ConnecticutThe Connecticut Forest & Park Association is aprivate, non-profit organization dedicated since1895 to conserving the land, trails, and naturalresources of Connecticut.The Connecticut Forest & Park Association isaffiliated with the National Wildlife Federation,the National Woodland Owners Association,the American Hiking Society, and Earth Share.

Connecticut WoodlandsPublished quarterly by theConnecticut Forest & Park Association, Mid-dlefield, 16 Meriden Road, Rockfall, CT 06481-2961.Indexed in the Connecticut Periodical Index,ISSN 00106257.Telephone: 860-346-2372.Fax: 860-347-7463.E-mail address: [email protected] Wide Web site:http://www.ctwoodlands.org

Annual MembershipIndividual $ 35Family $ 50Supporting $ 100Benefactor $ 250

Life Membership $ 2500

Corporate MembershipClub $ 50Nonprofit $ 75Sustaining $ 100Landmark $ 250Stewardship $ 500Leadership $1000

Printed on recycled paper


The Magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association

C. Anagnostakis

This Japanese walnut (Juglans ailantifolia) was planted in Leiden, Holland, in 1860but is only 3 feet in diameter. How could this be? See page 30.

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Contents

On the Cover:Purple loosestrife. This magenta-blooming invader has crowded outnatives along the coast. Photo byRobert Pagini.

Winter 2009 CONNECTICUT WOODLANDS 3

DEPARTMENTS

President’s Message. Knocking back barberry,nurturing the Blue-Blazed Hiking Trails.By David Platt.

Executive Director’s Message. Reverse thebreakdown of community in America.By Eric Hammerling.

Editor’s Note. As newspapers struggle, a newmodel emerges for print journalism.By Christine Woodside.

From the Archives. Promoting skiing.By James W. Little.

Try This Hike. The Kingkillers: Taking publictransportation to the Regicides Trail in NewHaven. By Scot Mackinnon

New England Musings. Forests of the far reaches.By Adam R. Moore.

From the Land. Local potatoes, a golden treasure.By Jean Crum Jones.

Tree Page. The butternut that is not a butternut.By Sandra L. Anagnostakis.

Book Review. Can a nonfiction book on botanistsgrab you? When they climb the world’s largesttrees, the answer is yes. By Robert Ricard.

WalkCT. Rx: Go walking.Working with themedical community. By Leslie Lewis.

Environmental Update.News from around the state.

Letter. On a notable tree.

On the Trails. Sixth Annual Winter TrailMaintenance Workshop.

CFPA Store. Buy books, maps, and clothing.

CorrectionThe regional trash-to-energy plant inPreston generates 130 million kilo-watt hours per year, which is enoughelectricity to power more than12,000 households per year, assum-ing those households consume elec-tricity at what the federal govermentdescribes as the average rate of 900kilowatt-hours per month. Thesetwo figures were incorrect in an arti-cle on trash incineration published inthe fall issue.

FEATURES

Invasive Species and Connecticut’sForests. An introduction to theirimpact—potential and realized.By Rose Hiskes, Robert E. Marr, andClaire E. Rutledge.

We Did This. People encourage invasives.By Christine Woodside.

Earthworms Losing Hero Status. Learningto look with suspicion on a creatureeverybody loves. By Christine Woodside.

The Legacy of the Civilian ConservationCorps in Connecticut. Trees, trails, roads,buildings, and more, gave work andpride to a generation of young menduring the Great Depression.By Marty Podskoch.

BY DAVID PLATT

Every year, I do battle with invasive plants. Myproperty includes a field populated with an oldapple orchard and surrounded by woodlands.

Like many species of wildlife and birds, the invasives lovethe “edge” habitat. When my wife and I bought our land15 years ago, the canopies of all of the trees were infestedwith thick bittersweet and grape vines. The understory wasdominated by winged euonymous (burning bush) and bar-berry thickets that suppressed the natural vegetation.

That first year, I spent many long weekends choppingdown these vines and clipping and pulling the understoryplants. Those that have experience with this know that this is nastywork. The vines always seem to snag various body parts at exactly thewrong time and place. One invariably emerges from this war batteredand bruised by the myriad of prickered brambles and poison ivy.Hauling or burning the unwieldy debris presents opportunities formore sweat and wounds.

My reward is a yard that is relatively free of invasives and that is mak-ing a comeback as native grasses and seedlings fight for their space.This delicate balance requires constant attention. Each year I knockback the invaders. The lesson that I have learned is that results requirea good plan and persistent hard work.

A good plan and persistent hard work—not unlike the planning weare undertaking here at the Connecticut Forest & Park Association.

It’s not like chopping down invasive plants but rather likebuilding something strong. For the past five years, we haveimplemented our goals of strengthening programs and thefinancial structure to support them. Now we are updatingour strategic plan to meet our latest challenges and maxi-mize new opportunities.

At a recent CFPA retreat, we decided to redouble ourefforts to focus on our greatest asset—the 825-mile Blue-Blazed Hiking Trail system. On the one hand, this uniqueConnecticut treasure is well established and meticulouslymaintained by a virtual army of dedicated CFPA volunteers.On the other hand, the trails face constant threats fromsprawling development. We need more and more resources

to combat these mounting threats. The key to funding this battle liesin our development efforts, including expanding our loyal membershipbase. So we are rededicating ourselves to attracting new members wholove the Blue-Blazed Hiking Trail system and to raising the funds nec-essary to protect it.

This strategic effort has generated some terrific ideas for new ini-tiatives. We would like to hear your views, as our members, for whatwe do well and what we can better. Please visit our Web site atwww.ctwoodlands.org and contact us with your thoughts. It is not anexaggeration to say that we can only go as far as our members willtake us in building on our accomplishments. Thank you for your sup-port.

CFPA PresidentDavid Platt


PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

KNOCKING BACK BARBERRY,NURTURING THE BLUE-BLAZED HIKING TRAILS

AdvertisingRates forConnecticutWoodands

Half page:$180 per issue$600 yearly (four issues)

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Connecticut Woodlands is a quarterly magazine published since 1895 byCFPA, the private, non-profit organization dedicaed to conserving the land, trails,and natural resources of Connecticut.

Members of CFPA receive the magazine in the mail in January,April, July, and October. CFPA also publishes a newsletter severaltimes a year.

For more information about CFPA, to join or donateonline, visit our newly expanded website, www.ctwoodlands.org,or call 860-346-2372.

Give the gift of membershipin CFPA over the holidays.Contact Jim Little at860-346-2372 for specialpromotional membership gifts.

About Connecticut Forest & Park Association andConnecticut Woodlands Magazine


EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

BY ERIC HAMMERLING

Editor’s note: The following is from a speech delivered at theannual meeting of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association.

The Connecticut Forest & Park Association’s sup-porters have earned a reputation as being a liter-ary crowd. The thoughtful responses we get after

each issue of Woodlands makes that clear. I was asked dur-ing the interview process to name my favorite book andauthor. If I were running for President, the answer wouldhave been easy—the Bible and God. But for CFPA, that wasmuch more of a challenge, like picking your favorite child.

The book I reference now is Deep Economy by BillMcKibben. In Deep Economy, McKibben talks about the connectionsbetween “community” and “happiness.” He notes how communitiesare becoming less cohesive and more fractured, and suggests ways toget a renewed sense of community, and one hopes, increase our hap-piness at the same time.

What are some ways that we are losing our community?

� We are a much more mobile society than ever before. This mobil-ity is a major factor why the average person in her twenties or thirtiesis half as likely to join a group of some kind as her grandparents were.

� We are voting less and not casting the ballot that is a basic under-pinning of community. In the 2004 presidential election when youwould have expected a maximum turnout, only 58.3 percent of thetotal voting population voted. Another 11.5 percent of the popula-tion that was registered to vote chose not to.

� Between 1974 and 1994, the percentage of Americans who saidthey frequently visited with their neighbors fell from one-third toone-fifth. Just think about how many of us would actually have to getin our cars to drop-in on the neighbors.

� McKibben quotes from the book Bowling Alone by Robert Put-nam who tried to apportion the blame for why communities are frac-turing. He suggests

• 10 percent of the decline comes from increased pressures atwork.

• 10 percent of the decline comes from suburbanization.

• 25 percent comes from television / privatized entertainment.

• The balance comes from a generational shift where “youngerAmericans are far less interested in giving their time to othersand advancing non-monetary social goals.”

So, how is this community breakdown affecting our physical andmental health?

� America, once the healthiest nation on earth, now ranks 27th,below all the nations of Western Europe and even countries likeCyprus and Costa Rica.

� We are also getting more depressed. Only 1.3 percent of people

born in 1910 had a major depressive episode in their life-times, but those born after 1960 have a 5.3 percent chanceof having such an episode. In general, studies have sug-gested a roughly 10-fold increase in the risk for depressionacross generations.

Indeed, this is pretty depressing stuff, but I guess youwould expect that from an author who came to prominenceby writing a book entitled The End of Nature. Fortunately,the reverse is also true. It appears that our health and hap-piness increase the more we participate in communities:

� The Old Order Amish of Pennsylvania, who live a lifepoor in appliances but rich in community, had a depressionrate of only one-tenth that of their neighbors.

� In a 1997 study, Carnegie Mellon researchers sprayed cold virusesinto subjects’ nostrils and found that “those with rich social networkswere four times less likely to come down with illness than those with fewerfriends.”

� The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute found that “mid-dle-aged women with large social circles had a 23 percent lower inci-dence of coronary artery disease.”

� “People above the age of 80 with poor social networks have a 60percent higher than average chance of dementia.”

� Last but certainly not least, according to a New Economics Foun-dation study, “If you do not belong to any group at present, the actof joining a club or a society of some kind halves the risk that you willdie in the next year.”

McKibben argues that our species is innately hardwired to be com-munity-based, but our modern world has allowed us to become sep-arated from our communities.

He summarizes some research that suggests that all primates live ingroups and get sad when they’re separated. He notes one study withthe key finding, “An isolated individual will repeatedly pull a lever withno reward other than the glimpse of another monkey.”

Speaking of people behaving like animals, he also wonders why“people so often look back on their college days as the best years oftheir lives?” He posits that for four years we live more closely andintensely in a community than ever before or after. In college, we liveroughly as we have evolved to live as humans in a community.

Now, we have limited space at our office and I’m not suggestingthat you all move in to a “CFPA dormitory,” but McKibben notessome things you can do to make an extra impact on your communi-ties. So that we can move on with our meeting, I’ll just mention two:

1.Open your home to your neighbors or friends. If you haven’t hada house party in a while, use this as your motivation. Heck, if you’dlike to hold a CFPA house party, please contact me or (CFPA Devel-opment Director) Jim Little. By the way, we open our home at CFPAregularly. Did you know that our meeting room hosts more than 50different organizations representing more than 160,000 people in

REVERSE THE BREAKDOWN OF COMMUNITY IN AMERICA

CFPAExecutive DirectorEric Hammerling

continued on page 13


EDITOR’S NOTE

Alsop’s comment, which I cut outof a print version of the New YorkTimes in mid-May, reflects a rapid

change in the industry that no career journal-ist can ignore. The Internet has taken overthe national consciousness in one decade. Itreminds me of a photo I saw in a Londonnewspaper in 1983. A crowd of soccer fansstampeding their way to a stadium pressedagainst a chain-link fence, trapping the peopleat the lead against the wires until they could-n’t breathe. Their faces looked horrible. Thecrowd seemed to be killing them.

That’s how I imagine the power of theWorld Wide Web over the editors of our old-est, most respected newspapers. An angrymob is out there screaming that they want allof the information they used to pay for at nocost, on the Web. They want it now. They arepressing on even though some of the crowdare getting crushed. The papers’ editors andpublishers have taken down the fence. Theyare putting most of their articles onto the Webfor free, even though they had to pay the jour-nalists who gathered the information. Theyknow that unless some revenue stream previ-ously undiscovered shows up soon, they can’tsubsidize good reporting and photography fortoo long before they go out of business.

Papers have responded to the Internetfrenzy by pouring resources into the Internetbefore they have been able to replace theiradvertising revenue base with online advertis-ing. In the space of a few short years, thereporting staffs of every newspaper in Con-necticut have shrunk, as have the number ofarticles they can write about the environ-ment. Environmental reporters are rare birdsin Connecticut.

Mr. Alsop is right. Print newspapers as weknow them are going the way of the Arcticice. They are shrinking at rates faster thaneven the experts predicted, and leaving itswriters stunned.

As newspapers struggle,a newmodel emerges for print journalism

BY CHRISTINE WOODSIDE

Get over it; it’s going to happen.—Stewart Alsop, a journalist turned venture capitalist, on the transition of print media to the Internet.

COMING IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF

CONNECTICUTWOODLANDS

Spring 2009

GRASSROOTS LANDCONSERVATION

The story of a riverfront tract with a history ofnatural beauty, industry, and grassroots activism

Also: New study tallies forests’ timber potential

Coming in April

noncommercial sources, not by traditionaldisplay advertising of newspapers that paidmy salaries for the first two decades of mycareer.

It’s been a year since I returned from a vaca-tion to find the print edition of The New YorkTimes shrunk by a column width and full ofreferences to further articles and photos avail-able only on the Web. This year, The HartfordCourant, the nation’s oldest newspaper, madedrastic cuts to its newsroom staff andredesigned its front page to emphasize theaddress of its Web site. Every newspaper thathas relied on print advertising for its revenuebase is making similar cuts. Those who writethe news number fewer and fewer. I think thatmany newspapers that have tried to move overto a Web emphasis by cutting back on newsgathering are gambling. They hope that onlinead revenues could someday take the place ofprint advertisements, and that they can rebuildtheir staffs. Or, they hope that they can pro-duce something for little.

But they ignore the fact that many peoplestill read print. They want to hold pages intheir hands and give them out to others.Share this copy of Connecticut Woodlands,and be grateful for its commitment to envi-ronmental communication in tough times.

—Christine Woodside

Although that angry mob has already takenover reporting areas that formerly were writ-ten by trained journalists—like obituaries,and the news blogs of some papers—whatwill pay for science and environmental cover-age? You can’t cover the environment on afast deadline, and you can’t do it very well asa blogger unless you are someone likeAndrew Revkin, a paid staffer of the NewYork Times. When this transition is complete,if it indeed does go as far as it seems to begoing, I predict that most environmental cov-erage will be paid for by grants and nontradi-tional sources of funding.

That’s already happening in many ways.This magazine is funded by the members ofthe Connecticut Forest & Park Association, aprivate, nonprofit organization that has madecommunicating with the public about land,trails, and natural resources a priority. BecauseCFPA has made this a priority, ConnecticutWoodlands can continue to publish. It is mymission as the magazine’s editor to bring tothe public articles that journalists at newspa-pers might have written just a few years ago.We continue to publish a print versionbecause we believe that many of the memberswho support it would rather read it in print.Not everyone is on the Web all day.

But CFPA recognizes that the Web mat-ters. CFPA has made the excellent move ofplacing back issues of Connecticut Wood-lands online—www.ctwoodlands.org.

Another example of a newer model of envi-ronmental reporting is High Country News,the western environmental paper. Donationsand grants, some of them specifically notedafter articles, fund the lion’s share of this finepublication. That paper never could havegrown as it did in the 1980s and 1990s onthe traditional print paper/advertising modelthat is now on the way to being obsolete.Several of the outlets, both online and print,that I write for as a freelancer are funded by


An introduction to their impact — potential and realized

Invasive Speciesand Connecticut’s Forests

Right, a closeup of Oriental bittersweet.Below, purple loosestrife.

CAES and, below, Robert Pagini

BY ROSE HISKES, ROBERT E. MARR,AND CLAIRE E. RUTLEDGE

This article will discuss invasive plants, insects, and pathogens in keeping with the authors’ areas of expertise.We will discuss species that have already become established, as well as invasive species that, looming on thehorizon, are cause for concern and vigilance.

Before we begin, we must acknowledge that the very term, invasive species, lacks a consensus definition among sci-entists and regulators. We will use the definition set forth by U.S. Executive Order 13112 in 1999, which describes aninvasive species as “an alien species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm orharm to human health.” However one defines invasive species, experience has informed legitimate concern when speciesare introduced to an area in which they are not native, whether intentionally or accidentally.

In almost all cases, humans introduce exotic species. The Norway maple (Acer platanoides), for example, was intro-duced to North America from Europe as a street and shade tree, but because of its vigor in displacing native hardwoods,and its tendency to encroach from landscape into forest, it is now classified as an invasive species in several states, includ-ing Connecticut. The house sparrow (Passer domesticus), now a serious threat to numerous native bird species, was intro-duced into North America in the late 1800s as a control for cankerworm, a plant pest, and is now listed as one of the three

continued on page 8

Invasive Speciescontinued from page 7

most abundant bird species on the continent,along with the invasives European starling(Sturnus vulgaris) and rock pigeon (Columbalivia), also intentional introductions. Thezebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) serves asa recent example of an unintentional intro-duction. Native to the lakes of eastern Eura-sia, it is now a serious threat to the ecology ofinland lakes and streams of North America,presumably introduced via the ballast water ofocean-going vessels.

What conditions or characteristics arelikely to encourage an introduced species tobecome invasive? It is first important tounderstand that most introduced species donot become invasive; take, for example, themany horticultural varieties of exotic plantspecies — annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees— that have not independently proliferatedbeyond their intended uses. But a number ofcharacteristics have been identified byresearchers that, singly or in combination,appear to predispose a species to invasive-ness. These include rapid growth, highreproductive rates, wide dispersal of young,ability to thrive in a variety of conditions,absence of natural enemies, and the ability tooutcompete native species for availableresources. Also, an introduced species islikely to become invasive if it can exploit apreviously unexploited resource, as is thecase described later for the chestnut blightfungus. Changes in ecosystems—for exam-ple, after a fire or a hurricane—can, byremoving native competitors, open up newlyavailable resources to an invasive species.Human activity can also create ideal habitatsfor invasives; for example, many invasiveweeds find root in disturbed ground alongroads or in agricultural settings. Finally, the

impact that global warming may have onaltering the dynamics of invasive species isstill unknown but an area of active debateand research.

What are the costs associated with invasivespecies? David Pimentel, a professor at Cor-nell University and an expert on this topic,has written extensively on the impacts ofinvasive species, from both environmentaland economic perspectives. He and his col-leagues have estimated that approximately50,000 species have so far been introducedto the United States, with some small num-ber of these causing environmental damagesestimated at $120 billion per year. Although98 percent of the U.S. food system com-prises introduced exotic plants and animalssuch as wheat, rice, cattle, and poultry, legit-imate concern over invasives focuses princi-pally on those species that compete with,prey upon, or in some other mannerthreaten native species and, in some cases,entire ecosystems. Invasives are consideredamong the principle agents of biodiversityloss, and these costs are incalculable.

Programs addressing invasive species issuesexist at federal, state, and local levels, spearheadedby agencies within the U.S. Department of Agri-culture (USDA). In Connecticut, scientists at theConnecticut Agricultural Experiment Station(CAES) incooperationwithbothUSDAandtheConnecticut Department of Environmental Pro-tection (DEP)conduct surveys, inspectnurseries,and do public outreach and research aimed atmitigating the impact of invasive species. TheConnecticut Invasive Plant Working Group atthe University of Connecticut coordinates edu-cational and research programs on invasivesthroughout the state.

Private agencies—such as the NatureConservancy, National Wildlife Federation,National Audubon Society, Union of Con-cerned Scientists, and others—have major

programs in place to address this subjectfrom various perspectives and have recentlyformed a coalition to help inform and shapepublic policy. A partial listing of onlinesources for additional information can befound at the end of this article.

The following three sections address threegroups of invasive species—plants, insects,and pathogens—that either affect, or havethe potential to affect, Connecticut’s forestsand parks. Our intention with these ninestories, by no means an exhaustive list, is toprovide the reader with relevant examplesthat put a very broad topic in local context.

INVASIVE PLANTS INCONNECTICUT’S FORESTS

According to Dr. Jeffrey Ward, StationForester at CAES, Oriental bittersweet,winged euonymus, and Japanese barberryare the most troublesome invasive plants inConnecticut woodlands. A relatively recentarrival coming along quickly behind them,and soon to pass them in importance toConnecticut forests, is Japanese stilt grass.

Oriental Bittersweet

Oriental bittersweet, Celastrus orbiculatus,is a perennial dioecious vine that was intro-duced from China as an ornamental. Abotanical python, it literally squeezes youngtrees to death. Young plants are able to growin dense shade. Once they reach sunlight,growth increases rapidly until the foliage ofbittersweet totally shades the plants below,thereby weakening and eventually killingthem. Also, the added weight of this woodyvine can cause tree branches to break inwindstorms and snowstorms. The nativespecies in this genus, C. scandens, only pro-duces berries at the terminal, whereas C.orbiculatus produces fruit at every node,along tall vines that can reach 60 feet inheight. Greenish flowers in May developinto attractive berries that ripen from Julythrough October. Fruits have a yellow ovarywall that opens to reveal bright orange-redberries. Oriental bittersweet is frequentlyused in dried wreaths and swags as fall homedecorations. By Christmas, many wreathsare on the compost pile out back or thrown


This invasive beech scale insect woundsbeech trees, leading to beech bark disease.Courtesy of CAES

CAES

Burning bush, or winged euonymus, dominates this forest scene.

removal of invasives from publicly accessedlands in their towns.

INVASIVE INSECTS INCONNECTICUT’S FORESTS

Invasive insects have already had animpact on Connecticut forests. Our “oldfriends” the gypsy moth and the Europeanelm bark beetle (the vector of a fungus thatcauses Dutch elm disease), as well as somemore recent arrivals such as hemlock woolyadelgid, have been responsible for dramaticchanges in our forest composition and ecol-ogy. In this section, we will discuss twohighly destructive beetles, the Asian long-horned beetle and the emerald ash borer,neither of which has been found in Con-necticut. Both of these beetles bore into thetrunks of trees and kill them.

Asian Longhorned Beetle

The Asian longhorned beetle,Anoplophora glabrapennis, is a wood-boringbeetle that is native to far-eastern Asia.Unlike many invasive species, the Asianlonghorned beetle is a pest in both its homerange and its introduced range. The beetleattacks healthy deciduous hardwood trees,including many found in Connecticutforests. Its most preferred hosts are trees inthe maple group (Acer spp.), followed byhorse chestnut (Aesculus spp.), birch (Betulaspp.), willow (Salix spp.), elm (Ulmus spp.),ash (Fraxinus spp.), and sycamore (Platanusoccidentalis). The Asian longhorned beetlehas the potential to transform the composi-tion of our forests—our most common tree

barberry invasions make hiking and loggingvery difficult. Also on the Connecticut inva-sive plant list, Japanese barberry is notbanned because some believe the commer-cially available yellow- and red-leaved vari-eties may not be as invasive as the green-leafed varieties from which they are derived.

Japanese Stilt Grass

An example of an accidental introduction,Japanese stilt grass is an annual that wasthought to have come into the country aspacking material in a shipment from tropicalAsia. The name comes from its habit offalling to the ground and then sending rootsdown from each node, giving the impressionthat the plant is propped up on stilts. Theupright branches look like individual plantsand can grow as much as 6 feet in heighteach season. Flowers develop in mid-Sep-tember, with seed ripening into October.Seed is mechanically dispersed via the pantsof hikers, fur of small mammals, or move-ment of soil. High rates of seed production,along with nearly 100 percent viability evenafter three to five years in the soil, are quali-ties that contribute to this invasive plant’ssuccess, allowing stilt grass to form densemonotypic stands that take over the forestfloor. Japanese stilt grass has been reportedto alter the soil surface habitat, making itunfit for the germination of native species.This plant is on the Connecticut invasiveplant list and is banned.

Thanks to legislation passed in Connecti-cut, municipalities can now apply for grantsfrom Connecticut DEP to help with

into the woods, where birds find and eat theberries. Dispersal of this invasive occurs asthe seed passes through the birds’ digestivetracts. Many trail managers in Connecticut’sforests and parks are kept busy cutting andpulling this invasive plant. Legislation passedin Connecticut in 2003 classifies Orientalbittersweet as invasive, and in 2004 themovement, sale, purchase, transplanting,cultivating, or distributing this plant wasbanned.

Winged Euonymus

Winged euonymus, Euonymus alata, is adeciduous shrub native to China and Japan.A horticultural introduction, it is also knownas burning bush because of its deep to brightred fall foliage. Whitish unremarkable flowersdevelop in May. The plant earns its “wings”from the longitudinal corky growths on theyoung green stems. Winged euonymus is oneof the first plants to leaf out in the forestshrub layer each spring and the last to dropits leaves in the fall. Thus, it stores more car-bohydrates and is able to produce moreberries. Winged euonymus has a very tightfibrous root system and grows in dense thick-ets, choking out native plants and preventingtheir regeneration. Birds eat the reddish fruitand disperse it over wide areas. Euonymusalata is on the Connecticut invasive plant listbut is not banned. Continued escapes fromlandscapes into forests will not stop until seedproduction from landscape plantings stops.Dr. Yi Li, of the New England Invasive PlantCenter at the University of Connecticut, esti-mates that it will be about four years before asterile version of this shrub is available.

Japanese Barberry

Japanese barberry, Berberis thunbergii, is athorny deciduous shrub native to Japan.Introduced as a horticultural plant, it wasalso good for hedgerows, natural fencingand for the yellow dye in the inner bark. Inforests, it hybridizes with common or Euro-pean barberry, B. vulgaris, the plant theCivilian Conservation Corps tried to get ridof because it is the alternate host for blackstem rusts of grains (Puccinia graminis).The result is a bush with intermediate char-acteristics. Japanese barberry is shade-toler-ant and forms dense patches that preventregeneration of native forest species. Repro-duction is by seed, which is dispersed viadroppings from birds that eat the berries.Because of its excessive thorniness, Japanese



is red maple—and in so doing, wreak havocon the lumber, maple syrup, nursery, andtourism industries. The first record of estab-lishment in America was recorded in NewYork City in 1996. Since then, it has beendiscovered in three other locations, includ-ing this past summer (2008) in nearbyWorcester, Massachusetts. The beetles aremost likely entering the country as larvaehidden in solid wood packing material usedto bring in goods from Asia. The adult bee-tle is shiny patent-leather black with whitespots, one to two inches long and hasbanded antennae as long as its body. The lar-val stage is the most damaging to trees. Thelarva bores into the trunk, interrupting theflow of nutrients and decreasing the struc-tural integrity of the tree. The beetles tendto re-infest the same tree for as long as it is asuitable host, and sometimes beetles willinhabit a single tree for five consecutive gen-erations. When the tree is killed, the adultbeetles will reject it as a host and move off toseek new hosts. The result is that the beetletends to spread slowly, and in bursts. Thisgives us a chance to eradicate populationswith aggressive treatment and quarantineprograms, as has been done successfully withan infestation in Chicago. As always, earlydetection is a key to success. Signs of infes-tation include typical symptoms of treestress, the presence of egg-laying pits, per-fectly-round dime-sized adult exit holes,rough “sawdust” at the base of the tree(actually the beetles’ excreta), and of course,the larval or adult stage of the beetle.

Emerald Ash Borer

The emerald ash borer, Agrilus plan-nipennis, is another wood-boring beetlefrom Asia. As its name suggests, the beetleattacks all species of true ashes (Fraxinusspecies, e.g., white ash) but not mountainash (Sorbus americana) and other non-Frax-inus species. In its home range, the beetleplays a role in the natural ecosystem, attack-ing severely weakened Asian species of Frax-inus and starting the process of degradingdead wood. However, the American speciesof Fraxinus appear to lack any defensesagainst the beetle, so healthy trees can beattacked and killed. The emerald ash borerwas first discovered in Detroit, Michigan, in2002, likely entering the country in solid


wood shipping material like the Asian long-horned beetle. Since the beetles’ discovery, ithas spread quickly throughout the Midwestwhere it has killed many millions of trees. Ithas been found in 10 American states, and 2Canadian provinces. There is widespreadconcern that the beetles’ impact on ash willbe as severe as the impact that chestnut blighthad on the American chestnut. The adultbeetle is small, about the size of an olive pit,and a brilliant, metallic emerald green. Thelarvae feed on the cambium layer leaving dis-tinctive serpentine tunnels under the barkand girdling the tree. Heavily infested treescan be killed in one to two years. Because alarge proportion of emerging beetles moveto a new host tree each year, the beetlespreads rapidly in the ecosystem.

In Connecticut, ash can be locally abun-dant, especially in pioneer, regenerating for-est stands. However, many ash trees in Con-necticut have already been infected by a dis-ease called ash yellows, which kills the treeby blocking its vascular system of nutrienttransport. This disease, combined with thematuration of the Connecticut forests,means that ash is a minor, and vulnerable,component of most Connecticut forests.Ash constitutes roughly 5 percent of our for-est stand. Thus, the impact of the beetle inConnecticut will be likely less apparent thanin areas, such as the upper Midwest, whereash is a dominant canopy tree. Ash is also acommon urban tree in Connecticut, withmore than 100,000 planted throughout thestate. The impact of emerald ash borer, likethat of Dutch elm disease, could be moredramatic on our urban landscape than on


Asian longhorned beetle.Photo by Donald Duerr www.ipmimages.org

our forests. Signs of infestation include typi-cal symptoms of tree stress, such as branchdieback and general decline. In addition,other markers include distinctive larval tun-nels, D-shaped adult exit holes in the bark,and the presence of the larvae or adult bee-tles. Early detection is important to develop-ing management plans for this extremelyaggressive beetle.

What can we do to decrease the risk ofintroduction of these wood-boring insects?One simple, but extremely important, tacticis to not move firewood. Evidence stronglypoints to inter- and intra-state transporta-tion of firewood, both by dealers and by pri-vate citizens, as an important source ofmovement for these insects. The larvae andpupae of these insects are inside of the woodand very hard to see, and thus easy to bringto a new spot. Make sure any firewood thatyou buy to use while camping has been pro-cured locally or has been kiln-dried. Finally,burn all of your firewood before you leavethe campsite; that will ensure that you arehelping to prevent spread of wood-boringinsects.

INVASIVE PATHOGENS ANDCONNECTICUT’S FORESTS

Forest pathology is the study of themicroorganisms and environmental factorsthat cause diseases in trees. The stories ofthree diseases will be discussed here. Twodiseases, chestnut blight and beech bark dis-ease, are already established in our forests,and the third, ramorum blight (also knownas sudden oak death), is one whose WestCoast story we hope will never have a chap-ter in our forests.

Chestnut Blight

The story of chestnut blight provides starklessons on the risks posed by the unregu-lated movement of plants, particularly fromone continent to another. The disease iscaused by the ascomycete fungus, Cry-phonectria parasitica, which is indigenous toAsia. It has reduced the American chestnut(Castanea dentata) from its stature as thedominant hardwood species of easternforests to a scattered patchwork of scarce



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above-ground survivors and below-groundroot systems, occasionally sending up rootsprouts only to get struck once again by thefungus. The legendary importance of thetree cannot be overemphasized. Prized forits decay-resistant lumber and for its fruit,the tree also had an irreplaceable role as akeystone species in the eastern forest ecosys-tem, providing shelter, food, shade, and richsoil for a diversity of wildlife.

The first official account of chestnut blightin the United States is from 1904, at theBronx Zoo. However, Dr. Sandra Anagnos-takis, a plant pathologist at CAES, believesthe fungus arrived sometime in the late1800s on Japanese chestnut. Both Japaneseand Chinese chestnut become infected withC. parasitica, but much less severely than thedevastating infections observed in American(and European) chestnut trees. The resistanceshown by Asian chestnut trees is the productof a long coevolutionary relationship, and isprecisely the sort of “truce” that scientistspredict should happen when parasites andtheir hosts coevolve. In other words, Ameri-can chestnut trees, having had no past expo-sure to the fungus, have not had the oppor-tunity afforded their Asian cousins to evolveresistance.

It is important to understand thatalthough the tree’s dominance in the canopyand forest ecosystem has been lost, the treeis neither extinct nor is it absent from ourforests. Chestnut blight does not directlyinfect the tree’s root system, so root sproutscontinue to appear even after the above-ground portions of the tree have died. Thesesprouts rarely live long enough to flower,and even if they do, they are rarely nearenough to a cross-pollinator to produce fer-tile offspring. The vigor with which thisprocess of root sprouting occurs declineswith time, as root reserves depleted bysprouts are not adequately replenished bythe products of photosynthesis.

But there is hope on the horizon for thisbeloved icon of the eastern forest. Twoactive breeding programs are well on theirway to producing trees with increased resist-ance to blight. The American ChestnutCooperators’ Foundation, based at VirginiaTech, is taking an “All-American Intercross”strategy by crossbreeding among Americanchestnut trees. The American Chestnut

Foundation, in collaboration with Dr. Anag-nostakis, has been implementing a backcrossstrategy that introgressively breeds Chineseresistance into trees with American chestnutform and habit.

Beech Bark Disease

Some diseases are the result of combinedand often synergistic effects of multipleattackers. In the case of beech bark disease(BBD) on American Beech (Fagus grandifo-lia), wounds created by the invasive beechscale insect, Cryptococcus fagisuga, predis-pose the tree to infection by one of two fun-gal species, both in the genusNeonectria. N.fagisuga, an invasive pathogen of Europeanorigin, is associated with most bark infectionsfollowing beech scale attack. However, N.ditissima, an endemic species causing peren-nial cankers on a wide range of hosts (partic-ularly black birch, Betula lenta), is also associ-ated with BBD.

The disease was first recorded in Europein 1849 on European beech (F. sylvatica)and entered North America via Nova Scotiaaround 1890 on European beech plantingstock. BBD was not recorded on Americanbeech until 1920, by which time the diseasecomplex had already begun its westward andsouthward movement through Canada andinto beech stands in the southern Appalachi-ans. The movement of the disease througheastern forests has two phases. In the firstphase, stands of large old trees (which are

more susceptible than young trees) supportan “advancing front” of scale build-up, fol-lowed by a “killing front,” in which heavilyscale-infested trees are rapidly invaded by theNeonectria fungi. The second phase occursin the “aftermath zone,” areas opened up toroot sprouts and seedlings by the high mor-tality of phase one. Because young sproutsand seedlings are not suitable habitat for thescale insect, disease development in phasetwo is a much slower process, resulting inrarely girdled but highly deformed trees.Because of this dynamic, landscape plantingsof F. sylvatica rarely succumb to BBD.

Although there is no practical chemicalcontrol for BBD in forests, populationcrashes of the scale insect have beenobserved following exceptionally cold win-ters, and natural enemies have beenobserved on both the scale insect and thefungus. In addition, genetic resistance to thescale insect has been identified in a small per-centage of naturally occurring Americanbeech, and is an area of active research. Cur-rently, the most effective methods for reduc-ing the effects of BBD in forest standsinvolve vigilant programs of surveillance andmanagement.

Sudden Oak Death /Ramorum Blight

Odds are good that any organism whosescientific name, Phytophthora, means “plant-destroyer” (from Greek: phytón, “plant,”and phthorá, “destruction”) is a plantpathogen that should be taken very seri-ously. And that is indeed the case for manyof the approximately 90 species within thisgenus of “water molds,” which are moreclosely related to algae than they are tofungi. Among the more infamous Phytoph-thora species are P. infestans, causal agent oflate blight of potato, which initiated theIrish potato famine of the 19th century, andthe root-rotting P. cinnamomi, which, withits enormous host range, has devastatedforests on several continents. Indeed, P. cin-namomi is still an important disease ofAmerican chestnut.

The Phytophthora species of current con-cern in the eastern United States is P. ramo-rum, causal agent of sudden oak death, adisease that has been ravaging the coastaloak forests of California and Oregon for atleast the past 15 years, causing widespreaddeath of tanoaks (Lithocarpus densiflorus),coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia), and black


CAES

A pathogen attacks rhododendron leaves.

oaks (Q. kelloggii). Like P. cinnamomi, P.ramorum enjoys a broad host range encom-passing more than 90 species of trees andshrubs, including some important natives ofeastern forests. A partial list of susceptibleeastern species important in Connecticutforests includes northern red oak (Q. rubra),chestnut oak (Q. montana), eastern whiteoak (Q. alba), mountain laurel (Kalmia lat-ifolia), and numerous Rhododendron andViburnum species (see the list of resourcesfor a link to the updated host list). Unlike P.cinnamomi, which is exclusively soil-borneand kills via the roots, P. ramorum infectionsoccur above ground. On some hosts, partic-ularly oaks, P. ramorum colonizes anddestroys the cambium and phloem, causingbleeding cankers that eventually girdle andkill the tree. However, P. ramorum attacksmost of its hosts, including mountain laurel,rhododendrons, and viburnums, via foliageand twig blights that much less frequentlykill the host plant. Rather, the infectedfoliage becomes a reservoir of inoculum,consisting of two types of spores, oneadapted for long-distance dispersal and theother adapted for long-term survival. Con-sequently, scientists in California have deter-mined that the oaks at highest risk are thosethat co-occur with foliar hosts such asmadrone and bay laurel.

A similar situation is mirrored in manyeastern forests, where susceptible oaks co-occur with understories of susceptiblemountain laurels and rhododendrons.Hence, the motivation behind massiveefforts at both federal and state levels to pre-vent the introduction of P. ramorum intoeastern landscapes and forests. This effort isnot trivial, given the veritable flood of nurs-ery plants—many of which are on the sus-

ceptible host list—that move each year fromWest Coast production nurseries to whole-salers and retailers in the eastern UnitedStates. In an effort to minimize the risk ofintroduction without restricting commerce,USDA mandates and oversees annual sur-veys conducted by participating state agen-cies, such as CAES. In these annual surveys,shipments of susceptible plants are inspectedfor suspicious symptoms. Because the symp-toms themselves are not diagnostic, any sus-pect material must be analyzed for presenceof P. ramorum using more sophisticated lab-oratory methods. Our laboratory at CAES isone of several in the country authorized toperform the molecular diagnostic tests neces-sary to confirm infection by P. ramorum. Inthe event that a nursery plant is confirmed tobe infected with P. ramorum —Connecticuthas had four “positives” in two of the pastfour years — state and federal officials, withthe cooperation of the nursery or gardencenter, take all necessary measures to containand destroy infected material. It must beemphasized that there is no evidence that P.ramorum has escaped or naturalized in forestor landscape settings, despite the surveillanceefforts of state and federal agents focusing onthese areas. These surveillance methods areour only hope for preventing this insidiouspathogen from wreaking its havoc in ourforests and landscapes.

What Can You Do To Help?

Help slow the degradation of Connecti-cut’s forests and parks. Volunteers are alwaysneeded by groups such as the ConnecticutForest & Park Association, ConnecticutInvasive Plant Working Group and the Inva-sive Plant Atlas of New England (IPANE).See the following resource list.


Connecticut every year? What do we ask in return? We ask thoseorganizations to be CFPA members, that is, we ask them to be a partof our community.

2. Shop at locally-owned markets and make a special stop at your localfarmer’s market. (You’ll note that we took special efforts today to pro-vide locally grown foods and beverages.) Studies suggest that peoplehave 10 times more conversations at a farmer’s market than at a super-market. Taking this action turns you from being simply a consumer tobeing a participant in your community. You also help the local econ-

omy by spending your money locally. One study found that for every$10 spent at a local business, there was a $25 benefit to the local econ-omy, but there would only be a $14 local benefit if that same shop-ping were done at a supermarket. More conversations, more commu-nity, and more local benefits means that your community wins.

So, in conclusion, I’d like to thank you for being part of CFPA’scommunity.

Online Resources:

Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Grouphttp://www.hort.uconn.edu/CIPWG/

Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station InvasiveAquatic Plant Programhttp://www.ct.gov/caes/cwp/view.asp?a=2799&q=376972&caesNav_GID=1805&caesNav=|

Invasive Plant Atlas of New England (IPANE): http://nbii-nin.ciesin.columbia.edu/ipane/

Columbia University’s Introduced Species Summary Project:http://www.columbia.edu/itc/cerc/danoff-burg/invasion_bio/inv_spp_summ/invbio_plan_report_home.html

United States Department of Agriculture: National InvasiveSpecies Information Centerhttp://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/unitedstates/main.shtml

U.S. Forest Service Invasive Species Programhttp://www.fs.fed.us/invasivespecies/

USDA-APHIS-PPQ list of plants susceptible to P. ramorumhttp://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/pram/downloads/pdf_files/usdaprlist.pdf

National Environmental Coalition on Invasive Specieshttp://www.necis.net/

The Nature Conservancyhttp://www.nature.org/initiatives/invasivespecies/

Global Invasive Species Programmehttp://www.gisp.org/

Global Invasive Species Information Networkhttp://www.gisinetwork.org/

The authors all work for the Connecticut Agri-cultural Experiment Station in New Haven.Rose Hiskes is an agricultural research techni-cian in the entomology department. Robert E.Marr is an assistant agricultural scientiststudying pathogens and microbiology in thedepartment of plant pathology and ecology.Claire E. Rutledge is an assistant agriculturalscientist in entomology.

Executive Director’s Messagecontinued from page 5


Douglas Tallamy moved as a childinto a development in BerkeleyHeights, New Jersey. He played

with frogs in a pond across the street. Oneday a bulldozer came to the neighborhoodto prepare lots for more houses. It filled inthe pond. Horrified, the young Dr. Tallamywatched dirt suffocate pollywogs. This was aterrible watershed moment for him because

it showed the downside ofcrafting a landscape to fit aparklike ideal. Dr. Tallamy,professor of entomologyand wildlife ecology at theUniversity of Delaware,wrote Bringing NatureHome: How Native Plants

Sustain Wildlife in our Gardens (TimberPress, 2007), which is about the necessity ofrethinking our suburban way of life, fromwhat we plant to how we clear it, to encour-age more diverse landscapes that supportmany more species of plants and animals.

“We have this notion that nature is some-where else,” he said to a full ballroom ofConnecticut residents who had come tolearn more about invasive plants and whythey hurt biodiversity. “When life formsaround you start to die, it’s time to think.”

Dr. Tallamy asked his audience to thinkabout the death of insects — how bad that isin the backyard because so much of the restof life forms depend on them. “Today’s talkis about biodiversity — why we need it, why

WE DID THISP e o p l e En c o u r a g e I n v a s i v e s


we need native biodiversity. Plants and ani-mals are the rivets holding the ecosystemsthat sustain us together.”

Plants are the key to animal diversity butfor some surprising reasons. They produceoxygen, food, and the physical structure ofhomes. Plants determine the carrying capac-ity of any given area. “We can measure thecarrying capacity of any given space bycounting the number of species that livethere without degrading it,” he said.

Now, nearly 80 percent of the populationlives in cities, but it is sprawling out into thecountryside. Development has cut formerlylarge expanses of forests into fragments.“We’ve paved 4 million miles of roads in theUnited States. The United States is ahuman-dominated ecosystem.”

Invasive plants are spreading farther intothe forests of New England than a few yearsago. Long identified as one bad aspect of aglobal economy and people’s habits, theexperts warn that the situation is worse.Nonnative plants spread from suburbanlandscape to the forests in numerous waysunknown to those who make it happen.These plants change the makeup of trees,bushes, groundcover, and soil. People canpush back invasives by examining all aspectsof daily life in the suburban yard: the prac-tices of mowing lawns, spraying pesticides,planting easy-care cultivar bushes importedfrom another continent, moving invasiveweeds from compost pile to woods edge,

and even something as simple as wearing theshoes used to garden while on a walk intothe woods, spreading seeds of invasives witheach step.

Les Mehrhoff of the University of Con-necticut, director of the Invasive Plant Atlasof New England, known as IPANE,sketched a situation that has become almostlike war in the forest. He and colleaguesincluding University of Connecticut Coop-erative Extension forester Thomas Worthleyhave found success with a several-stepmethod of removing large clumps of Japan-ese barberry, starting with machine removal,and then, when the bushes start to rebound,application of hand blowtorches. Dr.Mehrhoff called Japanese barberry andburning bush (or winged euonymous) “fastfood plants,” both because you might findthem growing outside of fast-food restau-rants, but also because they grow fast andreliably. Other invasives that have emergedas major problems only in the last few yearsare the mile-a-minute vine, Japanese stiltgrass (visible on the edges of the AirlineTrail, for example), amur honeysuckle, com-mon buckthorn, and porcelain berry.

Crowded Symposium

On October 1, 2008, hundreds turnedout for a symposium of the ConnecticutInvasive Plant Working Group at the Uni-versity of Connecticut in Storrs. Theyincluded members of land trusts, foresters,amateur gardeners, conservation-mindedpeople, biologists, and students. Thestrongest call to arms, so to speak, camefrom the keynote speaker, Dr. Tallamy.

He said that the key to understanding theproblem of invasive plants is to understandthat insects are vital in a backyard. Insectskeep the system in balance by providingcontrols for plants and food for animals.Invasive plants support far fewer insects thannative plants do. In his yard, he found 35percent fewer caterpillars living on alienplants than on native plants, thereby pro-ducing less food for birds and animals thateat them. A study he conducted with a stu-dent found four times as many caterpillars —food for many birds — on suburban lotsdominated by native plants than on thosedominated by exotic plants. (“The Impact ofnative Plants on biodiversity in SuburbanLandscapes,” by Karin T. Burghardt, Dr. Tal-lamy, and W. Gregory Shriver, to be pub-lished in a forthcoming issue of Conserva-Above, barberry in bloom.

Les Mehrhoff


tion Biology) Although the group studiedonly six houses of each type, Dr. Tallamysaid, “It’s significant because the data wasconsistent with every house.”

The antidote to a neighborhood domi-nated by nonnative plants is to begin replac-ing them with native specimens that for cen-turies have been living in harmony withnative insects. “What I want you to do is gohome and make lots of insects,” Dr. Tallamysaid. People must eschew plants sold as“pest-free.”

Dr. Tallamy acknowledged that rippingout some of the popular nonnative plantsand asking the neighbors to do the same willcreate awkward conversations. The neigh-bors might question your sanity and cer-tainly your sense of order. “Most peoplewant to fit into the social norm.” They likeplants that support few insects. “They’re notthinking of the relationship between ‘neatand tidy’ and death,” he said.

And so he issued this challenge: Raise thecarrying capacity of suburbia.

Watching for the Progression

Elizabeth Farnsworth, a consulting biolo-gist for the New England Wildflower Societywho has done plant inventories in the south-ern New England woods, spoke at the sym-posium on the need for more studies on howinvasives affect endangered plants. It mightseem obvious to conclude that invasives arealways bad for rare plants, but it’s not entirelyclear. She said that only 6 of the 371 studieson nonnative plants have considered rareplants at all. And so she asked the audience ifthere might be any doctoral candidates outthere looking for a dissertation topic.

In a telephone interview a month later,Dr. Farnsworth said that rare plants aside,nonnatives are without question the bulliesof the southern Connecticut forest. Humanshave created this situation in numerousways. As others have also said, most of theinvasives in the woods rooted from seedsthat came originally from someone’s land-scaped property. With plants like Japanesebarberry, this started in the late 1800s.

Invasives also root from seeds carried in onour shoes. If we spread compost made fromweeds removed from the garden, the seedswill sprout. Earthworms also will go wherethey’re not needed; in the woods, exoticspecies of earthworms have done damage.See the article on page 16 about worms.

In the suburban landscape, with its neat

lawns and cultivated gardens, Dr.Farnsworth said, “by creating a lot of edgehabitat — half sun, half shade — we createhabitat very conducive to garlic mustard andbittersweet.” Birds and deer, which eat theseeds of berries of these edge-loving inva-sives, spread the seeds further through theirdefecation. Humans also unwittingly spreadinvasives with seeds that stick tightly toclothing. Something as benign and nature-loving as going on a hike can be the conduitfor invasives to spread further into theforests, Dr. Farnsworth said. Even patches ofland that were animal paddocks a hundredor more years ago — and now seem hiddenbelow second-growth forests — can be hotspots for invasives, she said.

Lawns are one of the main mechanismsfor spreading invasive plants. But, as JessicaLubell explained in her talk on the differencebetween two kinds of Japanese barberry, notall exotics are invasive. Japanese barberry hasbeen planted in America since 1875 andbecame invasive in the forest by 1910. Con-temporary cultivars of barberry have beenbred with purple-edged leaves. This formfirst emerged in 1926. The green form israrely sold today, she said, but many home-owners like the purple-edged varietiesbecause they are tough and compact. So shestudied four Connecticut sites and one inMassachusetts, conducting genetic finger-printing of purple-edged varieties. Shefound that the purple and green varieties aremixing in the forest, but minimal evidencethat the purple variety is invasive.

What to Do

Here are some practical ideas for thosewith yards near woods:

Conduct an inventory of the plants andtrees in your yard, Dr. Tallamy advised. Howmany natives are there? Nonnatives? Plantalternatives like the native Virginia creeper.Wear different shoes to go hiking than to dogardening. In a landscaping setting, theexperts have said, you can pull out invasivesby hand, but they probably will grow back,so you have to keep on top of it. Manyexperts recommend careful use of a productcalled Brush B Gone (by Ortho) on Orien-tal bittersweet.

Talk about invasives with your friends andneighbors. Check out the following Web sites:

www.ipane.orghttp://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/

Common Invasives inConnecticut ForestsAutumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata). Asiantree first planted here in the early 1800s.

Winged euonymous or burning bush(Euonymus alatus). Planted widely on high-ways, spread to forests by birds.

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata). Shade-tolerant invader of the forest understory.

Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii).Thorny shrub arrived in New England in thelate 1800s as a landscape plant, widelyfound in forests.

Japanese stilt grass (Microstegiumvimineum). This grass grows like crazy inthe shade. It first arrived in the UnitedStates in 1919 but invaded New Englandabout a decade ago.

Mile-a-minute vine (Polygonum perfolia-tum). Annual vine with triangular leavesand blue fruits. Spreading crazily in habi-tats where forests meet fields.

Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora). Widelyplanted as buffers, this Asian displacesother plants and animals.

Norway maple (Acer platanoides). Anattractive European that out-competes thenative sugar maple.

Tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima). Asiannative tree with red berries.

Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbicultus).Woody vine came from Asia in the mid-1800s. It strangles trees.

Reed canary grass (phalaris arundinacea).

Bishop’s weed or goutweed (Aegopodiumpodograria). Groundcover with QueenAnne’s lace-like flowers. Sold in gardenstores.

Morrow’s honeysuckle (Lonicer morrowii).Bush invades old fields or woods wheresome trees have been cut, creating densethickets.

Christine Woodside is the editor ofConnecticut Woodlands.

This 1908 map showed the progressionof chestnut blight across the state.CAES


University of Minnesota

Scientists have been trying to temperpeople’s enthusiasm for earthwormsfor some 15 years. Earthworms

break down plants and food scraps in a com-post pile, but in the forest, they chew anddigest too much. There, they actually canchange the composition of the soil and con-tribute to climate change. Several studieshave documented such damage in manyareas of North America and concluded thatforests would be healthier without earth-worms.

“We thought earthworms were good,”said Peter M. Groffman, an ecologist at theCary Institute for Ecosystem Studies in Mill-brook, New York. Dr. Groffman studiesworms in forests. “Little kids know thatearthworms are good. It could be some kindof inherent thing. Some people don’t likesnakes or spiders, and some people are afraidof birds, but most people think earthwormsare good.”

So when experts such as Dr. Groffman,Melany C. Fisk of Cornell University, andPatrick J. Bohlen of the Archbold BiologicalStation in Lake Placid, Florida, among oth-ers, conduct studies that show earthwormsare invading sections of the forest on thiscontinent and changing the soils and thelandscape, this news can seem bizarre.

“It really shakes people up,” Dr. Groff-man said in a telephone interview. Heexplained that when earthworms do whatcomes naturally in a forest instead of a gar-den, they speed up the decomposition of thedead leaves that cover the ground in mostnorthern forests. “Whenever you acceleratethings, you also accelerate the loss,” he said.This means that the usually slow release ofcarbon dioxide back into the air as leaf

Keep EarthwormsOut of Forests

� Do not dump night crawlers out in thewoods.

� Avoid spreading compost or materialfor composting in the woods.

� If you use worms in your compost, orfind they gravitate there naturally, allowthe finished compost to freeze for a monthto kill eggs and earthworms.

� Do not move leaves, mulch, compost,or soil from one place to another unlessyou know that it has no earthworms orcocoons.

Source: Great Lakes Worm Watch, Univer-sity of Minnesota.

http://www.nrri.umn.edu/worms/

See also:

National Public Radio feature from May2007 on Jamestown, mentioning earth-worms:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10158525

Web page about earthwormstudies at the Cary Institute ofEcosystem Studies:

http://www.ecostudies.org/people_sci_groffman_earthworms.html

EARTHWORMSLosing Hero StatusLearning to look with suspicion on a creatureeverybody loves


breakdown speeds up to the point where thewoods ceases to be a “carbon sink” andinstead becomes a place where most of thecarbon dioxide from decaying leaves releasesinto the atmosphere.

This is not good. “We want our forests tobe pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmos-phere and combating the greenhouseeffect,” Dr. Groffman said. “Earthwormsare turning forests into carbon sources.”

No earthworms are native to NorthAmerica, at least not since they died out inthe last Ice Age. Every single species heretoday came in by accident or in shipments.Historic evidence suggests earthwormsarrived in ship ballast to Jamestown, Vir-ginia, in the 17th century. More recentarrivals from Asia came here for sale to wormfarms, bait suppliers, and gardeners who putthem in their compost. Because of this, theforests here are not adapted to earthworms,and what comes naturally to an earth-worm—burrowing, consuming plant mat-ter, turning it into carbon dioxide quickly—does not benefit the northern forest.

They might be aliens to the forest, butworms are the heroes of the organic garden-ing movement. The classic gardening bookby J. I. Rodale, The Complete Book of Com-posting (Rodale Books, 1960) devoted awhole chapter to why we need earthworms,calling them “nature’s greatest composters.”The Rodale book notes that even Darwinthought earthworms were noble, laying outhis argument in his late volume, The Forma-tion of Vegetable Mould Through the Action ofEarthworms, with Observations on TheirHabits (published just before his death).Darwin apparently did not think it was goodfor a layer of duff, or slowly decaying leaves,


to sit on the forest floor. “Where, in cool climates earthworms are fewor absent, there is much less mixing; the dead vegetable matter accu-mulates on the surface, becoming a partly decomposed, acid, peatymass, in which the normal soil decomposition are not completed,”Darwin wrote.

Why he thought this was not good, who knows. The entire north-ern forest grew without them. Dr. Groffman noted, “I do a lot of workin the White Mountains and the Adirondacks and the Catskills, andthose soils for the most part do not have any earthworms.”

But now, he said, researchers are starting to see patches of the for-est where earthworms live. Researchers don’t know why they havespread, but probably suburban and exurban development broughtworms to the area. For those who keep compost piles near forests,there is a chance the worms can migrate out.

For those who go fishing, night crawlers (Lumbricus terrestris), a rel-ative of the worms that came over to Jamestown, often provide thebait. If you dump out the unused worms on the ground or toss theminto the water, they aren’t leaving that area. Night crawlers go deepinto the soil and make permanent burrows, Dr. Groffman said.

Uglier, and newer to the region, are members of the Amynthus fam-ily. They’re bigger than other earthworms. Many people have lesstrouble hating them than hating night crawlers.

No mass killings will help, Dr. Groffman said. His advice is to becareful and avoid doing things that would move worms into thewoods. (See the list.) Worms are still fine in a garden, but maybethey’ve lost their superhero status. Darwin, are you listening?

18 CONNECTICUT WOODLANDS WINTER 2009

BY MARTY PODSKOCH

From 1933 to 1942, thousands ofyoung Connecticut men joined theCivilian Conservation Corps, living

in camps around the state, making newtrails, planting trees, building campsites,roads, and buildings—and working at a hun-dred other conservation jobs. Their workleft a legacy still visible in the state parks andforests. We have inherited thousands of acresof conifers that are 67 to 75 years old,planted by the “CCC boys.” The manymiles of the gravel roads they built, many ofthem including stone bridges and culverts,were so well constructed that they are still inuse. Dams, lakes, ponds, picnic pavilions andrecreation areas we know came into beingbecause of the CCC armies bending theirbacks to the work at hand.

The CCC began during the GreatDepression, just after Franklin D. Roosevelttook office. At his inauguration, he said, “Ipropose to create a civilian conservationcorps to be used in simple work, not inter-fering with normal employment, and confin-ing itself to forestry, the prevention of soilerosion, flood control and similar projects.”

He wanted to take millions of unem-ployed young men from poor families andgive them jobs restoring our naturalresources. Clear-cutting, pests and diseases,fire, and erosion had destroyed many forests.President Roosevelt had already tested asimilar program as governor of New York,where thousands of unemployed men refor-ested one million acres of land.

By July 1933, 250,000 men were workingin camps, just as President Roosevelt hadpromised. The CCC was the nation’s largestmobilization of manpower and equipmentin U.S. history. It required the cooperationof many federal agencies. The LaborDepartment worked with the state and localrelief agencies in selecting the enrollees. Thedepartments of Agriculture and Interiorplanned and organized the projects. TheWar Department was in charge of construct-ing and administering each camp. The Armyprovided the food, clothing, medical care,and lodging.

Each applicant was required to bebetween 18 and 25 years of age, unmarried,unemployed, healthy, not in school, andcapable of working. The young men wereeager to join because they would earn $30 amonth. They were also helping their parents

Trees, trails, roads, buildings, and more, gave

work and pride to a generation of young men

during the Great Depression

THE LEGACY OF THE

Civilian Conservation CorpsIN CONNECTICUT

Boys at the Cobalt CCC camp in 1934take a break from wood-chopping.Kathy Goodspeed


because $25 went straight home to theirparents. The young men received three fullmeals a day, clothing, shelter, and medicalcare.

On April 6, 1933, Connecticut had itsfirst enrollee, and by May 31, eight campswith 200 to 250 men each were established.By the end of December, there were 15camps. President Roosevelt also establishedveteran’s camps for unemployed WW I vet-erans. One veteran camp in Connecticut waslocated at Housatonic Meadows State Park.

A Brief Catalog of the ConnecticutCCC Camps

I began researching a book a year ago,and gave more than 60 talks at libraries, his-torical societies, and retirement homes.CCC members and their families came andshared their stories and pictures.

When I visited Niantic, I met Carl Stamm,a retired state park and forest supervisor whooffered to help search for the location of theCCC camps. It was a great adventure forboth of us trying to find concrete founda-tions, pipes, wells, and buildings amidstdebris, trees, and brush. As we traveled, Irealized how fortunate I was to move to

such a beautiful state. My wife and I hadspent 33 years teaching and raising our fam-ily along the west branch of the DelawareRiver in the Catskill Mountains. In 2005, wemoved to Colchester to be close to ourdaughter, son-in-law, and granddaughters.We built our house right next to the SalmonRiver State Forest just a mile from a CCCcampsite.

In spring 2008, Carl and I visited Chat-field Hollow State Park in Killingworth. Thepark roads were closed to vehicles, but hik-ers crowded the park. It was at this state for-est that a group of 250 young men hadarrived on May 23,1933, to what was thencalled Camp Roosevelt. The young men setup Army tents until wooden barracks werebuilt. Their largest project was building astone dam creating Schreeder Pond. Theyalso built a beautiful Adirondack-style build-ing called Oak Lodge along the pond, aswell as 23 miles of truck trails, and numer-ous hiking trails. The camp closed on March31, 1937, but thousands of visitors stillcome each year to enjoy swimming, hiking,and picnicking.

On May 24, 1933, a group of 212 menleft the Army Camp Wright on Fishers

Island, where they had been given physicals,equipment, and training. A boat transportedthem back to New London. From there,they traveled in old World War I libertytrucks to New Fairfield. Michael Popovichof Waterbury told me they arrived atSquantz Pond at about noon and began set-ting up their tents. “It was quite hecticpitching tents and digging a latrine,” hesaid. “We were exhausted at night. Our bigproject was building a road through thenearby Pootatuck Forest. We cleared thetrees and brush and then used picks andshovels to level the road. I learned how touse a jackhammer to break the rocks.” Theyalso built a foot trail along CandlewoodLake. After a little more than two years, thecamp closed on October 30, 1935.Camp Graves on Route 190 in Union

was the third Connecticut camp. It beganon May 27, 1933, and the enrollees workedin the Nipmuck State Forest where theyestablished softwood plantations, built forestroads, fire ponds, and recreation areas. Theyalso built the entrance road to Morey Pond,its caretaker’s cabin, and bathhouses. CampGraves’ boys also built the beautiful Moun-tain Laurel Sanctuary. They also worked inShenipsit Forest thinning the forest, and


Marty Podskoch

This metal bridge in Natchaug State Forest in Eastford rests on stone supports built bythe CCC. It replaced the CCC’s original wooden bridge after floods destroyed two centersupports in 1936. Today it handles only foot traffic.

Marty Podskoch

CCC boys built this stone building inPaugnut State Forest. State conservationofficials once used it as a headquarters.Today it stands in an out-of-the-way sec-tion of Burr Pond State Park.


was in Natchaug State Forest in Eastfordand Hampton. The work accomplished hereincluded the building of Kingsbury and Fer-now roads, a new ranger house, a ware-house, a sawmill, a sawdust and a planershed, a machine shop, and three lumbersheds. The CCC boys also built a dam cre-ating Darling Pond and a large bridge overthe Natchaug River near Route 198. Theyplanted thousands of pine seedlings.Camp Filley (December 1933–July

1941) was built on the eastern part of Cock-aponset State Forest. These enrollees werelucky because they didn’t have to live intents because wooden barracks were alreadycompleted. The young men constructed 23miles of truck trails throughout the forest.They also made hiking trails, thinned theforest, planted trees, fought fires, and built alumber shed, garage, and a brick charcoalkiln.

In December 1933, Camp White wasestablished in Riverton, in the AmericanLegion State Forest. The camp was locatedon the western side of the Farmington Riverbut the boys also worked in the Peoples For-est on the eastern side of the river. They con-structed many miles of truck trails including

a cement foundation for the future sawmill,a lumber shed, a creosoting plant for fenceposts, miles of trails, and bathhouses onGreat Hill Road.Camp Cross (June 1933–April 1941)

was set up in the Housatonic Meadows StatePark in Sharon. The enrollees were WorldWar I veterans who pitched their tents acrossthe road from the Housatonic River. Theybuilt 12 miles of truck trails (Cream Hill andYelping Hill roads) and campsites and picnicareas near the Housatonic River. The areahad been frequently clear-cut to make char-coal for the iron industry. The CCC menplanted thousands of seedlings and builtmany waterholes in the forest.Camp Toumey (June 1933–April 1941)

lasted longer than many did. Enrollees didmany projects in the Mohawk State Forest inWest Goshen. They built Toumey Roadfrom the Bunker Hill Road (Route 4) to thesummit of Mohawk Mountain, where theyerected a steel fire tower. The workers builta sawmill, sawdust storage shed, warehouse,and lumber shed where they made lumberproducts from the harvested logs. They con-structed miles of ski trails that are still used.Camp Fernow (June 1933–May 1941)

making road improvements on Soap StoneMountain. Camp Graves closed on April 22,1936.

In May 1933, CampWolcott in Burrvillewas established in the Paugnut State Forestnear Torrington. The men replaced the oldwooden dam on Burr Pond with a solidstone masonry one. They constructed athree-mile foot-trail around Burr Pond, astone administrative building, truck trails(including two-mile-long Guerdat Road),and many miles of cross-country ski trails.

Black Rock State Park near Thomaston isanother Mecca for swimmers and hikers.Men at Camp Roberts (May, 1933–Sept.1937) built truck and hiking trails, plantedtrees, and thinned the forests. Work detailsalso traveled south on Route 8 and workedin the Naugatuck State Forest.Camp Chapman (June 1933–October

1935) was established in East Lyme onStone’s Ranch Military Reservation. Theyoung men worked in Nehantic State Forestbuilding a two-mile road, battling Dutchelm disease and planting pine trees. Theyalso began constructing roads in Devil’sHopyard State Park in East Haddam.Camp Lonerghan (June 1933–May

1942) was located in Voluntown in PachaugState Forest. The enrollees cut trees thatwere made into lumber in the camp sawmillor used in the shingle mill. They built waterholes for firefighting, miles of truck trails,the Green Falls and Lawrence roads, anddams and bathhouses at Phillips Pond andGreen Falls. The young men also builtHopeville Pond State Park, where todaypeople enjoy hiking, biking, hunting, andmore.Camp Robinson (June 1933–July 1941)

was established in Tunxis State Forest inEast Hartland. Truck trails, roads, and damswere major projects. Some of the hikingtrails were to Bragg Pond, Council Rocks,and Roaring Brook Falls. Workers also builtmiles of cross-country ski trails, a stonehouse for the forest ranger, and a swimmingarea at Bragg Pond.Camp Jenkins (June 1933–January

1936) in Cobalt was located off GadpouchRoad in Meshomasic State Forest. Theyoung men improved North Milford Roadand built Reeves and other truck roads. Themen harvested many acres of wood and built

CCCcontinued from page 19

Marty Podskoch

CCC boys built this stone building in Paugnut State Forest. State conservation officialsonce used it as a headquarters. Today it stands in an out-of-the-way section of Burr PondState Park.


Greenwoods Road and widened and resur-faced three miles of River Road. They mademany trails, including a nature trail fromMatthies Campground through Ullman pic-nic area and a one-mile foot hiking trail fromCamp White to Tremendous Cliff in Amer-ican Legion Forest. The workers built theStone Museum and other buildings. Theyalso built a dam, pond, swimming area, andpavilion in what is now Stratton State Forestin Simsbury (then known as Massaco StateForest). Camp White closed in 1942.

CCC men at Macedonia Brook Camp,established by the National Park Service,built picnic and campsites and a three-mileroad with impressive stone walls. They alsobuilt a trail along Kent Falls and a picnicarea.Camp Stewart, in Salmon Forest near

my home in Colchester (July 1933–May1937), was responsible for a new dam onDay Pond, pavilion, hiking trails, swimmingarea, and the Comstock covered bridge overSalmon River.Camp Hadley (September 1935–April

1941) in Madison was in the southwesternsection of Cockaponset State Forest. Themen built truck trails, thinned the forest,planted trees, and fought fires. They alsohelped remove fallen trees and debris afterthe Hurricane of 1938 damaged nearbyHammonasset State Park and surroundingcommunities. Hammonasset State Parkcampers and sunbathers can thank theseCCC boys for the roads, the bathhouse, andcampsites.

At Camp Conner (September 1935 –May 1941) in Shenipsit State Forest inStafford Springs, CCC workers built AveryRoad, truck roads, trails, and the forestranger’s house. The officers’ barracks build-ing is one of the few CCC camp structuresleft standing in Connecticut. It serves as theConnecticut CCC Museum and containsthe second largest collection of CCC mate-rials in the United States.

Two CCC camps were “bug camps,”where workers fought blister rust thatattacked white pine trees. The CCC menremoved currant and gooseberry bushesnearby because they were the hosts of thedisease. Enrollees also fought the gypsymoths by banding trees and destroying theegg clusters by coating them with creosote.

At Camp Britton (September 1935–May1937) on Connecticut Agricultural Experi-ment Station land on River Road in

Poquonock, a section of Windsor, workersplanted trees and eradicated insects. Thecamp was converted into a migrant farmcamp for the tobacco farms.

The Wooster Mountain camp was locatedon Route 7 in Danbury. It was called CampFechner (September 1935–May 1937) afterRobert Fechner, the national CCC director.CCC men removed and burned more than10,000 trees suffering from Dutch elm dis-ease. The campsite is presently rented as ashooting range.Camp Buck (September 1935–July

1941) was located in Meshomasic State For-est in Portland. Its workers built truck roadsand hiking trails, a fire tower, and water-holes. It had a sawmill, charcoal kiln, andcreosoting plant that made numerous woodproducts. A few of the buildings from theCCC days stand here. One of them is astorehouse for the Connecticut Departmentof Environmental Protection.

Working with Locals

The local economies benefited from thecamps because local experienced men, calledLEMs, acted as foremen. They taught theCCC boys masonry, carpentry, forestry,mechanics, and cooking skills.

The camps’ firefighting groups couldleave within one minute to answer a call inthe area. The CCC men built a network oftruck trails throughout the forest enablingthem to get to a fire quickly. They also built1,000 water holes on state land and another200 on private land that provided water tocombat fire. Hikers frequently find thesealong trails.

Since the average education of theenrollees was eighth grade, camps employededucation advisors who held evening classesfor interested boys. The subjects includedconservation and forestry, machine con-struction, photography, reading, archery,mechanics, and writing.

The CCC also helped residents recoverfrom the devastating 1936 flood and the1938 hurricane. Enrollees went to Hartfordin 1936 and shoveled mud and cleaned updebris. Governor Cross showed the state’sgratitude by inviting the boys to the Hart-ford Armory for a dinner and a watch.

The Connecticut Forest & Park Associa-tion encouraged the CCC early on. CCCworkers built several of the Blue-BlazedHiking Trails maintained by CFPA volun-teers today.

In 1933, CFPA held its spring meeting atCamp Roosevelt and its annual meeting atPeoples State Forest—driving afterward tocheck out work at nearby Camp Robinson.The following year, the CFPA met at CampWalcott. They had lunch in the stone build-ing and presented plaques to Camps Robin-son and Lonerghan for their work. On June15, 1935, CFPA was at Mohawk State For-est and dedicated the new road built by theCCC men to honor the late James Toumey,who was a professor at Yale School ofForestry. The road went from Bunker Hillto the summit of Mohawk Mountain. Thenon June 13, 1936, the CFPA traveled toPeoples Forest to see the work of the CCC.

In the late 1930s, applications declinedbecause of increased employment opportu-nities. By 1941, the number of enrollees haddecreased nationwide from 600,000 at itspeak to 200,000. After the attack on PearlHarbor and U.S. entrance into World WarII, our young men were now needed for thewar effort. The CCC program was neverofficially closed but no longer received fund-ing.

From 1933 to 1942, the CCC programemployed 3.5 million men in the 48 statesincluding the territories of Alaska, Hawaii,Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. InConnecticut, 28,447 enrollees and 2,223officers and supervisors were employed. Thefederal government funded the program andpumped $20,728,000 into the state’s econ-omy.

The young men benefited from the CCCprogram with improved self-esteem, self-dis-cipline, and a sense of purpose. Theyreceived technical training in more than 150marketable skills, from engine repair tocooking.

Marty Podskoch of Colchester is a retiredreading teacher. He and his wife, Lynn,raised their three children in an old farm-house along the West Branch of theDelaware River. He is the author of threebooks on fire towers in New York State, allpublished by Purple Mountain Press. Martyalso writes a weekly newspaper column,“Adirondack Stories,” in five newspapers.Contact Marty at 860-267-2442 [email protected]. See also his Web sites,http://www.adirondackstories.com/ andwww.cccstories.com.

BY JAMES W. LITTLE

Y ou know about theConnecticut Forest &Park Association and its

support of forests, parks, environ-mental education, land conserva-tion, and the Blue-Blazed HikingTrials. Did you know that CFPAwas an early proponent of usingthe trails for skiing?Connecticut Woodlands featured

this article on skiing, and the earlyeditions of the Connecticut WalkBook had a section on ski trails.CFPA had a Ski Trails Committeethat worked closely with the StateForest Service and the Connecti-cut Winter Sports Association.The committee gave assistance in“laying out downhill runs onsome of the State Forests.” How-ever, while CFPA helped create skiruns it also offered this early wis-dom. “Although these trails arebelieved to be reasonably safe, it isunderstood that skiers use them attheir own risk.” Something tells usthere must have been an attorneyon the ski committee.

James W. Little is the develop-ment director of CFPA.

PromotingSkiing


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TRYTHIS HIKE

As the train trundled along making stopsin Westbrook, Clinton, Madison, Guilford,and Branford, commuters boarded, takingtheir accustomed seats to chat with friendsor read the paper. Some adventurous typesbrought bicycles on board to finish theirjourney when the train reached New Haven.Now there’s a concept.

It turns out that the city buses are deadsimple to use. You pretty much have to try tomess up to miss a connection. Nevertheless,we managed to miss the B3 Whalley Avenuebus that would have dropped us practically atthe entrance to the Regicides Trail.Undaunted, we chased that bus for six stops,almost catching it only to see it pull away eachtime we drew close. Just as in the movies.

Connecticut Transit posts SUVs at strate-gic positions around the city with supervisorson board ready to intervene if a bus has amechanical failure or some other crisis arises.The supervisors suffer fools gladly, whichhelps those of us who do not completely getit. Standing in line behind us at the UnionStation bus stop was a guy who I will callAlbert, a Dungeons and Dragons designerfrom Philadelphia who was on his way to a“Fur and Fright Convention” in Waterbury.Albert, dressed in black raincoat and longdark hair, was not only clueless about publictransportation, he seemed to be a little con-fused about the whole space/time contin-uum thing. When his turn came to stick hishead inside the shift supervisor’s SUV andask his question, the supervisor noddedpatiently. “Which bus will take me to Water-bury?” (He had arrived by train.)

Supervisor: “This is New Haven.Albert: “But, which bus will take me to

Waterbury?”Supervisor: “These buses only serve . . .

New Haven.”Albert: “But, I still don’t . . . ”Supervisor: “We like to say it’s because

this is New Haven as opposed to say Hart-ford or . . . Waterbury. Waterbury has itsown buses but you would have to go there

used the New Haven bus system before—confusing. Happily, my wife Nancy agreed toaccompany me as navigator and field biolo-gist. But first we had to reach New Haven.

Though centrally isolated, our home-town, East Haddam, is not completely with-out connections to the outside world. Ashuttle bus service to the Old Saybrook rail-road station is available one town over inChester. We were running behind, so wehitched a car ride with our daughter, Kat,who was heading to Old Saybrook anyway.This was a sensible decision, as the 9:14 a.m.Shoreline East train for New Haven wasabout to pull out on schedule as we pulledinto the parking lot. Nothing like a bracingsprint up and down stairs to the far platformto get the blood pumping for the day’sactivities. Fortunately, an indulgent conduc-tor waited patiently as we scurried aboard.So far so good. No need for deep kneebends at the trailhead.

BY SCOT MACKINNON

From the time he had gotten down off the trainand the baggage man had thrown his pack outof the open car door things had been different.Seney was burned, the country was burnedover and changed, but it did not matter. Itcould not all be burned. He hiked along theroad, sweating in the sun, climbing to cross therange of hills that separated the railway fromthe pine plains.

Ernest Hemingway, in “Big Two-HeartedRiver”

Fiking is great exercise and a usefulcharacter builder, but I usuallydon’t try to walk to the beginning

of the trail I intend to explore. Most Con-necticut trails are impractically far from myhome. To get there, hike any distance, andget back home in a day, is a challenge evenwith a car. Still, I do suffer guilt twinges atthe narcissism of using a pollution-emittingdevice just to cart me and a backpack to thetrailhead for a little fresh air.

My family and I have done our best tolimit car and air trips and, like Nick Adamsin “Big Two-Hearted River,” we use publictransportation whenever practical. Less fuel,less smog, less guilt. Is it possible to daytripby train, bus, and so forth to a prime Con-necticut Blue-Blazed Hiking Trail and stillhave fun? As Ernest Hemingway would say,“Yes.”

I chose New Haven’s immaculately main-tained Regicides (Latin for “Kingkillers”)Trail, at West Rock State Park in the city’snorth end, because I was intrigued by thetales I had heard about the two renegadeEnglish judges who lay low there three cen-turies ago in a successful attempt to avoid thelong reach of their victim’s son, Charles II.

Reaching the start of the Regicides Trail viapublic transportation promised to be exhaust-ing, informative, and—because I had never

The KingkillersTaking Public Transportation to the Regicides Trail in New Haven

Scot Mackinnon

Ready for hiking, Nancy waits for the bus.


first in order to use them.” He wasn’t fin-ished with Albert, but when we realized wewere not going to find the B3 bus, wechanged course. We had wanted a hike—andwe got one, on Whalley Avenue, which, in away is the approach trail to the Regicidesanyway, since Whalley Avenue is named afterone of the judges. In fact, all three of thelocal fugitives have roads named after them(Whalley, Goffe, and Dixwell) that meetover by the old Yale Coop. Go figure.

So we walked the two miles from the NewHaven Green to West Rock State Park. Weencountered helpful, talkative people every-where. When we stopped to ask a police offi-cer how to find a cross street near West RockState Park, he helpfully advised us to tryanother route because of the risk of bodilyinjury in that neighborhood. But no matterwhom we asked for directions to West RockState Park and the Regicides Trail, we weremet with looks of bafflement. Even thechivalrous shift supervisor was undone bythe question.

Supervisor: “I can tell you what bus totake to get to East Rock Park but I have noidea how you would get to West Rock.”

We discovered that the city folks are ratherspoiled by their public transit system. Weconjectured about what a New Havenitedoes if their neighborhood bus does notdrop them off in their front hallway. Whenwe took a hard look at the detailed busschedule, we found that both the B1 and B3buses make stops within a few hundred yardsof the park, but local folks acted as thoughwe were talking about some obscure cornerof Yellowstone. Local expectations for busesare high. I got the feeling that maybe thebuses are telling the passengers what to dobut not exactly where to go. Distances in thecity take on interstellar dimensions for thelocals. Capering about via ankle express formore than a block takes on aspects of TheIliad. Talking to car-bound visitors to theoverlook on top of West Rock, I let slip thathaving missed our bus we had walked (andrun) the two miles to the park from theGreen. Conversations around us stopped.

Visitor: “You walked from The Green?”Nancy: “Yesss.”I started to blurt out that furthermore we

intended to hike the 7-mile-long trail that startedbehind them—but I thought better of it.

The park and its various trails, includingthe Regicides, is a delight. You can evenmountain bike on the trails if you wish,

though I would steer clear of the cliffsideRegicides. Wandering around the east sidebase of West Rock, near the recently closedBrookside Public Housing Complex, westumbled on the Common Ground School.It’s a charter school with its own trail systemthat ties into West Rock. The kids weregoing to set off on a hike on West Rock thenext morning. Common Ground’s director,Oliver Barton, showed us around and out-lined the school’s mission as a “center forenvironmental learning and leadership.” Inaddition to 20 acres of forest that adjoinWest Rock, the school hosts an organicfarm. These New Haven kids can definitelyfind The Park.

We spent so much time at the school thatwe did not get in as much hiking as we hadhoped. But we did see plenty anyway. TheJudges Cave, the weird cairns on the GreenTrail, the magnificent views north to the con-tiguous Quinnipiac Trail as well as SleepingGiant State Park. We also managed to reachthe gigantic stone ventilation shaft for theWest Rock Tunnel on the Wilber Cross Park-way that the Regicides crosses. The ventilatoris kind of spooky-looking, like Jabba’s Palacein Return of The Jedi.

For trivia fans, about the only thing notmentioned in the indispensable ConnecticutWalk Book on the subject of the Regicidesand West Rock is that the tunnel is featuredin the 1958 Doris Day classic, The Tunnel ofLove. In watching a clip from the movie, Inoticed that the trees on the ridgeline abovethe tunnel are a lot taller now.

Heading back into town, we easily foundthe right bus, which went right past Claire’sCornercopia, a veggie restaurant where westopped before finishing the route to thetrain station. Waiting for the B3 in the West-ville section a few hundred yards from thetrail, we felt confident enough to answer astranger’s question about the bus schedule.We were old pros now. Boarding the bus, wecould look out the window to the northeastand see the sheer cliffs of West Rock glow-ing red in the sunset high over town. Wemust go back again, maybe continuing on tothe Quinnipiac Trail next time.

Scot Mackinnon — former AppalachianTrail thru-hiker, plant experimenter, for-mer town selectman, and family man —lives in East Haddam.

R I V E R I C ELike cellophane stretched tightly over the mouth ofa jar, a thin skin of ice spans the slack water whileElizabethan collars of frozen lace grace crustedand glossy rocks congregating in the riffles. Thickold chunks huddled along the shore are healedtogether from days of thaw following frost. Lumpyand uneven, in fleeting sunlight they appear likesolidified clouds.

Mergansers swim skittishly in pockets of dark openwater. Formally dressed in a duck’s tuxedo of blackand white winter plumage, they dive and disappearinto the frigid current. Fishing wherever the riverhasn’t frozen, they resurface nearly dry, often asilvery minnow grasped in saw-edged jaws. Smalland slender, their spikelike orange bills are lit withthe sharpest color yet alive.

—David K. Leff

Reprinted with the author’s permission from his new bookof prose poems, The Price of Water (Antrim House, 2008).

NEW ENGLAND MUSINGS


Forests of the Far ReachesBY ADAM R. MOORE

Let there be no question, towns like Litchfieldand Pomfret are quintessential New England.Sugar maples (once elms) line the streets,

flanked by elegant 18th-century houses. They havesteepled, white-clapboard churches, pumpkins on Octo-ber porches and blaze-orange autumn leaves waftingabout stone walls while falling to the earth. White steeple,stone wall, sugar maple: New England.

Yet, there are trees and woodlands in other parts of thisregion that are equally New England, if not quintessen-tially so. Spruce and fir clothe the rocky islands off thecold coast of Maine. There is the Presidential Range,where one ascends to krummholz and lichen on soaringrocky peaks. Even the familiar Metacomet Ridge in Con-necticut, though it crosses much that is quintessentialNew England, does not always call to mind “New Eng-land.” Just glance at the chestnut oaks and stunted cedars,and observe the rocky profile of the sheer basalt cliff—sostark, so wild, it seems transplanted here from MonumentValley in the southwest. And on the Atlantic island ofMartha’s Vineyard grow forests unfamiliar to most.Together, these are the forests of New England’s farreaches.

Block Island and Nantucket are largely pastoral, open,and wind-swept, but Martha’s Vineyard is clad in forest.The Manuel F. Corellus State Forest alone covers some

5,000 acres in the center of the island. Although this for-est needs a good management plan and extra manage-ment help, it is a mix of old, untended pine and spruceplantations and areas of native oaks. Across the rest of theisland, oaks and pitch pines predominate. The pitch pine,incidentally, signifies the wild and inhospitable New Eng-land. In Connecticut, pitch pine is generally found oninfertile, rocky ridges. On Martha’s Vineyard, pitch pinemay be found almost anywhere because it grows in boththe good soils and the poor, droughty sands. In theforests of the glacial moraine, in the western part of the

island and where fires have not burned for some time, onefinds the oaks succeeding to American beech and, notably,American holly. One may walk along the dirt surface ofMiddle Line Road in Chilmark and find hollies 30 feet tall,with their progeny sprouting up all about them. Inciden-tally, American holly (Ilex opaca) is indeed a native tree ofSouthern New England, and the Association should add itto its tree book, Forest Trees of Southern New England,when the time comes to revise and reprint. There are theunusual frost bottoms, depressions in the outwash plainswhere frost may occur in any month of the year, and inwhich only the hardiest trees — scrub oaks, post oaks anddwarf chestnut oaks — can persist. And then there are theforests of the grotesque.

Some years ago, the Connecticut chapter of the Societyof American Foresters met to discuss proposed forest prac-tice regulations. The proposed regulations were designedto promote good forestry, in other words, growingstraight, tall, timber-producing trees. However, oneforester asked, what if he wished to create a “grotesque”forest? Would he be violating the regulations? The ques-tion stumped the speaker and everyone else. A grotesqueforest, the most curious that I’ve seen, grows at QuansooFarm in Chilmark. This is a maritime forest of matureoaks. These oaks, and the stand itself, have been sculptedby an ever-present wind, the Atlantic Ocean being justyards away. One walks through the woods on the trail andhears the pounding surf on the barrier beach; one isamazed that beach grass upon sand is enough to hold backthis powerful wilderness of water.

Grass may withstand the sea, yet grass cannot hold backa salt-laden wind. So at Quansoo these oaks, sproutingfrom what may have been pasture at one time, or whatmay have been a woodland leveled by a hurricane, beganto grow with enough sunlight and enough space betweenthem that each tree has assumed a grotesque, twistedform. These are gnarled specimens, many-stemmed,whose stunted trunks curve and bend this way and that. Inserpentine fashion, the massive limbs arch upward, thenbend toward the ground, sometimes contacting the soiland taking new root, then curve again upward, toward thesun. They are climbing trees indeed, a delight of children,perfect bases for tree houses and young imaginations. Andthese are clearly the type of oaks that would have inspiredsuch dread, such base fear, as forests did to the Puritancolonists almost four hundred years ago.

From a distance, the stand appears somewhat uniform:the top of the stand is curved, shorter at its seaward sideand taller inland. It exhibits a curved, clipped profile, as ifit were a boxwood hedge in an English garden sheared to

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perfect form. Here, though, the shears are just the bud-breaking,twig-snapping winds. When one actually enters the stand, one mar-vels at one spreading, stunted tree after another. A portion of thisQuansoo forest is known as the picnic woods because for a time sheepgrazed among the oaks, and perhaps made for an herbaceous groundcover suitable for spreading a blanket and eating a Sunday lunch.Today, however, pignut hickories grow straight and skyward amid thebroad oak crowns, sassafras mingles in and viburnum and huckleberryshrubs occupy the ground. The woods host picnics no longer, butone may sit on an inviting curved branch and perhaps enjoy the arbo-real perch for a time, eat an apple, listen to the surf, or watch theshrouds of fog blow through.

These, too, are the woods of New England. Sugar maple is andought to be the chief tree of our region. Yet, we must know Con-necticut, and New England, encompass far more. There are twistedeastern red cedars clinging to the edge of trap rock cliffs in Middle-field, hundreds of feet above the broken pile of talus below. That isNew England. There is an Atlantic white cedar swamp off Route 80in Madison, where on a cloudy day one can get just as lost as the deerwhose carcass lies on the sphagnum mat, where if one bores a holeinto the soil one can set fire to the escaping gas. That, too, is NewEngland. There are carnivorous pitcher plants in black spruce bogs atthe Great Mountain Forest in Norfolk; New England, too. And yardsfrom the mighty Atlantic, a forest of maritime oaks grow and twistand bend against constant salt winds, here, in the forests of New Eng-land’s far reaches.

Adam R. Moore is the former executive director of CFPA. He nowlives on Martha’s Vineyard, where he directs the Sheriff’s MeadowFoundation.

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FROMTHE LAND

BY JEAN CRUM JONES

L ast summer, when food and gaso-line prices were soaring and peo-ple renewed their interest in local

agriculture, my farmer husband and sondecided to plant some additional autumnfood crops to sell alongside our squash andpumpkin harvest. In went broccoli and cau-liflower plants along with 10 different vari-eties of potatoes. Because of the Irish back-ground of the “first” Philip Jones whostarted farming on our Connecticut lands inthe late 1850s, potatoes have always been anessential part of the Jones diet. In fact, Iremember clearly as a newlywed in 1969hearing my mother-in-law say that a daycould not go by without serving potatoes ata family meal. Lacking an Irish heritage andhaving spent food holidays in the South, Icould not imagine my meals without rice.But, then as now, we grow a sufficientamount of potatoes on our farm to last usthrough the winter until spring, and not aday does go by without some daily potatopreparation during this cold season.

I also recall many years ago as a youngnutrition educator discussing the merits ofeating potatoes with my clients. There was apotato prejudice during those times; weight-conscious women were shunning potatoesbecause they were “starchy and fattening.”

My mantra was that the potato itself wasnot fattening with only 30 calories per

ounce; it was all the rich add-ons that con-tributed to a possible excessive caloric load.Actually, the potato is remarkably nutritious.If eaten in sufficient quantities with a littlebit of dairy foods, it can provide all thenutrients the human body needs.

In the early 1970s, I began eating mybaked potatoes plain and began discoveringthe taste variations inherent in the differentvarieties that we grew on the farm. The fam-ily’s traditional favorite potato was theGreen Mountain, now an almost forgottenVermont native. This potato variety, devel-oped in 1878 by a plant breeder from Char-lotte, Vermont, was a result of the blightthat nearly wiped out the New Englandpotato crops around the time of the cata-strophic Irish potato famine. For more than50 years, this tasty, but oddly shaped, GreenMountain was America’s most popular bak-ing potato, until the more consistently ovalRussets took over. My 90-year-old father-in-law still talks fondly of Green Mountains andI hope to try them someday now that heir-loom varieties are more available.

Unfortunately, most Americans find onlya few varieties grown commercially for thesupermarket stores. The most widely culti-vated variety in the United States is the Rus-set Burbank—a bland, high starch type thatabsorbs fat well. Luther Burbank, developerof the Burbank potato, was a self-educatedhorticulturist. He was born in Lancaster,Massachusetts, in 1849. He bred the Bur-bank potato in Massachusetts between

PotatoesLocal a Golden Treasure


1872 and 1874 and sold partial rights to thispotato so he could travel to California andpurchase a small farm where he could breedplants year-round. Later, a natural sport of theBurbank potato with russetted skin wasselected by a grower in Colorado and namedthe Russet Burbank potato. Today, nearly allthe potatoes grown in Idaho are this varietyand all McDonald fries use the Russet Bur-bank variety.

So, back to this past October, as I stoodproudly behind our bins of freshly dug, beau-tiful potatoes from our farmland soils, I wasastounded to find that relatively few peoplewanted to buy potatoes. Customers broughtthe broccoli and cauliflower, but said they justdidn’t cook with raw potatoes. If I did make apotato sale, customers would buy the potatoas an individual unit at 50 cents a piece andwould generally buy two or four. Some folksenjoyed reminiscing with me about their fam-ily ancestors and their potato stories. I remem-ber one older woman telling me that every dayas a child her mother would walk to schoolwith two roasted potatoes, one in each pocket,to keep her hands warm, and then she wouldeat the potatoes for her lunch. My storytellerbought no potatoes for herself.

Historically, potatoes have been considereda humble food. The first Europeans to see andtaste the potatoes were Spanish conquistadorsin the 1530s looking for gold in the IncaEmpire. High up in the Peruvian mountains,the Spanish found Native Americans cultivat-

ing a crop they thought was truffles. Togrow potatoes as they had been doing forthousands of years, the Incas leveled smallareas up and down the mountainsides intoflattened narrow terraces. They constructedcanals to carry water from one field toanother to irrigate the crops. This multilevelfarming method meant that each terrace hadits own type of soil, growing climate, andmoisture conditions. The Incas producedpotatoes of all sizes, textures, and colors,from whites and yellows to browns, purples,oranges, and red. My husband, Terry, and Ihad the opportunity to witness this amazingagrarian system about 450 years after theSpanish first came upon it when we visitedEcuador in 1972.

Inca experimentation with potatoesextended to a unique preservation method,“freeze-drying.” Spreading the harvestedpotatoes on the ground, they were leftovernight to freeze. The next day the Incaswalked on the potatoes to squeeze out thewater, then left them to dry in the sun. Thisprocess was repeated for four or five daysuntil the potatoes were thoroughly dry.Called “chuno,” the potatoes could bestored for several years, then later reconsti-tuted by adding water. The Incas also grewmaize and beans, but the potato was theIncas most important crop and enabled thecivilization to grow into an empire.

The Spanish conquistadors were not par-ticularly interested in the potato—they wereinterested in the precious metals of theIncas. To mine the gold and silver, the con-quistadors enslaved the Incas and fed themthe chuno from their storehouses. They alsofed potatoes to the sailors on the Spanishships offshore in the Pacific. It is not reallyknown how the potato spread from Peru toEurope, but some historians theorize thatsome Spanish sailors took the potato back toSpain for their use. They did not get sick onship from scurvy while eating a diet of pota-toes, which are rich in vitamin C. Before theend of the 16th century, Basque sailors’ fam-ilies along the Biscay coast of northern Spainwere growing potatoes, which they used forshipboard food. Basque fishermen broughtpotatoes ashore on the coast of Ireland,

where they customarily dried their catchbefore returning home, and transmittedpotato culture to the Irish before 1650. TheIrish, having an ideal climate for potatogrowing, established an entirely new style ofsubsistence farming with potatoes, whichwas particularly necessary as they relied onpotatoes for food when they were cruellyharassed by Cromwell’s army during itsoccupation of Ireland.

Otherwise, for most of Europe, thepotato remained a botanical novelty fornearly two centuries after it was broughtback from South America. Monks grewpotatoes in monastery gardens and thewealthy upper classes grew them as curiosi-ties. Agriculturists recognized that this pecu-liar new plant could produce more food onless land than any other crop and that thistuber could be a good source of nourish-ment for the poor. But, peasants were suspi-cious of the dirty lumpy brown tuber, whichthey thought caused leprosy. Potato plantslooked a lot like a weed called deadly night-shade. Their suspicions were well founded inthis area. Both the leaves and the fruits ofpotatoes contain a chemical, solanine, whichis the same poison as in nightshade. Furtherconcerns were reinforced by the lack of any

mention of potatoes in the Bible, a sure signthey must be a creation of the devil.

On the other hand, the advantages ofpotatoes were so overwhelming that con-sumption did grow, until ultimately theybecame the primary food source for Euro-pean farmers. During this period, farmersgenerally leased their land from wealthylandowners. Lease payments were typicallymade in the form of grain, and were usuallyso steep that the farmer needed a lucky yearto have enough grain leftover to feed hisfamily. Potatoes were not a useful commod-ity to landowners. However, the farmercould grow enough potatoes to feed hisfamily well from his small personal gardenplot. Potatoes had another advantage, whichalso triggered their acceptance in Europe.Territorial wars were rife in Europe in the1700s. During wartimes, hungry soldierswere likely to loot all stored grains and otherfoodstuffs. Potatoes, however, could be leftin the ground and survive the ruthlesswartime requisitioning. This happened firstin Flanders, where Louis XIV ravaged theland in the 1680s. Potatoes then spreadacross Germany and Poland in the 18th cen-tury, becoming important in southwest Ger-many during the War of Spanish Succession,1700–1713, and reaching into Prussia andPoland during the Seven Years’ War,1756–1763. The wars of the French Revo-lution and Napoleonic era, 1792–1815,brought the potato to Russia. No other cropproduces as many calories per acre as thepotato and the soil and climate of northernEurope helped make the potato an indispen-sable food. France and England disdainedthe potato until the late 1700s and eventhen, considered it a food primarily for peas-ants and animals.

The potato arrived in colonial NorthAmerica at the beginning of the 17th cen-tury. William Penn, in 1685, described howwell the “Irish” potato grew in his Pennsyl-vania colony. A group of Scots-Irish immi-grants brought potatoes with them to Lon-donderry, New Hampshire, in 1719, andfrom there, the culture of potatoes spreadthroughout New England. Easy to grow,



My mantra was that

the potato itself was not fattening

with only 30 calories per ounce;

it was all the rich add-ons

that contributed to a possible

excessive caloric load.

Actually, the potato is

remarkably nutritious.

If eaten in sufficient quantities

with a little bit of dairy foods,

it can provide all the nutrients

the human body needs.

BY SANDRA L. ANAGNOSTAKIS

Readers of Connecticut Woodlands will remember the recentarticle about the Notable Trees Project in Connecticut. Thisarticle, which replaces our usual book excerpt from Forest Treesof Southern New England, explains how a tree can be notablein an unusual way.

One of our native trees is called butternut or white walnut(Juglans cinerea). Long a favorite of wood carvers and nutenthusiasts alike, the trees are usually found near running

water. This tree species has never been numerous in Connecticut, sothe recent decline in populations associated with the introduced fungusSirococcus clavigignenti-juglandacearum is particularly troubling. Inaddition to losses in Connecticut, butternuts are declining throughoutthe native range, and efforts to find trees resistant to the pathogen thatkills them have been under way for some time. The Connecticut Agri-cultural Experiment Station has maintained a list of reported butternuttrees in the state since 1994, each tree numbered and tagged. Startingtwo years ago, we began checking the tagged trees for evidence ofcankers and sampling tree tissue to isolate the canker organisms. We arealso taking samples from many of our tagged Connecticut trees forDNA tests to check the species. These tests reveled that many of ourtagged trees are not pure butternut, but hybrids with Japanese walnut(Juglans ailantifolia) or Japanese walnut cultivars known as “heart-nuts” (Juglans ailantifolia var. cordiformis). In the nut trade, thesehybrids are known as “buartnuts.”

My first big surprise was the result of a DNA test done by a col-league, Jeanne Romero-Severson of Notre Dame University in Indi-ana, on twig samples from the national champion butternut inChester, Connecticut. Ed Richardson of Glastonbury, who has docu-mented many of the state’s notable trees, showed me this remarkabletree. Its stature is astounding. The trunk of this tree is 7 feet 4 inchesin diameter, and it towers over the other trees in the area. Jeanne’sDNA tests reveled that this is not a butternut tree, but that its motherwas a Japanese walnut tree and its father was a butternut. Another treein Chester had a Japanese walnut mother and a tree that was probablya hybrid for a father. The trunk of that tree was almost 6 feet in diam-eter. This would be interesting, but not surprising, except that whenwe consider the potential age of these trees, something doesn’t fit.That something is associated with when Japanese walnuts wereimported into the United States.

How old is the former national champion butternut? There is no

really good way to determine the age of a tree that big. The sizeattained by a tree will depend on the conditions under which it isgrowing. A Japanese walnut tree in the botanical garden in Leiden,Holland, was planted in 1865 and is 3 feet in diameter. This meansthat it has increased in diameter an average of 0.3 inches per year forits 143 years. The Arnold Arboretum in Boston has a Japanese walnutplanted in 1892 that is 12.5 inches in diameter, making its averagediameter increase only a little over 0.1 inch per year over its 116 years.I have been looking at cut trunks and branches of butternut hybridsin Connecticut, and counting and measuring growth rings trying toestimate how fast they can increase in trunk diameter. One hybrid hadgrowth rings 1/4 inch wide, and grew at that rate (almost 1/2 inchof diameter increase per year) for the first 32 years of its life and thengrew much more slowly for another 43 years for a final diameter of 2feet 7 inches. In the historic district of Old Wethersfield, Mr. Richard-son has found a tree with two “sprouts” that he thinks is a Japanesewalnut. The two trunks of this tree are both more than three feet indiameter. If these “sprouts” have grown by a half-inch in diameter peryear, they would be about 88 years old (planted in 1919). If they have


TREE PAGE

Sandra Anagnostakis

Jeri and Dale Bergdahl, butternut experts from Vermont,with the former National Champion Butternut in Chester,Connecticut.

The Butternut That IsNot a ButternutSometimes trees are notable formore than one reason


grown at the rate of the tree in Holland, theycould be twice that old. If our (former)national champion grew at the remarkable rateof a half-inch in diameter every year, it wouldhave been planted in 1832. And if it grewmore slowly? Its mother, the Japanese walnuttree, was probably at least 10 years old beforeit flowered and crossed with a native butternut.And when was that Japanese walnut broughtto this country?

Plants from Japan have not always beenavailable to plant fanciers in the United States.W. P. Corsa’s 1896 book on nut culture statesthat the oldest Japanese walnut tree growing inthe United States was “grown from a seedplanted about 1860 by a Mr. Towerhouse inShasta County, California.” Japanese walnutssoon became common in the nursery tradeand by 1900 were available from many mailorder houses. The Peabody Essex Museum ofSalem, Massachusetts has published a wonder-ful catalog of their exhibit, Worlds Revealed:The Dawn of Japanese and AmericanExchange. In the first chapter, William Sargentwrites that in 1639 an “exclusion policy closedJapan to the greater part of the outside worldfor almost 200 years. Only the Dutch and Chi-nese, who did not proselytize the Christianfaith, were allowed to carry on trade.” Thus, inthe early 1800s, the Dutch ships that carriedtrade goods around the world were still able toconduct business in Japan but U.S. ships werenot. The first “official” U.S. importations of

plants from Japan were after Admiral Perrysailed into Tokyo Bay and then to Nagasakiwith four armed U.S. steamships in 1853. Hedemanded a trade agreement, and “opened”Japan to commerce. This lends additionalglamour to the story reported by Peter Fetchkoin the third chapter of the Peabody EssexMuseum catalog that a ship from Salem, Mas-sachusetts, sailed into Nagasaki harbor flying aDutch flag, and returned to Salem in the springof 1800 with a cargo of objects from Japan.Starting in the middle 1700s, Chester, Con-necticut, was known for ship building and sail-ing vessel repairs. The property next to the bigtree in Old Wethersfield was owned by a seacaptain, Richard Bunce, in the 1790s. Weresome of our ship captains transporters of seed?Does Connecticut have Japanese walnut treesthat are older than the first recorded plantings?

This complicated history puzzle will not beeasily solved. I will continue to search oldrecords of trees planted, and rely on Mr.Richardson to find old trees. The presence of somany hybrids that look like butternuts certainlycomplicates my work on butternut canker dis-ease. However, that I have only found thepathogen once, so far, in Connecticut may bedue to resistance in the trees growing here. Ifthis is true, there is real hope for breeding but-ternut trees adapted to Connecticut and withresistance to the canker disease that is causingso much damage in the northern part of therange. Have you seen any nice butternut treeslately?

Acknowledgements: Our cooperators in other statesinclude Dale Bergdahl in Vermont (tree pathol-ogy), Michael Ostry in Minnesota (tree pathology),Jeanne Romero-Severson in Indiana (DNA tests),and Scott Schlarbaum in Tennessee (forestry).

References: Corsa,W. P. 1896. Nut Culture in theUnited States, Embracing Native and IntroducedSpecies. U.S.D.A., Division of Pomology,Washing-ton, D.C., 144 pp., Fetchko, Peter. 1999.Winds ofChange: American Ships at Nagasaki. Pp. 60–61 inWorlds Revealed:The Dawn of Japanese andAmerican Exchange.The Peabody Essex Museum,Salem, MA., Sargent,William 1999. FirstWesternContacts:The Portuguese and the Dutch. Pp. 4–5in Worlds Revealed:The Dawn of Japanese andAmerican Exchange.The Peabody Essex Museum,Salem, MA.

Sandra L. Anagnostakis is a scientist in thedepartment of plant pathology and ecology atthe Connecticut Agricultural ExperimentStation.

Another large hybrid Juglans in Chester,Connecticut.Sandra Anagnostakis

Sandra Anagnostakis

A Japanese walnut tree in Wethersfield,Connecticut, found by Ed Richardson.

Courtesy of Scott Schlarbaum

Advertisement in the 1902 issue of Forestryand Irrigation.


TheWildTrees: A Story of Passion

and Daring, by Richard Preston.

Random HouseTrade Paperbacks:

NewYork, 2008. 291 pages.

BY ROBERT M. RICARD

A genre of eco-adventure booksmay claim a literary lineagebeginning in the late 1800s and

early 1900s, telling of hunting big game(shades of Teddy Roosevelt and Ernest Hem-ingway), Arctic adventures, and climbingremote and difficult peaks. We are all familiarwith such stories. Today, however, more eso-teric adventures are showing up with greaterfrequency.

One such book is Richard Preston’s latest.The Wild Trees: The Passion and the Daringhas been on the New York Times bestsellerlist for more than a year. Mr. Preston, a sci-ence writer for The New Yorker magazineand author of other bestsellers such as TheHot Zone, the terrifying tale of the Ebolavirus, has an uncommon gift for turningcomplex biology into riveting page-turners.

Now he has turned to trees — the largestorganisms on earth, the giant sequoia(Sequoiadendron giganteum) and the coastredwood (Sequoia semipervirens) foundamong the old-growth and protected forestsof the Pacific Northwest. This is much morethan a science book. This is a story of daringand the thrill of exploration, about peoplewith quirky personalities who find somepeace among the majestic trees and forests ofthe Pacific Northwest and find some resolu-tion to their tumultuous or damaged lives.

Could a nonfiction work about the scien-tists who devote their professional and per-sonal lives to the study of botany hold myattention? It certainly did. Thrills and tension

abound throughout and anyone who has everclimbed a tree eager to experience the magicof the world seen from its heights will beenthralled. The narrative begins by introduc-ing the primary characters—three young peo-ple in “A baby-blue Honda Civic with Alaskalicense plates, a battered relic of the seven-ties.” Here unfolds the story of Steve Sillett,his older brother Scott, and friend MarwoodHarris who, in their college careers, becomerestless and begin their personal discovery ofthe thrill and terror of climbing these gianttrees.

The opening chapter describes the terror-izing climb into a 300-foot-tall redwood bySteve and Marwood in 1987, a climb thatscares them both nearly to death. Yet, thisclimb launches Steve into a new world ofcanopy daring and science. Other importantcharacters weave in and out of the narrative— and all are scientists or thrill seekers intheir own right. There is Canadian MarieAntoine, and the tiny group of daringbotanists and amateur naturalists that found alost world above California, a world that isdangerous, mysterious, and unexplored.

During this period, innovation in climbingequipment and techniques also occur, but thebook revolves around Steve, who later in life

Can a nonfiction book on botanists grab you?When they climb the world’s largest trees, the answer is yes.

BOOK REVIEW

becomes a botanist but is first an exceptionalathlete. Steve is a tormented soul (Mr. Pre-ston narrates the primary characters livesthroughout) who found his calling whilemaking the 1987 borderline suicidalfreeclimb to the top of an enormous redwoodwith Marwood. At the top of this tree, Stevediscovers a world of ecological diversity andrichness, and finds himself in gardens of ferns,lichen, and moss. Steve eventually, almostaccidentally, turns this experience into a nobleand distinguished career.

Meanwhile, Michael Taylor, the unfocusedson of a wealthy real estate developer, had arevelation in another redwood forest 200miles to the south. Michael, who had a para-lyzing fear of heights, decided to go in searchof the world’s tallest tree. Their obsessivequests led these young men into a potentfriendship and the discovery of some of themost extraordinary organisms that have everlived. The characters collective passion led toa better understanding of a previously unex-plored yet nearby ecosystem—tree canopies.

Mr. Preston adds a personal twist to thestory by mastering the arcane tree climber’sart of “skywalking” and then accompaniesSteve and Marie on some of their ambitiousascents. The Wild Trees is an entertainingaccount of the tallest redwoods and theamazing wild gardens that flourish in thetreetops. It is also the story of some youngpeople who became so emotionally attachedto the trees that they redirected their ownlives. It is well worth your own discovery.

Robert M. Ricard is a senior extension edu-cator in urban natural resources and publicmanagement with the University of Con-necticut Cooperative Extension System.

BY LESLIE LEWIS

We are pleased to announce that Connecticut Forest &Park Association received an $85,000 grant from theConnecticut Department of Public Health in order to

establish the WalkCT program. We will use the money to develop acomprehensive, interactive Web site of trail and walking activitiesaround the state. In addition, we will be reaching out to health careproviders with information on WalkCT that they can pass along topatients who are at risk for lifestyle- related diseases.

We are very excited to announce a partnership with the Connecti-cut Academy of Family Physicians to promote WalkCT. Working withthe academy, we developed a prescription pad that can be given out tothose patients who need more activity in their daily lives. It includesthe WalkCT web address for their convenience. We will also work withthe doctors to find or start walking groups for clients who might be

hesitant to take the first step towardbetter health.

In the future, we hope to expandour outreach to pediatric practices,hospitals, and HMOs and insurance

carriers to get residents around the state out of their cars, off theircouches, and into our cities, villages, parks, and forests. Our goal withWalkCT is to make walking so much fun that you forget it’s good foryou.

Leslie Lewis is CFPA’s WalkCT director. WalkCT stands for “walkConnecticut,” which aims to bring together recreation, health,tourism, historic preservation, and economic development interests topromote walking in the state. Contact her at [email protected].

Rx: Go Walking Working with the Medical Community

FROMTHE WALKCT DIRECTOR


easy to store, easy to prepare, potatoesbecame a popular crop for the new settlers.By the time of the Revolutionary War againstBritain, potatoes were widely grown andbecame a part of every soldier and sailor’srations. As the country moved west andbecame urbanized in the 1800s, potatoestook their place as one of the country’s mostimportant crops. Streams of immigrants fromIreland and Eastern Europe depended onpotatoes as the basis of their diet as theybecame established. Boiled or fried, potatoesbecame a breakfast mainstay as well as grac-ing the dinner’s stew or roast meat platter.There was not a class connection surround-ing the tuber as in Europe—everyone atepotatoes in America.

During the 1800s, the delicious quality ofpotatoes when combined with fat was discov-ered. French fries were born on the streets ofParis, where pushcart vendors peddled them,and Thomas Jefferson popularized “pommesfrites” by serving them at the White House.Potato chips were an American invention,however. During the early 1850s in SaratogaSprings, New York, George Crum (noknown relation) was a famous chef at the

town’s Half Moon Hotel. One day a dis-gruntled patron sent back his fried potatoes,saying they were too thick. Angrily, Crumsliced the potatoes paper-thin, fried them indeep fat, and salted them heavily. The patronwas delighted with the results and thus,potato chips were created.

During the 20th century, many inventionsencouraged the processing of potatoes foreasy consumption; mechanical potato-peelingmachines, dehydrated “instant” potato flakes,and the freezing and packaging of fries, hashbrowns, and mashed potatoes. Consequently,about 65 percent of potatoes now grown inthe United States are for processing. McDon-ald’s has become one of the largest purchasersof potatoes in the world and transforms theminto “American fries.” At home, Americans“save time” by buying frozen prepared pota-toes at five to 10 times the cost of raw pota-toes. Unfortunately, the processing addsexcess fat and salt and greatly diminishes thesuperior nutritional value of the potato. In theearly 2000s, Americans were consumingmore potatoes than any other vegetable,about 125 pounds a year, but much less thanmany European populations.

Another effect of the processing of pota-toes is that it has concentrated the potatoindustry. Connecticut no longer grows pota-

toes on a significant commercial basis. At onetime, there was a vibrant potato industryalong the Connecticut River. The number ofvarieties of potatoes available to consumers isgreatly diminished, unless one makes an effortto shop at farmer’s markets. However, afterour farm’s recent potato sales fiasco, there isnot much incentive for farmers to grow localpotatoes if there are insufficient sales.

I sadly reflect upon my Connecticut neigh-bors who complain about rising food prices,yet could certainly eat more affordably andnutritiously by choosing to purchase andcook native potatoes. The potato is a deli-cious food of enormous versatility, able tosatisfy on the most basic level either boiled,mashed, or baked, while also being able to becooked in innumerable elaborate and refinedrecipes. There is a large range of potato vari-eties in different colors and textures withmany taste variations. The potato is an Amer-ican culinary treasure and its disregard needsserious reconsideration as we approach livingin more economically and environmentallychallenging times.

Jean Crum Jones is a registered dieticianwho helps run the Jones Family Farm inShelton with her husband, Terry.

From the landcontinued from page 29

ENVIRONMENTAL UPDATE

Nuclear Plant Reaches Deal withEnvironmental Groups

The Day reports: “A state agency, theowner of Millstone Power Station and twoenvironmental advocacy groups agreedtoday that the study of possible use of cool-ing towers or other technologies to protectaquatic life in Long Island Sound wouldbegin immediately.

The study is part of a process for renew-ing an outdated state permit for the reactorcomplex to use billions of gallons a day ofsea water from Long Island Sound to coolthe steam from turbines used to generateelectricity at Millstone.”

Source: Environmental Headlines, ChrisZurcher, www.ctenvironmentalheadlines.com/.The Day can be read at www.theday.com

Oxford Considers Wind Turbines

Town officials in Oxford have authorizedtwo companies to apply for grants for conduct-ing feasibility studies on the installation of windturbines at town-owned properties.

Optiwind in Torrington, and EvergreenEnergy LLC in Southington will work inde-pendently on the studies, which will assessthe power generating possibilities of smallwind energy at two schools and a publicworks garage. The companies are eligible foras much as $50,000 in grants from the Con-necticut Clean Energy Fund, which wouldfinance the studies. Processing of the CCEFapplications could take as long as 6 months,and town officials have not set a timetable forwhen the completed studies would be due.Source: VoicesNews.com

An article on the Connecticut notabletrees project (summer 2008) noted that theAshford oak is dead. It is not. I visited it inMay, and although it’s in terrible condition,it’s still alive, and is still Connecticut’s cham-pion red oak. Visit http://notabletrees.con-ncoll.edu to see a current picture and meas-urements.

Frank KaputaGlastonbury

Mr. Kaputa volunteers for the Connecticutnotable trees project.

Sixth Annual Winter TrailMaintenance Workshop

This year’s winter workshop will focus onindividual volunteer skills. It takes place Sat-urday, January 31 at the Connecticut Forest& Park Association headquarters in Middle-field. Registration starts at 8:45 a.m. Thisyear’s workshop will focus on individual vol-unteer skills. Topics to be covered are trailblazing, bridge building, tool safety andmaintenance, trail maintenance, and volun-teer responsibilities. The presentations willbe followed by general Q and A period withthe presenters. Weather permitting, we willtake a short hike at lunch, so dress appropri-ately. Bring your own lunch, and CFPA willprovide the drinks and chips. Pre-registrationis required. To register, contact CFPA at860-346-2372 or [email protected].

Carve your own Hiking Stick withthe Connecticut Woodcarvers

Saturday April 4, 2009, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.Learn a new skill, carve your own stick, andenjoy the company of the CT WoodcarversAssociation. Watch demonstrations of woodcarving methods and safety techniques. Drop

ONTHETRAILS


LETTER

Skip Weisenburger

Hikers on the Metacomet Trailin November.

in anytime, just bring your own knife; wood sticks willbe supplied. The program is geared toward adults andfamilies with children ages 10 years and older; no chargefor the program.

DEPARTMENT

Trail GearCFPA LogoHatsTwo-toned low-profile 100% cottonbaseball cap with KHAKI CROWN,FOREST GREEN BILL, embroideredlogo. Adjustable strap. (Hat notexactly as pictured here).$15.00 (plus $2.00 shipping)

Limited EditionReproductionCommemorativeMapsQuinnipiac Trail (1931)$3.25 (plus tax and $4.00 shipping)

Original AppalachianTrail (1934) $3.75(plus tax and $4.00 shipping)

Books, etcetera

A Shared Landscape,A Guide & History of Connecti-cut’s State Parks and Forests,by Joseph Leary, published byFriends of Connecticut StateParks, Inc. in 2004. Richly illus-trated in four-color with mapsand photographs, this 240-pageguide offers anintimate look at Connecticut’spublic lands and tells youeverything you need to knowabout where to go if you love tohike, bike, camp, fish, swim,hunt, watch birds, learn aboutecology or cross-country ski.$25.00 (plus tax and $5.00 shipping)

The Connecticut Walk Book, WEST, andthe Connecticut Walk Book, EAST,provide a comprehensive guide to hik-ing throughout the state. Published bythe Connecticut Forest & Park Associa-tion, the two volumes are the 19th edi-tion of the guidebook first releasedmore than 75 years ago. Both volumesinclude the Metacomet and MattabesettTrails of Central Connecticut. Both vol-umes include detailed two-color topo-graphic maps that are crisp, clear, andeasy to read. Complete trail descriptionsaccompany the maps.

Each volume $19.95 members(plus taxand$5 shipping)

Each volume $24.95 non-members(plus taxand$5shipping)

Forest Trees ofSouthernNew England,a 56-page paperback publi-cation of the Connecticut For-est & Park Association. Thismanual is a simple descrip-tion in accurate and nontech-nical terms of the forest treescommon in southern NewEngland. It is intended for thegeneral public to meet apressing demand for a pocketmanual which is easy to useand understand.$2.00 (plus tax and $1.50 shipping)

CFPA Store

Please makecheck payable to:Connecticut Forest& Park Association16 Meriden Road,Rockfall, CT 06481

[email protected]

Please send me the following:

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Connecticut Woodlands,A Century’s Story of the Connecticut Forest & ParkAssociation, by George McLeanMilne, published bythe Connecticut Forest and Park Association in 1995. Afascinating history, not so much of the Connecticut For-est and Park Association as it is of the dedicated menand women who have cared about Connecticut’sforests and fields, hills, valleys, and parklands. Scat-tered through these pages are inspiring accounts ofcourageous struggles to protect the rich and variednatural environment of the state.$25.00 (plus tax and $5.00 shipping)

6%SalesTax

Trail GearCFPA Logo T-shirtsHanes Beefy Ts – 100%cotton, heavy weight, dou-ble needle hems, tapedshoulder-to-shoulder,Sizes: S-M-L-XL, WHITEON FOREST GREEN /FOREST GREEN ON KHAKI.$15.00(plus $4.00 shipping)

Energy Independence,by Christine Woodside.Lyons Press, 2008. A bookfor ordinary Americans whowant to move away fromfossil fuels. Learn about themost viable and affordablealternatives such as solarpanels, wood, hydroelectric,hybrid cars, and more.$16.95 (plus tax and $5.00 shipping)

Last Child in the Woods,by Richard Louv. Lyons Press, Saving ourchildren from nature-deficet disorder.$13.95 (plus tax and $5.00 shipping)

16 Meriden Road, RockfallConnecticut 06481-2961

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Conserving Connecticut since 1895

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PA I DHartford, CT

Permit No. 2386

Two CCC workersuse a jackhammerpowered by equip-ment in the stateconservation vehicleat left to create aroadbed inShenipsit State For-est near SoapstoneMountain. Seepage 18.

Connecticut DEP

Documents

Connecticut Woodlands-Winter 2009