Collaboration, Community, Construction

By Beth Sullivan

A few months ago, I wrote about the power of water and some of the damage one of our beautiful trails had endured due to flooding conditions over several months last winter and spring, found here. 

The Pequotsepos Brook Preserve is home to several beautiful stone bridges which cross the brook. The bridges have been in existence for generations as old solid farm trail crossings. They are on the yellow blazed side paths off the main purple/yellow marked trail that runs from West Marine at Coogan Boulevard down to Mistuxet Avenue. Avalonia preserves the center part of this complex with a main access stairway and bridge off Maritime drive. The southern portion is Denison Society land.

The Connecticut College group got the effort started.

The Trails Team divided duties. This group used equipment to move bigger rocks into place.

A popular preserve

The preserve is well used by a wide variety of people: tourists staying nearby and visiting Old Mystic Village, and employees and families affiliated with Pendleton Health Care. Groups from the Aquarium hike through and monitor the wetlands for amphibians, and residents from the Stone Ridge community access the trails right from their back doors. When the main stone bridge trail became badly flooded, the power of the water over-washed and removed soil, plants, and small rocks. What remained were roots that were easy to trip on, and the huge old stones from the bridge itself. Footing was hazardous.

So we hatched a plan and got proper approvals and began a collaboration to get the job done. First, we were able to determine that there were plenty of rocks available from the quarry on site. Pretty lucky to have that resource. At the end of April, the students from the Goodwin Niering Center for the Environment at Connecticut College, had a work party and managed to haul several cart loads of rocks from the quarry to the work site. It was not an easy task as it was quite a distance, over muddy areas, narrow passages, and a couple of wooden bridges.

Next step: we needed bigger rocks to anchor the trail and break the forces of the water as it washed downstream. Avalonia’s new Trail Team leader Neil Duncan came out to evaluate with another volunteer who has a small tractor. They tagged a few good rocks, and on a hot sticky Saturday, about six members of the team and a few other volunteers showed up to place many of the smaller rocks and help position the bigger ones once the machine was able to extract them . Having the right equipment and many hands makes all the difference. By the end of several hours, we had a good portion of the washed-out area filled with rocks, stable enough to walk on, several larger rocks to serve as step stones and water breaks, and one flat tire. Seems no good deed goes left unpunished. We couldn’t do any more big rocks. Though we got a lot done, there was a lot more to do.

By hand the team placed the rocks to be as even as possible for stability.

More rocks moved and unloaded.

This group placed the smaller rocks to create a more solid trail base.

Pine Point School joins in

Enter Pine Point School and teacher Jon Mitchell who is Director of Social and Environmental Responsibility there. He was working with a dedicated group of teens in a summer program involving hiking and trail work. In an effort to help them really understand what it takes to maintain a trail system or do repairs, Jon contacted Avalonia to request some stewardship projects that would have a positive impact on the greater community. Jon himself was part of the earlier trails team effort on the Pequotsepos site, so he knew what our goals were and what the challenges were. On yet another hot sticky and rainy summer day, Jon and his team of teens added their energies to the project. They hauled more loads of rock from the quarry, and with patience of those who do jigsaw puzzles, they pieced and placed the rocks into a more solid trail base. They walked the walk to test for stability too.

The following day the remnants of Hurricane Barry dumped inches of rain on our area. It was torrential. I just had to go check on the trail work. Before I got to the bridge, I could hear the low roar of the rushing water. As I rounded the corner I could see that there was flooding upstream. The water was as high as the stones in the bridge. The overflow piled up and washed across the trail-but not over it, through it. The rocks stayed in place and allowed the flooding water to run through the porous layer and exit the other side, without washing away. It worked!

This is a great example of how community collaboration works. We are an organization of somewhat graying stewards, but with our experience and ideas, and ability to engage with students of all ages, we can get work done. We can teach the next generations of conservationists how important our work is and let them know how much we value their input and effort. Our Preserves will be in good hands when this next generation steps up.

Thank you to all who helped with this effort. I am sure all our hikers will be grateful.

A job well done.

As the water rose after the storms, it flowed through the rocks and didn't wash away the trail.

Photographs by Jon Mitchell, Phil Sheffield, and Beth Sullivan.

The power of water

By Beth Sullivan

Many of Avalonia’s trails are on properties that have some significant history. In so many areas we encounter huge oak trees, old stone walls, fence posts, and cart paths, all clues about the history of the land.

A stone span crosses the brook in a quieter season.

The brook in flood.

Historical preserve

Our Pequotsepos Brook Preserve is one of those. We have had several research projects done on the property that help explain the history of the land in that area. Some of this information is on our website for easy reading here.

The center of interest on this preserve, and in its history, is the Pequotsepos Brook that has its origins up the Quoquetaug Hill where waters emerge and gently flow downhill until they merge more completely at Jerry Browne Road and Coogan Boulevard. Of course those roads were not present generations ago. But Jerry Browne Road may have been a roadway considering some of the older homes and farms along the lane.

Through the course of history, the brook needed to be crossed for farm or commerce, and in these areas bridges were made by positioning huge flat stones over the stream bed, allowing the water to flow freely and allowing easy, dry passage. The stone bridges are in existence today, and the old paths remain as the basis for several pathways collectively referred to as the Stone Bridges Trail. The entire trail system contains three brook crossings over stone bridges and offers views of several other beautiful stone spans .

We have to assume that there have been big rain storms over the last century that these bridges were in existence. We know there have been hurricanes and other destructive storms, but through it all the paths and bridges remained intact.

Until recently. Is it a sign of the changing climate that the weather has been wetter or that the storms in the last months have been more intense rain events? Maybe it is because of increased development upstream where the landscape has lost its vegetative cover which used to slow the rain and absorb the water slowly and gently. Whatever is the cause, the intense rain storms have caused serious flooding along the brook and in one area in particular, have caused serious erosion of the trail. One of the most beautiful and exposed of the stone bridges has now had the trail on either end of it washed away. Left behind are exposed tree roots and only the largest of the rocks. The power of the water washed away soil, gravel and smaller rocks. The footing is tricky. We need to repair it and the challenge is bigger than I can manage.

Near the quarry rocks are exposed and creations have been built.

Old trees, stone walls, and fence posts hint of the history in this preserve.

These huge stones were placed to cross the brook and allow the water to flow easily. 

Trails Team goes to work

Enter the Avalonia Trails Team and some hard working Connecticut College Students. We had the area properly reviewed by our wetland commission chairperson to make sure we could work in the area. Then the Trails Team leader came in to assess, and together with others, we tossed around some ideas. We don’t want to cover up the old stones with a wooden bridge, but we need to stabilize the footing and still allow the water to flow through in flood situations.

There is also an old quarry on the property with an abundance of rocks available in all sizes, and many with lovely flat surfaces. That is another piece of interesting history. The challenge was transporting rocks from one place, to another via a very bumpy, uneven, and often muddy path. On Saturday April 13, ten students from the Goodwin Niering Center for the Environment at Connecticut College arrived to experience a day of real stewardship. Of course it had been raining hard the night before, and the brook itself was once again in raging flood stage. In a move referred to as adaptive management, we changed plans. We approached from another entrance, and for several hours the students moved rocks-lots of rocks. Down a long and muddy path. Delivered to the site now, they await the next stage. The Trails Team will work on the next phase: wrangling some of the bigger rocks out of the quarry and down to the main path to use as stabilizers and step stones.

This whole process is likely to take more than just a couple more work parties. In the end, we hope to have a stabilized trail for walking, as well as a way to allow flood waters to flow around or through it without washing it away each time it rains hard.

If you have an interest in history, if you enjoy team work and want to make a difference to preserving the trail (or others) and maintaining a lovely area for many, many hikers, give us a call. The Avalonia website describes the Trails Team and we can get you in touch with the leader.

Those giant bridge stones remained intact, but the surrounding area needs a hand. Let us know if you can offer one. At the very least, come out sometime and enjoy the trails and consider the history.

It was a team effort to load and haul the rocks.

The team from Connecticut College after several hours of rock moving.

Photographs by Beth Sullivan.

Greenways

In conservation, the concept of creating greenways has grown from the understanding that animals and birds, and even plants, need corridors of land to move along. In the past it seemed enough to protect any parcel, even an isolated one. Every bit counted. Now we realize that finding and protecting land that is connected to other preserved and protected land is a greater goal. When Avalonia Land Conservancy seeks new properties with hopes of acquisition, we look at surrounding areas and see how each piece of the puzzle can fit and enhance the whole.

One such greenway in the town of Stonington is made of the combined lands of several organizations or institutions, and not only is it a green corridor for animals to utilize, but contains a lovely length of trails and side loops to be explored, and all are in walking distance from the hub of the Mystic tourism area.

Trail map of the greenway area.

There are several parts to this trail system. The most Northern parcels are the White Cedar Swamp and the Deans Mill Preserve, owned by Avalonia, that are accessed from Jerry Browne Road and a small road-side parking area. A lovely winding path rises high and overlooks a small white cedar bog on one side and the Deans Mill reservoir on the other. The water company land, while not open to the public, contributes to the greenway of protected acreage. The trail goes as far north as the I -95 interstate and loops around through land that contains vernal pools and seeps as well as old stone walls, glacial erratics and beautiful old trees. Returning to Jerry Browne Road, you can cross the street and head up a short distance to a new connector trail through Avalonia’s Perkins Wildlife Corridor that goes into the woods, crosses a stream and then abuts another Avalonia property: the Pequotsepos Preserve. This connects to land owned by the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center and continues to land held by the Denison Society. A walk in this area takes you down to the Nature Center fields and habitat restoration project.

Trail head in the greenway.

This collection of green acres also adjoins more protected space and another set of connecting trails to the west of Pequotsepos Road. These are most easily accessed from the overflow parking area directly across from the Mystic Aquarium and off Maritime Blvd. The first segment is owned by the Aquarium and goes through varied habitats, mostly early successional brush and shrub lands and then leads into more Avalonia land, the Pequotsepos Brook Preserve that is second growth forest and follows a stream and walls that indicate former farm use. One of the most interesting aspects of this segment of the greenway trail is that it skirts several settling ponds and as it follows the Pequotsepos Brook, volunteers have uncovered several historic stone bridges. Huge stones, many of which were quarried from this same property, were placed to create these crossings. These provided solid crossings for farm carts, animals and vehicles from the past century. These are scenic and peaceful places to stop and listen for the wildlife hidden here. At one point the trail comes out into a large open field at the end of Maritime Blvd. It is here that there will be a connection to the Coogan property being purchased and protected by the Nature Center.

Stone bridges in the greenway.

Continue the walk through the woods, behind the Denison Homestead, and you emerge into the Farmer’s Market field and you can enjoy the sunny habitat and multiple bird houses with Bluebirds and Tree Swallows in residence. You may be lucky enough to spy a deer or a fox.

Walking to the south edge of the field you go back into the woods a short distance before coming to the end of the trail on Mistuxet Avenue and overlooking the head of the Pequotsepos Cove.

These are not long or difficult trails. There are loops and side trails, varied habitats, and within them, a wide variety of wildlife to be discovered. It is only with the cooperation of multiple organizations, with the same goals, that we can continue to protect and connect the open spaces in our town and provide Greenways for all to enjoy.

Written and photographed by Beth Sullivan.

You can learn more about greenways in Connecticut at the DEEP website.

There are maps and other information about the preserves mentioned here.