MERIDEN — Monarch butterflies are hard to find during summer and are becoming more rare at a local butterfly and bee habitat, despite efforts to boost the population.
The Quinnipiac River Watershed Association’s Butterfly and Bee Habitat opened in 2010. During it’s first full summer in 2011, visitors saw a large number of the distinct orange and black-winged butterflies, said Becky Martorelli, who manages the habitat.
“The monarch butterfly population has declined rapidly,” she said. Read more
Three rivers run through it.
New Haven might not be known as a river city, but in fact it boasts three – the West River, Mill River and Quinnipiac River. A natural buffer for urban dwellers, they offer scenic beauty and access to nature walks and boating. They provide critical habitats for birds, fish and other wildlife. Yet despite their importance and allure, these rivers have suffered substantially from industrialization and urban development – impacts not caused by New Haven alone. The rivers flow through a dozen other towns and municipalities before entering New Haven, including Bethany and Woodbridge to the west and Meriden and Wallingford to the northeast.
In recent decades, strides have been made to stem the tide of pollution. Stricter regulations and mandatory permitting has helped to protect rivers to some degree. But are permits really doing enough?
Taking this question to heart, the Mill River Watershed Association is creating an important new tool to help people understand and use the permit process to protect New Haven’s rivers. Empowered by a $20,000 grant from the Quinnipiac River Fund, the Urban Rivers Permit Project will provide a comprehensive catalog of permits and permit-related regulations for the entire length of each river that flows through New Haven. A single source of permit information will empower river advocates to identify areas of concern and speak out for stronger regulation. The catalogue will include specific discharge and diversion permits, the dates when these permits come up for renewal, and contact information for the associated regulatory agencies. The report will also include summaries of each municipality’s current land use regulations related to waterfront development.
“I don’t think anybody has ever pulled it all together before,” said Mary Mushinsky who is leading the research. “And now I know why.” The report quickly grew to more than 40 pages and includes listings for at least 6 industrial discharges, 6 public sewage treatment plants, 477 stormwater permits, 11 diversion permits, as well as pre-existing diversions in 10 different streams flowing to these rivers.
Industries that discharge or divert water are the most obvious potential sources of pollution. Harder to pinpoint and monitor are the more widespread and debilitating affects of land use development. Polluted runoff from parking lots, roads and other impervious surfaces ultimately flows into the rivers, raising bacteria counts and causing violations of various other water quality standards. The Urban Rivers Permit Project hopes to encourage towns with fewer regulations to adopt best practices that can protect and improve rivers. Even a small regulatory change, such as a requirement that subdivisions leave vegetated buffers near waterways, can make a big difference.
The volunteer-led Mill River Watershed Association was formed in 1999 when the Lake Whitney Water Treatment Plant was first proposed. While they still champion the Mill River, their focus has broadened to include empowering effective advocacy for all of New Haven’s rivers – a fitting aim for the Association’s proposed new name: River Advocates of Greater New Haven.
Mill River Watershed Association’s president Cordalie Benoit
MERIDEN — About 50 people participated in the Quinnipiac River Watershed Association’s Annual River Cleanup Saturday morning. Volunteers removed refuse from both the water and its banks.
Nine primary cleanup points were established along the north shore of Hanover Pond and the mouth of Harbor and Sodom brooks. Sites included the end of Pleasant Street, the Platt High School side of Coe Bridge, a floodplain behind Wilcox Technical High School and three areas of the Linear Trail.
Cleanup coordinator David James said the waterways are impacted by both long-term and recent debris accumulations. Long-term buildup has happened over generations and consists of larger, heavier items that have been dumped into the water, such as tires, mattresses, and car seats.
Read more on myrecordjournal.com
The days of factories discharging heavy metals and homes flushing untreated waste directly into the Quinnipiac River are thankfully a thing of the past. But as industries and lifestyles have changed, so have their toxic byproducts. A new generation of chemical pollution is making its way into the river and surrounding watershed. By measuring these pollutants and tracking their effects on the ecosystem, local researchers are gathering the data needed to help create water protections for the 21st Century with support from The Quinnipiac River Fund.
There are many ways communities abutting the Quinnipiac River can help keep it and the surrounding environs clean.
This past spring, Save the Sound installed nine rain gardens in Southington as part of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment’s Quinnipiac River Watershed Project. Rain gardens look like any other garden on the surface, but their science is impressive. The Southington rain gardens were designed to capture rain water from rooftops, collect it within the soil of each garden and slowly release it into the ground, recharging groundwater supplies with clean water. The project was supported by a community of volunteers who turned out to help and have become a voice for green infrastructure and clean water resources on the Quinnipiac River.
“We’re always on the lookout for volunteers who like to help out with rain gardens or installing native plantings as part of our habitat restoration projects,” says Chris Cryder, Special Projects Coordinator for Save the Sound (a program of Connecticut Fund for the Environment).
For more information about how to build your own rain garden, visit www.reducerunoff.org.
Ideas for keeping your corner of the planet clean and green
Did you know that the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection offers some ideas you can use at home, work, in your community or play, including healthier alternatives to toxic cleaning and pest management?
Some of their resources include:
Visit them on the web.
Quinnipiac River photographs by Ian Christmann
“We must begin thinking like a river if we are to leave a legacy of beauty and life for future generations.” ― David Brower
When it comes to the Quinnipiac, or any river for that matter, what happens in one town, doesn’t stay in that town. With a 165 square mile watershed reaching 14 municipalities, the Quinnipiac River flows 38 miles from Farmington’s Deadwood swamp to the New Haven Harbor, taking with it all the health or harm imparted along the way. Water-polluting problems, from sewer overflows to pesticide run-off, in any one area can undo water improvement strides made by towns or groups further downstream or upstream.
Recognizing that lasting water quality improvements require a uniform effort, the Land Use Leadership Alliance (LULA) brings together local land use leaders – such as those serving on planning and zoning commissions – and empowers them to protect the Quinnipiac through appropriate regulations.
“Many of the leaders of the planning and zoning commissioners are volunteers with diverse backgrounds that may or may not have informed them of the relationship between development and watershed,“ explained Marjorie Shansky, a LULA law trainer and Quinnipiac River community resident. “LULA gives them the tools necessary for knowledgeable administration of land use laws for environmentally appropriate outcomes.”
LULA originated at Pace University Law School in 1996, with a goal to give land use leaders the technical and process tools they need to make decisions for creating sustainable and conservation-minded communities. In 2004, LULA piloted programs in Connecticut, where the – obstacles of 169 independent municipalities, lack of county government, underfunded and understaffed regions, and volunteer boards often with two-year turnover, makes LULA’s leadership empowerment and education all the more important.
In 2008, assisted by a grant from the Quinnipiac River Fund, LULA began its focus on the Quinnipiac River, a waterway whose history includes Connecticut’s first recorded pollution control legislation – a measure that prohibited Meriden from discharging raw sewage into the river and resulted in the construction of the state’s first sewage treatment plant.
Diving into current regulations, LULA conducted a regulatory review in 2008 to determine, town by town, what measures were currently in place to protect the watershed; the results pointed to a significant disparity in municipalities’ approaches to the river.
From 2009 – 2011, additional Quinnipiac River Fund grants enabled LULA to respond to this disparity by conducting multi-day training events that have empowered more than 75 of the watershed’s land use leaders with greater understanding of the scope of their jurisdiction and the laws related to natural resource and watershed protection.
Outcomes of the trainings include regulation amendment, creation of a natural resources inventory where none had previously existed, formation of a conservation commission where one had previously not existed, and adoption of collaborative processes by the municipalities in their approach to large-scale development. While these results are encouraging, LULA knows that ongoing training is a perpetual need, as commission leadership changes frequently, as do regulations.
In 2012, further support from the Quinnipiac River Fund supported LULA in conducting a second regulatory review to determine water protection progress and provide a more current, comprehensive regulation overview – one that, upon completion at the end of the summer 2013, will help municipalities get on the same page, share resources where possible, and avoid redundancies.
Since 2008, the Land Use Leadership Alliance has received $60,500 from the Quinnipiac River Fund. For more information about LULA, visit http://www.easternrcd-ct.org/lula.htm.
Article from MyRecordJournal
http://www.myrecordjournal.com/local/article_38a9d72c-a2f8-11e1-92df-001…
by Kimberley Primicero posted Sunday, May 20, 2012 MERIDEN — The sun was blazing through a cloudless blue sky Sunday morning as racers in canoes and kayaks got ready to paddle down the Quinnipiac River.
Nearly 100 people participated in the 32nd annual Quinnipiac River Watershed Association Downriver Classic canoe and kayak race. The event is was one of the association’s biggest fundraisers that brings in paddlers from all over New England.
“It can be a challenging course,” said Dan Pelletier, race director and members of the association’s board of directors. There’s a lot of zigzagging and maneuvering around rocks and trees, he said.
Volunteers spent two days recently removing trees, branches and debris left by last fall’s Tropical Storm Irene and the October snowstorm.
“A lot of work had to be done,” he said.
The course is a bit easier for a kayaker with a smaller boat to paddle. Canoes are more difficult to handle. The association’s science educator, Mary Mushinsky, compared a kayak to a sleek sports car and a canoe to a large sedan or Buick.
“You’ll be tired afterwards,” Mary Mushinsky said. “You earn your hot dogs by the end of it.”
Once participants finished the race, food and beverages awaited them at the association headquarters on Oregon Road.
At about 10:30 a.m., participants gathered at the commuter parking lot on the Southington-Cheshire town line. Men and women of all ages applied sunscreen, drank water and buckled up their life jackets. After a brief safety meeting, paddlers were ready to go.
Eric and Phoebe Jones, of Granby, were racing in the competition for their third year . Eric Jones said the course’s rapids aren’t challenging but the trees, narrow sections and shallow water make it difficult.
“It’s intellectually challenging,” Eric Jones said.
Wearing her “girl power” helmet and drinking plenty of water, Phoebe Jones, 7, was ready to take on the course. Eric Jones said he started taking his daughter out a few years ago and they just enjoyed it.
Long canoes and slim one-person kayaks were pushed off the boat ramp behind the parking lot. Some participants gracefully plopped their boats into the water, while others had a hard time balancing and launching the boats. Each boat was numbered. Volunteers with stopwatches in hand documented the start time, counted down, and off the boats went — one at a time.
“We’re making memories,” said Richard Guerrera, of Cheshire, who was competing in the race for the first time with his 13-year-old son, Justin.
“I don’t expect to win; we’ll just have fun,” Guerrera said.
The five-mile race took paddlers past East Johnson Avenue in Cheshire, Quinnipiac Park and Carpenter’s Dam. Eventually, participants reached Red Bridge in Meriden, the finish line.
A crowd of family members and friends had formed on top of the bridge. They cheered on the paddlers and encouraged them to go faster and not to give up. As more participants paddled to the finish line, they gathered on the sides of the river and continued to cheer on their fellow paddlers. Sweaty and out of breath, participants were relieved and pleased to be done with the race.
The best time in the kayak race was recorded by Mark Wendolowski, of Hatfield, Mass. He’s been competing in the Downriver Classic for the past five years. His time was 51 minutes and 23 seconds. Wendolowski also travels all over the country with a United States kayak team.
“It’s a good competition,” Wendolowski said after the race. He said the course is technical with all its twists and turns. “It was a good time.
The best time for a canoe was posted by Vicki and Del Cummings, of Meriden, who have been paddling and competing for 10 years. Their time was 59 minutes and 30 seconds.
Once participants finished the race, they pulled their boat out of the water and enjoyed refreshments and raffle contests.
kprimicerio@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2279