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
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.
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.
CT HEALTH I TEAM — One thing that everyone agrees on: the Quinnipiac River is a lot healthier than it used to be. “It really was a cesspool,” said Mary Mushinsky, a state legislator from Wallingford and former science educator for the Quinnipiac River Watershed Association.
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