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Whether you’re launching a kayak, meeting in the conference room, dining at the café, working in your private office or preparing your 28-foot proline for a cruise in the sound…at the Quinnipiac River Marina, it all comes with an amazing view. Overlooking the Quinnipiac Estuary and Fargeorge preserve, views from the Marina are gaze-worthy, no matter what the season. In the summer, the landscape is enlivened by the marina’s nearly 50 boats, including two tiny houseboats – one a private summer cottage, and the other being transformed into a floating boating store that will sell bait, ice, gas and boat-related merchandise, slated to open in May 2017.

In the winter, the view features migratory waterfowl that flock en masse to the brackish waters to use the marshes for nesting – among them American black ducks, mallards and gadwalls.

Much like the river itself, the marina – located at 309 Front Street – may not be well known, but has much to offer. Each May, the marina hosts Riverfest, a community celebration bringing together hundreds of neighbors and friends for food, live music, craft beer tasting, canoeing and kids activities. Throughout the year, the on-premise Anastasio’s Boat House Café provides a casual maritime-themed environment, a great menu and, on warmer days, open-air dining on the deck with a view that can’t be beat. Of course the marina’s main goal is to get people out on the water. With 2,000 linear square feet of dock space, the marina accommodates boats of all sizes and types, and allows boat repair. For those preferring smaller craft, the marina offers kayak and canoe storage, rentals, and even guided tours of the estuary and marsh.

A Fair Haven native, the Marina’s owner Lisa Fitch has always had an affinity for the Quinnipiac. She describes the community as a diamond in the rough, with the river at its center. Lisa’s investment on the riverfront began in 2000, when she and her husband purchased land on Front Street and constructed a 10,000 square foot water’s edge building to house their business, New Haven Partitions.

In 2007, Lisa bought the adjacent marina, and the joint properties have been evolving ever since. Fitch added a restaurant in 2009, followed by a historically styled, mixed-use building housing the marina office and a studio apartment.

In 2011, New Haven Partitions shut its door and the building remained mostly vacant until 2014, when Lisa decided to make the building’s 12 rooms available as home-offices away from home. She said the inspiration came when local photographer Ian Christmann inquired about renting studio space in the building.

“I wanted something I could walk or bike too,” Ian said, who lives about a half mile away on the other side of the river, “but I got so much more…an amazing space with great views…not to mention the proximity to food and coffee next door.” Ian also said he continues to appreciate the commute, which, in warmer weather, he does by kayak whenever he can.

Today Ian shares the building with a diverse group of other small businesses, including an art therapist, magazine editor, web coders, three attorneys and a political consultant. With a waterside locale, free parking, a kitchenette, and affordable prices, Lisa said the offices tend to fill-up quickly. “We’ve got a great group of people here, and we rarely have vacancies for very long.”

The building’s lower level – a larger space that used to be the shop for New Haven Partitions – now serves as a processing and distribution hub for GreenWave, an ocean-friendly movement that empowers sea farmers to create vertical gardens of seaweed and shellfish – providing sources of food and fuel while restoring the ocean and mitigating climate change.

Pioneering the future of aquaculture, Greenwave is well positioned beside the Quinnipiac, a river whose ocean-farming history greatly shaped the surrounding community. In the early 1600s, the Quinnipiac’s rich oyster beds ­– harvested by the Algonquin tribe for centuries – brought European settlers to its shores. By the 1800s, Oyster operations became the community’s lifeblood, earning Fair Haven the nickname “Clamtown.” Over-harvesting and industrialization eventually took a drastic toll on the oyster industry, but the impact of the era remains evident in the architecture of the area. One of the most notable examples stood in the marina for decades: a charming, albeit derelict, oyster barge that, in the 1800s, operated in New York City as a floating oyster market.

Retired from the sea in 1921, the barge was landlocked on the Quinnipiac, where it served as a prohibition-era speakeasy, then later a restaurant and dive bar, until falling into disrepair in the 1980s. Despite its condition and pressure to tear it down, Lisa viewed the building as a place worthy of preservation. Its significance was confirmed by retired Mystic Seaport researcher John Kochiss who identified the barge as the last surviving example of its kind. Fitch knew the cost of renovation exceeded her budget, still she hoped to see this unique piece of history saved.

Its salvation came in the form of two brothers from New York City with a passion for old boats and oysters. In partnership with the not-for-profit Maritime Foundation, the Pincus Brothers run the Grand Banks, a 1942 schooner turned boutique-restaurant that promotes nautical preservation and conservation through onboard exhibitions and lecture series.

The Pincus Brothers hope to replicate this living museum/restaurant model with the Quinnipiac oyster barge, which they purchased from Fitch for $1, carefully dismantled and stored, with a plan, pending funding, to bring it back to the East River and renovate it to its former glory: as a hot spot for great oysters.

As for the Quinnipiac River Marina, Fitch has considered selling the property and remains unsure about her long-term plans. But one thing is for certain, whether you come to the Marina to work, eat, or play, the view that greets you might just make your day.

Photos by Ian Christmann

Jimmy and Norm Bloom are the largest commercial growers of wild oysters on Long Island Sound. They tend oyster beds nearly the entire length of the Connecticut coastline and into Rhode Island, harvesting and packaging their final product in Norwalk under the label, Copps Island.

From their wharf in Fairhaven, a section of New Haven once world renowned for its oysters, the Blooms are installing aquiculture tanks for raising seed oysters from larvae. Once big enough, the baby oysters will be planted in an area of New Haven Harbor known as a prolific oyster ground during the heyday of oystering, more than a century ago.

The Blooms are investing in the new technology as a way of insuring crop survival during years when hurricanes or other extreme events wipe out their seed oyster beds, a cyclical problem in the oyster business.

For several generations, the Bloom family has practiced the traditional and labor-intensive method of farming wild spawning oysters on Long Island Sound. Using a method that dates back to the Romans and Egyptians, the Blooms send out a fleet of flat-decked fishing boats into tidal river basins like the mouth of the Quinnipiac River every spring. Piled high with cleaned oyster shells, the boats will deposit their loads underwater to form beds that catch free-floating oyster larva, known as spat.

When conditions are right, the spat adheres to the shell beds and grows into seed oysters. After a year, the Blooms will dredge up and move the young shellfish further out into the Sound, where they will mature into the meaty, shell-filling delicacies sought after by restaurants in Manhattan and beyond.

One ill-timed hurricane or other disaster, however, can destroy a seed crop, disrupting a production schedule years down the line.

“Some years we have 200,000 to 300,000 bushels. Some years we get nothing,” says Norm Bloom.

The Blooms hope that by producing seed oysters in tanks, they will have a ready supply to replenish their beds in the wake of a catastrophe. The system has been prototyped in the Chesapeake Bay region, and Jimmy Bloom is the first to try it in the Northeast. If successful, he hopes to expand the Fairhaven operation even further.

“Eventually we want to have a hatchery for the tank system and a shucking house,” Bloom says. “They used to can the oysters in this same spot back when it was owned by Long Island Oysters. We want to get that going again and try to employ a lot of people in the neighborhood.”

Photos by Ian Christmann

The Quinnipiac Meadows Preserve is home to about four osprey couples nesting on platforms constructed in the marsh. In the 1950s and 60s, the osprey population was in a decline attributed, in part, to the pesticide DDT. Since the ban of DDT in 1972, osprey populations have rebounded. The mouth of the Quinnipiac River, home to many species of migratory fish, offers an ideal habitat for the coastal hunters. Keep an eye out when you visit the preserve and see if you can spot the adult ospreys and their chicks! (Photo Courtesy of Chung-Leong Chan)

During summer, you are almost guaranteed to see an osprey on a walk through the 35-acre Quinnipiac Meadows preserve. And if you’re really lucky, you might spot a Diamond Back Terrapin, a threatened species of turtle that lives in brackish waters along the east coast. But even if you don’t,   you can learn about them and other creatures living in the preserve from the newly installed signs posted along the two loop trails.

The culmination of a yearlong project between the New Haven Land Trust and the Yale Peabody Museum, the signs provide visitors with an overview of the history, ecology, wildlife, and terrain of the preserve. They were funded in part with a grant from The Quinnipiac River Fund.

Winding its way through eastern red cedars, shadbush, and other native plants and grasses, the trails offer sweeping views of the Quinnipiac River and coastal marshland. Artfully placed benches made out of stone slabs found scattered on the site by previous owners have been constructed by local resident Chris Ozyck.

“What I love most is having this peaceful natural area so close to the city,” says Land Trust Operations Manager Lauren Bisio – Operations Manager.

Location: 1040 Quinnipiac Ave. Preserve entrance is near the Amtrak railroad bridge. Park in front of the gate and walk in through pedestrian entrance on the left side of gate.

Phote Credit: Sarah Tabin.

Elm City residents learned how to identify maple, oak and ash trees at the Pond Lily Nature Preserve on Sunday morning.
The New Haven Land Trust hosted the event “Trees and Trails: A Tree Identification Workshop” to celebrate the opening of Willsher’s Walk, a new trail built in the preserve over the past summer. The Land Trust acquired the 14-acre preserve in 1996, though back then, the preserve still included a dam built on the West River back in 1794. The Land Trust and its partners removed the dam in 2014 to mitigate flooding hazards and allow fish to migrate and have since then readied the preserve for public recreation. Continue reading here.

Copyright © 2016, Hartford Courant.
Five years ago, I visited Wallingford’s Quinnipiac River Linear Trail and left somewhat empty. Not to leave you with the impression the 1.1-mile-long trail isn’t worth a visit, but once you passed through a tunnel under the Wilbur Cross Parkway, the path just stopped.

Dead end. Curtain closed. The end.

Not anymore. After several years of planning and construction, another mile has been added to the trail connecting to a place called Fireworks Island and the Yalesville section of town. The trip is still out and back, but the new path offers some stellar views of the Quinnipiac and a history lesson of a place that was once home to the “Fireworks Capital of Connecticut.”

Continue reading this article on the Hartford Courant.

The New Haven Land Trust is perhaps best known for managing 44 community gardens throughout New Haven and 6 coastal land preserves. Yet it also has an active events calendar with topics ranging from workshops on gardening to presentations on history and ecology.

University of New Haven Professor of Marine Biology John Kelly’s recent talk at Quinnipiac Meadows described the health of the fish population. Kelly studies the small mummichog fish in order to trace one of the primary threats facing the river’s fish population chemicals that are contained in pesticides and fertilizers, among other everyday products.

According to Kelly, endocrine disruptors destablize the hormones of male fish, leading to gender changes that can upset the population balance. Presently, Kelly has found that the fish in the Quinnipiac River appear unaffected by the chemical.

“Professor Kelly’s presentation gave participants in the walk a much better sense of how research is conducted to determine what potential human impacts may influence the health of the Quinnipiac River. What’s particularly interesting is just how much the health of the Quinnipiac River has improved in recent years – thanks in large part to improved environmental regulation and monitoring and scientific research. The phenomenon of the health of the Quinnipic River improving is supported by Professor Kelly’s research that indicates that endocrine disruptors don’t appear to be in high enough concentration in the Q River to negatively impact several fish species that he studies.”

The New Haven Land Trust holds educational and outdoor events regularly throughout the year. Visit their calendar for more information.

Both the University of New Haven’s research on the Quinnipiac River and the New Haven Land Trust are grant recipients of the Quinnipiac River Fund, a fund at The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.

In addition to hosting other educational events at Quinnipiac Meadows this summer, the New Haven Land Trust is also working on installing new educational signs in the preserve and improving the preserve’s walking trails.

Photo Credit: Ian Christmann

WALLINGFORD — A local river advocacy group rescinded a request to hold a public hearing on a discharge permit sought by chemical production company Allnex after working with state officials and company representatives on an agreement over the discharge of a previously unregulated chemical into the Quinnipiac River watershed.

Earlier this year, River Advocates of South Central Connecticut expressed concern that Allnex, 528 S. Cherry St., would be discharging tetrahydrofuran into the Quinnpiac River without regulation given the company’s past discharge violations.

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s discharge permit would only require the company to monitor the levels of the discharge, without a standard set to regulate its concentration in the watershed.

The advocacy group, helmed by state Rep. Mary Mushinsky, D-Wallingford, obtained enough signatures to request a public hearing before a new permit could be issued by the state. Continue reading.

River advocates have dropped their request for a public hearing regarding the discharge of a new manufacturing chemical into the Quinnipiac River Watershed after an agreement was reached regarding the amount of the chemical that could be released.

All in all, it is a happy ending, said Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection spokesperson Dennis Schain.

“They found a standard they could agree to and allow the company to move forward in a way the river advocates found acceptable,” Schain said.

River Advocates of South Central Connecticut, a newly formed nonprofit dedicated to protecting the watersheds of Greater New Haven, filed a petition against proposed discharge permit modifications by Allnex USA, a Wallingford-based manufacturing plant, in March. Schain said the DEEP had tentatively approved the permit modifications proposed by Allnex USA, formerly known as Cystic Industries, when the petition for the public hearing was submitted. Continue reading.

On Sunday, May 15, come down to Riverfest at the Quinnipiac Marina at 309 Front St. New Haven, CT. Bands, canoe rides, a beer tent, and more! This is a BYOC event. To guarantee you will have a seat bring your own chair. The wackier the better!

For more information, visit www.quinnipiacriverfest.com.