Blog Archives

Welcome to Estuary magazine’s Blog

We have created this blog to keep in touch during the intervals between quarterly issues of Estuary magazine.  Our topics will range over the same categories used in the magazine. Some blogs may relate back stories to magazine articles, some may introduce thought-provoking controversies, and some may narrate “feel-good” stories.

We intend to use the blog to emphasize several calls for action:

First, we invite you to subscribe to the magazine to learn more about the River—its wildlife, recreational opportunities, science and conservation issues, important people, lifestyle and culture, and fascinating history.

Second, we invite you to go outside and enjoy the environment of the River and surrounding watershed; if this is not possible, experience the River vicariously through the features and high-resolution pictures in the magazine.

Third, on behalf of the River and its watershed, we invite you to become involved in meaningful conservation activities, which may range from advocating for sound environmental policies in your state and town to engaging in environmental monitoring studies, in creating synergies among like-minded organizations to leverage scarce resources, in the removal of invasive species, in community development projects involving the River, in habitat management, and in the reduction of your carbon footprint, to name some.

Fourth, we will appreciate receiving your ideas about the Connecticut River and its watershed. The same goes for your feedback about how to improve the magazine, including the topics that you would like to see in future issues.

From the Publisher- Looking Back

This issue is the thirteenth since Ralph Wood and I started Estuary magazine four years ago. We have published nearly 200 articles and more than 500 photos, maps, and other images, all related to the Connecticut River watershed....

Congratulations to Dr. Andrew Fiske!

Dr. Andrew Fiske, until recently the Executive Director of the Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC), has been named Bureau Chief for Natural Resources at the Connecticut Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection (DEEP)....

SAVE THE DATE 

Connecticut Land Conservation Council’s Connecticut Land Conservation Conference...

Please Join Us!

Join us to honor Steve Gephard, CRSA’s 2022 Presidents Award recipient, and frequent estuary contributor....

Great American Outdoors Act

Passage of the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) in 2020 was greeted enthusiastically by those who enjoy nature and the outdoors....

Estuary Magazine Writer Wins Journalism Award

Spend a minute watching a mute swan go airborne. These stunning birds, who often gather at the mouth of the Connecticut River, are so big they need 100 feet or more to get up and go....

On My Mind

My father operated a farm in Maryland in 1944 and planted five acres of string beans, all to go toward the war effort....

Wildlife Wonders: Red-breasted Merganser

Spend a minute watching a mute swan go airborne. These stunning birds, who often gather at the mouth of the Connecticut River, are so big they need 100 feet or more to get up and go....

Speaking up for mute swans despite controversy

Spend a minute watching a mute swan go airborne. These stunning birds, who often gather at the mouth of the Connecticut River, are so big they need 100 feet or more to get up and go....

From the Publisher- Black Duck

I’ll not dwell on the wonderful testimonials to the first issue…only to say they were as intimidating as they were gratifying as we realized how this second issue, with its theme of recreation, would be measured against the first. Once...

Where Science and Faith Intersect

Faith and science should meet more often…when they do, good things can happen. The Episcopal Church of Connecticut and the Connecticut River Conservancy co-sponsored an event this summer along the banks of the Connecticut River....

From our Readers

I read Judy Preston’s article with growing alarm, as I have gardens full of yellow iris....

Cherish and Celebrate the Connecticut River

Riverside Service: Cherish and Celebrate the Connecticut River  Hosted by St. Ann’s of Old Lyme and Bishop Ian Douglas, it was a great evening of fellowship, recognition of “water of life” and of the rivers in all our lives. In the...

From the Publisher

Volume II, Issue I. These few words, in fact, speak volumes. Estuary’s Volume I, Issue I, better known as Spring 2020, came out, arguably, at the worst possible time for a new print magazine. The publishing industry had long since...

From the Publisher:

Volume II, Issue I. These few words, in fact, speak volumes. Estuary’s Volume I, Issue I, better known as Spring 2020, came out, arguably, at the worst possible time for a new print magazine. The publishing industry had long since...

Your Best Shot

“Sunset Over the Connecticut River” Photo by Susanne Hall...

About Our Blog:

In case you missed it, our luscious website (estuarymagazine.com) also features a blog....

Become an Environmental Activist (Part 2)

Last time, we parted with my advice to first become informed about the state of the environment and then develop the conviction that you can make a difference to the environment by volunteering in an area that interests you. If you are...

Become an Environmental Activist

I started to write this blog on the topic of citizen science for the Connecticut River environment but soon realized that the concept could be too narrowly interpreted as just “science.” To be clear, citizen science usually involves a...

Solving Environmental Problems

Environmental problems can be complex and hard to resolve. The complexity arises because the components of the environment are linked, and their interactions may be separated by both time and distance....

The Connecticut River’s Tranquility

In these times of stressful living, designed to contain the coronavirus, more and more people are seeking solace in nature. The fall 2020 issue of Estuary magazine contains several personal essays on this topic....

Editor’s Log: Island Solitude

“Come to the woods, for here there is rest,” wrote John Muir, the pioneering environmental activist and writer. “There is no repose like that of the green deep woods.” Few knew the healing power of nature better than Muir (1838–1914),...

My Connecticut River, cont…

We weren’t settled for very long in Glastonbury before I joined the Connecticut Audubon Society and became a member of the Regional Board of Directors of its nature center in Glastonbury and then was elected to the state Board of...

My Connecticut River

For this inaugural blog, I thought that I would recount several of my Connecticut River experiences that fostered the strong emotional attachment that I hold for the River today. They happen to intersect five of the articles that...

Ralph Wood

After retiring from a successful career in industrial R&D at GE, West Virginia University, and United Technologies, Ralph started a small business, Accelerating Excellence, for consulting in productivity, quality, product development, systems engineering and strategy. At the same time he began a career of volunteering at the Connecticut Audubon Society on its state Board and on the regional boards of its Glastonbury Center and its Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center in Old Lyme. He is also a director of the Mentoring Corps for Community Development and is presently involved with the New London Public School system in the design of a Teachers’ Academy to promote excellence.

He was a member of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s site selection team for Connecticut’s National Estuarine Research Reserve and continues to work on the steering team that is creating its management plan and environmental impact statement. He is currently the president of Estuary Ventures, Inc., the parent of Estuary Magazine.

Ralph holds three degrees from Brown University in mechanical engineering. He and his wife have two children and four grandchildren.

Ralph credits his fundamental appreciation and concern for the environment to bird-loving and banding neighbors where he grew up, to his Boy Scout troop and summer camp, and to his uncle, who was a past president of Maine Audubon and an avid conservationist and outdoors person.