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 administered last rites to print magazines in general, so why did we think we could succeed with Estuary?

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Following the Fishers in Connecticut

Katerina “Kat” Gillis has dedicated the last two years of her life on a mission to help Connecticut wildlife officials prevent the loss of fishers, a medium-sized animal that inhabits our forests.

What’s For Dinner?

Yum yum summertime…and what better way to celebrate than to have a barbeque! Our choices are diverse, but let’s focus on what’s fresh and readily available at this time of the year. What comes to mind? … Corn and tomatoes, which can be prepared with a minimum of fuss…and what a delight to the eyes as well.

Tales of a Connecticut River Ferryman’s Son #2

I put my hand out in front of me like I’m offering to shake and say: “How do you do, sir. I’m called JJ, just like my father, and his father, and his father before him. We’re all ferrymen here in Old Saybrook, and we’re all called JJ.”

Mother Trees

“Happy families are all alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” began Tolstoy in his novel Anna Karenina. Take a walk in the woods and you will see trees of different sizes and species reaching up towards the sunlight. One would think that there is a fierce competition between the trees to get to the top of the canopy.

Plant a Tree Help a Fish

Fish restoration in the river depends, to a significant extent, upon its forests and the management thereof.

Searching for Spruce Grouse

What a striking bird against the boreal forest greenery. His black breast feathers dipped in pearl white. His back vermiculated with petite black and white stripes that accented the contrast with his mottled brown wings lying flat against his body.

Wild & Scenic Eightmile River

Bingham, 80, has spied many splendored things along the Eightmile River through the decades: such as otter and mink, cerulean warblers and bald eagles, bobcat and black bear scat.

The Taste of Home

As you settle in to watch the sun setting over the leafy ridges, you sip a glass and wonder where you are. Is this wine country?

Fort River

The Fort River Birding and Nature Trail is a well-engineered, universally accessible trail that opened in 2014. It allows visitors of all abilities and ages to experience the diverse habitats and wildlife.

Questing

You walk into a dark grove of trees, chanting the rhymes of a poem. You note the bundles of five needles and long cones that mark these as white pines. And then it is on to the next clue, and the next.

Lydia Sigourney

Three miles from the Connecticut River, we stood in a circle under a tree in the garden of Emily Dickinson’s home, reading poems, passing a book around, no more than two or three feet from each other. The 1813 Amherst home built for her grandparents stood proudly in the sunshine, and the voices of another tour group filtered out.

A Beauty and A Beast

By now, knowledge that invasive plants are bad news is pretty widespread. Numerous articles and agencies cite “billions of dollars” in damages annually to agriculture and fisheries; they are the “leading cause” of population decline and extinction in animals.

A Once and Future Sanctuary

In summertime, looking across the Sound, my thoughts turn to Plum Island, New York. I believe this island could be designated a public park and nature sanctuary into perpetuity if accompanied by various restoration imperatives.

Underwater Frenzy

It seemed like just another spring day when we stopped at the Salmon River, a tidewater tributary of the Connecticut River that splits the towns of Haddam and East Haddam, Connecticut.

Hands on the Land

Hands on the Land: Art & the Environment in the Connecticut River Valley” is a collaborative exhibit between the Connecticut River Museum and the Lyme Art Association.