Invasive Plants – Oriental Bittersweet

…as a wide tolerance of light conditions. Glen Dreyer, former Director of the Connecticut College Arboretum, found much higher pollen and seed viability in the invasive bittersweet compared to our…

The Aftermath of the Great Floods of 2023

…Valley News – Jennifer Hauck. These floods in particular raised the obvious questions: What is different today from previous storms—especially the Great Flood of 1927 which severely impacted Vermont—from major…

New Reserve

…their complex of marshes are home to a unique variety of plants, fish, birds, and other wildlife. In addition to their economic and recreational value to coastal communities, estuaries provide…

Gamboling on the Frozen River

…It was a most gruesome spectacle. Nevertheless, Todd completed his mission. His load may have been lighter, but that could hardly have been comforting to a young boy and his…

Turners Falls Area Winter Birding

…Anadromous Fish Research Laboratory, parallels the west side. The Canalside Trail follows the east side from an iron bridge on 11th Avenue to a trailhead off Montague City Road. Snow…

Living Fossil

…said. Kieffer, who works with the US Geological Survey’s Silvio O. Conte Anadromous Fish Research Laboratory in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, has studied shortnose sturgeon in the Connecticut River for most…

Where Have All the Birds Gone?

…survey in 1966. For example, Red-winged Blackbirds have declined nearly 35 percent between 1966 and 2015, Common Grackles by nearly 58 percent, Wood Thrush by more than 60 percent, Field…

From the Publisher- Looking Back

…Estuary has great gift appeal. We also enjoy a high rate of renewals. But try to perform these tasks with our system. Tech-savvy subscribers and those endowed with dogged persistence…

Land Trusts in the Watershed

…courtesy of Essex (Conn.) Land Trust In 2012, then US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar described the Connecticut River watershed, as a “model for how communities can integrate their land and…

Rowing

…high schoolers taking part in competitive and recreational programs. In recent years, adaptive rowing has become a common sight, too, with people who have a disability or injury taking to…

Gardening for Good: The Dark Side of Light

…our songbirds migrate at night, navigating by the moon and stars. They rely on time-honored seasonal cues to calibrate their internal compass. Artificial light can disrupt the timing of their…

Riverbend Project and the Mayor of Middletown

…renderings of what’s to come. The four-year term had just come into being when Florsheim decided to run. He’d come to love Middletown when he was at Wesleyan, got into…

Conte Corner: Celebrating Trees

This article appears in the Spring 2024 issue\n\n \n\n Celebrating Trees And All They Do in the Watershed\n\n Story and Photo by Markelle Smith and Kristen Sykes \n\n As spring…

In Awe of the Osprey

…they perform their “sky dance” flights they sound off with bracing, high-pitched calls to announce themselves to intruders or to garner attention in courtship. In Ospreyspeak, they are announcing, “See…

An Island Treasure

…steep rock outcroppings into Selden Creek—which is dangerous and totally illegal, so all the more a compelling right of local passage. David Wordell passed Selden by for decades on his…

Cycling the Valley

…an ever-present companion throughout your visit here. Two of the local chambers of commerce highlight outdoor recreation activities among their offerings and provide connections to overnight accommodations, restaurants, shopping, and…

Once Upon an Island

  This article appears in the Summer 2024 issue\n\n Ernest “Ernie” Feske. Photos courtesy of Ned and Carol Libby. It was a lazy summer afternoon in the mid-1950s when Ernest…

Estuary for Young Readers #11

…upper deck, leaving no space for a fellow to come up out of the hold and get a breath of fresh air. The Quartermaster complained of not having enough hay…