Nutmeg Chapter Trout Unlimited

Written by NutmegTrout21707Oct, 2013

Nutmeg TIC featured in column

Fishing columnist Martin Armstrong recently shared an account of a Trout in the Classroom event at Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo.

“This is fun! I caught six fish,” boasted a very happy Danielle Nichols as she reeled in her last fish from Bunnells Pond in Bridgeport.

Danielle, age 13, and 15 other students from Bridgeport’s Park City Prep and Bridge Academy are participants in the Beardsley Zoo’s Trout In The Classroom (TIC) program. Recently the students teamed up with the Connecticut Aquatic Resources Education (CARE) program for a day of hands on learning and some fishing.

Click here to read Armstrong’s column.

Written by NutmegTrout21706Oct, 2013

Nutmeg TU meets Oct. 15

Nutmeg TU 217 will resume regular meetings Tuesday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. at Port 5 in Bridgeport.

Chris Cryder, Special Projects Coordinator for Save the Sound, will discuss “The Forage Fish that Feed the Sound’s Ecosystem.”

Connecticut, Cryder said, is a leader in opening riverine habitat for migrating forage fish such as river herring and shad. To date, 43 fish ladders have been built (such as Save the Sound’s latest on the Pequonnock) and 12 dams have been removed.

However, when the juvenile river herring that are born in Connecticut rivers and streams return to the ocean to mature, they are being incidentally caught and killed in great numbers in the commercial trawling industry for Atlantic herring. There are methods that can be employed to minimize the bycatch of river herring, but currently forage fish do not have adequate protections under the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), the law that governs fisheries in U.S. Waters.

“We believe this needs to change,” Cryder said.

Nutmeg TU members will learn about the status of forage fish in Connecticut, hear updates on restoration work on the Pequonnock River (and others), and hear how they can assist with strengthening the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Chris Cryder has worked for Save the Sound, a program of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, for the past seven years. He has managed habitat restoration and green infrastructure projects, and has coordinated land preservation and watershed planning initiatives. He coordinated the Pequonnock River Initiative in 2010-11, which resulted in the creation of an EPA watershed-based plan for the river.

Cryder has a biology degree from The Pennsylvania State University, and a master of health services administration from The George Washington University.

He resides in Old Saybrook.

A blog by Cryder can be found at http://greencitiesbluewaters.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/the-forage-fish-that-feed-the-sounds-ecosystem.

Written by NutmegTrout21718Sep, 2013

James Prosek to be guest speaker at Pequot Library 9/29

James Prosek will be the guest speaker at the Connecticut Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound Annual Meeting to be held at Pequot Library in Southport, Connecticut on Sunday Sept 29, from 1-3 pm.

The mission of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment and its program Save the Sound is to protect and improve the land, air and water of Connecticut and Long Island Sound. It uses legal and scientific expertise and brings people together to achieve results that benefit our environment for current and future generations.

Mr. Prosek will be signing copies of Ocean Fishes afterward:

“I am not painting fish to represent a species in a field guide; I am painting an individual fish that I had a personal experience with—The paintings are not as much about the fish as our relationships as humans to the fish—you could even call each one a self-portrait. As anyone who has spent time on the water knows, a fish is a dynamic, colorful, always-changing organism, lit by some internal light that rapidly flickers out as a fish dies. No two fish look the same, and no individual fish stays the same for any particular length of time. Therefore, a painting of a fish cannot be an official representation, but an interpretation only.”
– James Prosek

In the tradition of his acclaimed Trout: An Illustrated History, renowned naturalist, artist, and fisherman James
Prosek captures 35 of the most pursued saltwater fish—from striped bass to tarpon, swordfish to bonefish—as well
as many creatures that share these marine ecosystems through highly detailed watercolors painted specifically for
this volume. OCEAN FISHES is his personal tribute to marine beauty unlike any published before—based on travel,
intense observation, work with scientists, and stories of those who know the fish most intimately, fishermen both
recreational and commercial. It is also the author’s quiet conservation statement; in showing the beauty and
monumentality of these fish, Prosek is urging us to appreciate and preserve what we have before it is lost forever.

Each painting reflects Prosek’s individual experience with a single fish. These paintings give the reader a privileged
view of a fish fresh from the ocean when its changing colors first glint in the sun—a view ordinarily glimpsed only
by the fishermen on the boat. The artist traveled the Atlantic, from Nova Scotia to the Cape Verde Islands, to
experience first-hand each species just out of the water before the fish lose their true colors.

ABOUT THE ARTIST AND CONTRIBUTORS: James Prosek made his authorial debut at 19 years of age with Trout:
An Illustrated History, earning him the moniker “the Audubon of the fishing world” by The New York Times. Prosek
is a regular contributor to The New York Times and won a Peabody Award in 2003. He lives in Easton, Connecticut.
Peter Matthiessen is a two-time National Book Award–winning author—for The Snow Leopard, 1980, and
Shadow Country, 2008. His work, Blue Meridian, is thought to have inspired Peter Benchley to write Jaws in 1974.
His 1988 book Men’s Lives is an eloquent portrayal of the disappearing way of life of the Long Island fisherman. He
lives in Sagaponack, New York. Robert M. Peck is Curator of Art and Artifacts and Senior Fellow of the Academy
of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and is also a writer, naturalist, and historian who has traveled extensively
worldwide. Christopher Riopelle is the Curator of Post-1800 Paintings at The National Gallery, London. He has
held curatorial positions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum, CA , and has curated
exhibitions on Renoir (1990 and 2007); Rodin and Michelangelo (1996–1997); Portraits by Ingres (1999–2000), and
a forthcoming exhibition on Richard Hamilton (2012) among others.

Written by NutmegTrout21716Sep, 2013

Sept. 17 meeting canceled

There will be no meeting Tuesday, Sept. 17. However, the October meeting will take place as planned on Tuesday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. at: Port 5 Naval Veterans, 69 Brewster Street, Bridgeport, CT 06605.

Nutmeg TU’s dedicated volunteers see the importance of focusing their finite energies and time on TU’s mission. We are implementing a Mill River Improvement Plan, removing invasives, restoring natives and improving wild trout habitat. The chapter’s Trout In the Classroom environmental education program touches the lives of hundreds of K-12 students in 10 area schools plus Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo.

These are accomplishments which we’re proud about. We’re excited about what the chapter has accomplished so far; building on a tradition of accomplishments by active volunteers. We intend to do more than ever about conservation and education. We hope you too will want to be a part of in any big or small way.

Tight lines,

The Board of Directors, Nutmeg chapter Trout Unlimited (#217)

Written by NutmegTrout21710Sep, 2013

Nutmeg TU Board of Directors to meet

The Nutmeg TU Board of Directors has announced its fall meeting schedule.

All meetings are held at the Fairfield Library, 1080 Old Post Road, Fairfield.

The fall schedule includes:

Thursday, Sept., 12 7 p.m., Children’s Room A&B

Thursday, Oct. 10, 7 p.m., Jennings Room

Thursday, Nov. 14, 7 p.m., Jennings Room

Meetings are open to the public.

Beneath the surface of the lower Mill River lies lead and other waste from the former Exide battery plant. The company has announced a plan to clean the river, but some neighbors and conservationists fear what the work could stir up. (Fairfield Sun/Shawn O'Sullivan)

Written by NutmegTrout21710Sep, 2013

Fairfield gives green light to Exide cleanup

Plans for cleanup of the Mill River are once again moving forward. In a joint session on Aug 1, The Harbor Management, Shellfish and Conservation commissions all voted to end Fairfield’s intervention in planning the removal of contaminants left in the Mill River by the former Exide battery plant.

In January of this year, after an information session held by DEEP and Exide, both Fairfield’s Shellfish Commission and local advocacy group Fairfielders Protecting Land and Neighborhoods (FairPLAN) requested a public hearing on one of the permits required for Exide’s remediation activities. This delayed DEEP in approving Exide’s plan, and led to a new approach.

Click here for the Fairfield Sun story.

Written by NutmegTrout21710Sep, 2013

Sample aquatic life in the Saugatuck

The Nature Conservancy is hosting its 10th annual macroinvertebrate sampling and training program to monitor the health of the Saugatuck River system, and you are invited to participate in one or both events.

The first part of the morning will be an indoor training on macroinvertebrates and the sampling method. Volunteers will then break into teams and drive out to a river site to take their samples. Staff will move from site to site to offer assistance in the identification of the different organisms.

The first Macroinvertebrate Training and Sampling Event begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, at the Weston Public Library, 56 Norfield Road, Weston, continuing at sampling sites along the Saugatuck River.

The second event will begin at 9 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 6, in the Community Room at the Redding Community, 37 Lonetown Road), Redding (behind Redding Elementary School, then move to sampling sites along the Saugatuck River

All volunteers work in teams.

Work is usually completed by 9 a.m.

Registration is required by Tuesday, Oct. 1. To register or obtain more information, contact Cynthia Fowx, Saugatuck Forest Lands Office Administrator & Volunteer Coordinator, at The Nature Conservancy, Devil’s Den Preserve, P.O. Box 1162, 33 Pent Road, Weston, CT 06883. She can also be reached at theden@tnc.org, 203-226-4991 Ext. 116 (Phone) or 203-226-4807 (Fax).

All participants are required to register in advance.

New volunteers must submit a liability waiver and information short forms as part of the registratio; contact Fowx if you need these forms, which are also available at http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/connecticut/volunteer/index.htm.

The sampling program is part of the Connecticut DEEP’s Rapid Bioassessment in Wadeable Streams & Rivers by Volunteer Monitors (RBV) Program, which provides a way of determining the health of a river system by identifying organisms found in the stream bottom. Data is submitted to CT DEEP for use in water quality assessments. Information can be found at http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?a=2719&q=325606&depNav_GID=1654 or in The Nature Conservancy’s flyer at http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/connecticut/volunteer/ct-river-sampling-event-2013.pdf.

Freshwater benthic macroinvertebrates are animals without backbones that are visible to the naked eye and dwell in the bottom of streams. The group includes crayfish, mollusks such as clams and snails, aquatic worms and immature forms of aquatic insects such as stonefly, dragonfly and mayfly nymphs. These organisms have varying tolerances for environmental conditions and therefore are excellent indicators of water quality.

At least two members of each sampling team should go into the water. The water can be quite chilly, but doesn’t require that you go in above a wadeable height (somewhere between the tops of rain boots and your waist, usually).

Those who volunteer should take a bag lunch and a change of clothes. Dress for the weather and to go in the water (waders or water shoes and clothes you don’t mind getting wet). Sunscreen and bug spray are also recommended. Some other things you might want to take include a ground cloth or cushion to sit on the ground and sort your samples, a towel in case you get wet and plastic zip-top bag(s) for phone or other items.

Bob Campbell stacks bags filled with Japanese Knotweed cut and removed from the banks of the Mill River along Congress Street. The nearly 20 bags stacked represent only a few hours work on the project.

Written by NutmegTrout21707Jul, 2013

Progress on many fronts in Mill River Knotweed removal

One of our high-priority goals this year is to take steps to remove invasive Japanese Knotweed where it’s growing along the Mill River so indigenous plants will again line the banks and restore the natural balance of flora and fauna for a healthy stream. We’ve begun with the section flowing along Congress Street in Fairfield because of its concentration of this invasive. Here’s what we’ve done so far:

• Cut down Knotweed in the biggest growths along the Fairfield side (between the river and Congress St.) from Route 59 downstream (west) to the Congress St. bridge over the river. We have significantly weakened all these growths so their rhizomes and shoots will be more susceptible to controlled herbicide spraying this Fall.

• Intentionally left selected growths standing as control plots for the upcoming herbicide spraying. This will help us determine the extent cutting is needed going forward vs. spraying only, in our multi-year plan for eradication.

• Won approval from all(!) eight Easton homeowners on the north bank to help them eradicate knotweed on their properties and cut down the major knotweed growths there. This paves the way for our future collaboration on additional key restoration steps such as improving in-stream structure and sinuosity.

• Cut down knotweed on the Covenant Church Easton property, having won their support for our efforts.

• Built/strengthened partnerships with the Fairfield Conservation Department and Easton Conservation Commission to pursue Knotweed eradication (and other restoration steps) along the Mill.

• Worked with these departments, the Aspetuck Land Trust and DEEP to determine the best multi-step approach to Knotweed eradication, involving biologically safe herbicide treatment this coming Fall.

• Begun a plan for free other sections of the Mill from Knotweed incursion, and from other invasive species, building on the work Ross Ogden led for us with the ALT.

So we’ve done a lot with solid results so far, and with more to come! We hope you’ll drive along Congress Street to see how the Knotweed there is weakened and picture how this section of the Mill will look when native plants once again are the only species growing there!

Written by NutmegTrout21707Jul, 2013

Meetings on Exide plan come to Fairfield

Local discussions of a plan to remediate industrial wastes left behind by the former Exide battery plant next to the Mill River are scheduled to begin this week.

The draft plan calls for the lower Mill River to be dredged. The full plan can be downloaded from the Fairfield Conservation Department website, at http://www.fairfieldct.org/conscomiss.htm.

The Harbor Commission will review a draft Remediation Action Plan (SedRAP) Monday, July 8, at 4:30 p.m. in the second floor conference room at Sullivan Independence Hall. Public comment will be allowed.

The Shellfish Commission will perform its review Wednesday, July 10, at 7:30 p.m., also in the second floor conference room at Sullivan Independence Hall.

The Board of Selectmen will also discuss the plan at a date to be announced, and permits will be required for all work.

A hearing with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is also pending.

If the Town of Fairfield, the DEEP, Exide and Fair PLAN, a local environmental group, can come to agreement on the plan, the DEEP hearing will be closed and work will begin.

But if those parties cannot agree on how to proceed, the hearing will continue and a hearing officer will determine the course of action based on evidence presented.

Hearings were held in March. Details on the entire process can be found at http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2719&q=517076&deepNav_GID=1654.

Nutmeg TU members commented during earlier hearings on the proposal.

Fish and fishing would be affected during implementation of the plan.

Part of the deliberations center on increased sediment suspension and a greater disruption to flora and fauna if more material is removed.

“A significant socio-economic issue to consider in assessing overall benefits is the anticipated impact to recreational fishing and shellfish harvesting during and after remedial activities,” the draft reads. “The analysis concludes that risk to humans through consumption of fish/shellfish or ingestion of lead-contaminated sediment is substantially elevated in Area II, and elevated in Area I, with no substantial risks in Areas III, IV & V. The present risks must be weighed against the disturbance of these activities both during and after remediation. During remedial activities fishing/shellfish harvesting will not be physically possible in the immediate area of work and the destruction of substrates (i.e. submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) and the benthic community) on which fish and shellfish are dependent may temporarily decrease fish and shellfish populations. According to Exponent, recovery of SAV and the benthic community from dredging activities is expected to take 1-3 years. These factors must be weighed against the overall remedial goal, which is complete removal of human risk from consuming lead-contaminated fish or shellfish.”

The long-term gains from removing lead, according to background in the plan, outweighs short-term disruptions.

Because a installation of a curtain that won’t restrict migration, dredging will not be allowed during the anadromous fish migration period in the Southport Harbor area, bounded by Harbor Road and a project limit line 225 feet south of Harbor Road.

Dredged material will be dried at the former Exide facility, 2190 Post Road, currently a vacant lot next to the Mill River, surrounded by a chain-link fence. That site will also be used for access and egress, staging of equipment and operations headquarters. The east bank of the Mill River, where work stopped during the 2005-09 Upland RAP, will need to be remediated and stabilized to allow the use of this area.

In preparation for the full project, the contractor would need to strip topsoil and install a layer of crushed stone. “The contractor may propose to install asphalt paving in lieu of crushed stone but will need to account for, through the use of engineered controls, any stormwater run-off that may results from this paving,” according to the draft plan.

Dredged material would be placed in Geotubes, “large bags made from a high tensile strength woven polypropylene fabric “geotextile” panels sewn to form long tubes for containment of pumped slurry,” according to the draft plan. The sediment will dry in those.

“In addition,” the plan continues, “two soil/sediment stockpile cells will be constructed using concrete barriers (construction block). Each concrete cell will have a capacity of no more than 250 cubic yards, surrounded by high-density sheeting to contain sediment.

The contractor will be required to “dredge, properly handle, transport and dispos of contaminated material (hazardous and non-hazardous), including characterizing the material, manifesting the loads, and obtaining approval from EPA-approved RCRA landfills and RCRA Out-of-State lined landfills,” according to the plan.

Fairfield’s sewer system cannot handle the volume of water discharged as the slurry is “dewatered,” according to the SedRAP, so filtrate will need to be discharged back into the Mill River.

Exide has applied to the DEEP to permit the discharge under a federal EPA program.

Bacteria sampling, if deemed necessary by DEEP and the Connecticut Department of Agriculture, will be conducted and evaluated by the agencies.

Exide has proposed construction of a “turbidity curtain,” or barrier, to contain sediment, with a corridor 15 feet wide and 2 feet deep to allow migration of fish from April through July.

Written by NutmegTrout21726Jun, 2013

UConn replies to Farmington River petition

The University of Connecticut has responded to a petition opposed to its plan to draw water from the Farmington River, which Trout Unlimited and other conservation groups opposed.

Moveon.org shared the reply Wednesday, June 26.

Dear Voice of the Farmington River,

Judging from the email updates we have received on the number of petition signers, it’s clear to us at UConn that the interest in our proposed alternatives for a new source of water supply is still very strong. Thank you for your continued interest, and I would like to provide you with an update on our work, especially for those who have signed the petition since my previous posting.

As you know, our Environmental Impact Evaluation concluded that each of three possible interconnections with existing water supply systems, those of MDC, Connecticut Water, and Windham Water, were considered viable in terms of their feasibility and the ways by which their respective environmental impacts could be mitigated.

With respect to the petition’s expressed concern for the possible transfer of water from the reservoirs along the Farmington River, we received numerous similar public comments on the EIE. Many of the commenters questioned the EIE’s thoroughness in addressing social and economic considerations for this as well as the other alternatives. To that end, we have formally reached out to each of the potential water suppliers for additional information that will help us address those questions. I’m pleased to report that these efforts have been useful in furthering our assessment. There’s more on the timing of our response to the EIE comments below.

We also received several comments during the EIE public comment period suggesting that UConn locate the UConn Technology Park away from the Storrs Campus. The proximity of the Technology Park to the Main campus – where graduate and undergraduate students study and reside and faculty teach, research and advise – offers a location best suited to support both our academic mission and economic development. The UConn Technology Park, supported by the enactment of legislation in 2011, advances the University’s role as a top-tier academic and research institution and its pursuit of the fulfillment of its Academic Plan. By offering proximity and access to advanced technology, specialized equipment, faculty expertise, and graduate students, research and technology parks are typically located adjacent to universities’ core science, technology, engineering and math facilities in order to support the creation of partnerships with industry. For these reasons, the Tech Park has been sited
at UConn’s main campus in Storrs. In addition, the North Campus area has been the subject of several previous environmental impact reports, similar to that undertaken for potential sources of water supply, which envisioned this type of use. You can find these reports on the UConn Office of Environmental Policy’s website at http://www.envpolicy.uconn.edu/eie.html (scroll down the website below the water EIE information).

Our work continues on preparing the EIE’s corresponding Record of Decision, the official document that will formally address the issues identified in the comments. This document will require our UConn Board of Trustees endorsement prior to its formal submission to the CT Office of Policy and Management for their review and approval. At this point, we expect the Record of Decision to be presented to the Board of Trustees at their scheduled August 7th meeting. Please check the UConn Office of Environmental Policy’s website (http://www.envpolicy.uconn.edu/eie.html) for updates on the EIE and Record of Decision.

And, as mentioned in my last posting, your patience is very much appreciated.

Jason Coite
UCONN Environmental Compliance Professional
jason.coite@uconn.edu