The New England National Scenic Trail (NET), a 235-mile-long hiking trail stretching from Long Island Sound in Connecticut to the New Hampshire-Massachusetts border, is a close-to-home trail for millions of New Englanders.
On My Mind…
On My Mind…The Connecticut River watershed has no governor. It has no regent, no ambassador, no prince or princess…not even a capitol with consulates from the four (five, if you count Maine) states involved. What it does have is a lot of independent but increasingly connected nonprofits and state and federal agencies working more or less in concert to share …
One Photograph: By EAR
“You can observe a lot just by watching,” noted the great 20th-century thinker, Yogi Berra; and he might have said with equal perspicacity that you can hear a lot by listening.
The Vessel and the Painting
On the afternoon of Essex’s Groundhog Day parade, figures walk through the misty streets, past clapboard houses and American flags, and gather in The Griswold Inn’s Wine Bar.
Casting About: The Farmington River
Fly anglers are dyed-in-the-wool optimists, forever believing the next cast or the next bend in the river holds the fish of a lifetime. It is a creed we live by, and in no place does it spring more eternal than on a blue-ribbon trout stream such as Connecticut’s Farmington River.
Estuary for Young Readers #14
My little cousin, Ben, broadcast the news as he left my side and ran into his house, “JJ’s home! JJ’s home!”
Below the Surface: Spawning Below the Surface
As our days grow longer in the Connecticut River watershed, many a young fish’s fancy turns to love. These spawning fish have unique ways of reproducing.
Connecticut River Critters: The Puritan Tiger Beetle
One of the many species of beetles that live in the Connecticut River watershed is the Puritan tiger beetle.
Once Upon an Island
It was a lazy summer afternoon in the mid-1950s when Ernest Feske dumped a load of bricks into the Connecticut River.
Kersplash!
He and his wife, the Broadway actor Bettina Cerf, were wet and embarrassed, but otherwise OK, as was their boat.
Let’s Go
News from our River Partners
Connecticut River Museum at 50
During the 1970s the increasingly decrepit Steamboat Dock building at the foot of Main Street in Essex, Connecticut, was a topic of conversation for visitors and residents alike.
Central Watershed Outings: Boating the French King Gorge to Barton Cove
ç Last summer—after water levels finally subsided after prolonged rain—I embarked on an interpretive cruise aboard the Heritage, a tour boat operated by FirstLight’s Northfield Mountain Environmental Education and Recreation Center.
Wildlife Wonders: Are Coyotes Living Near You?
Hiking last summer in Barn Island Wildlife Management Area, a beautiful 1,000-acre preserve in the southeast corner of Connecticut, my eyes spotted movement about fifty feet off to my right in the shadows of the forest.
Gardening for Good: Rethinking Weeds
Any number of dictionaries refer to the word “weed” using distasteful associations. For example, you “weed out” troublesome things or people that are “useless or harmful.”
The Dreaded Spotted Lanternfly
Squish them. Squash them. Stomp them. Smash them. That’s been the order of the day from multiple government agencies inciting the citizenry to bring down the boot on any invasive spotted lanternflies they encounter.
What’s For Dinner? Summertime, Summertime!
Nothing screams summer like a bowl full of tomatoes freshly picked from the garden.
Moodus Noises
Since the earliest days of English settlement in the 1600s, folks correctly identified the strange rumblings in the Moodus section of East Haddam, Connecticut, as earthquakes that are heard more than felt, but it was centuries before science explained the cause and mechanism for their creation.