History of the Preserve
The Ongoing Battle to Preserve Oswegatchie Hills
By Kristin Lambert, FOHNP Board Member and President
Rising dramatically above the Niantic River is a rugged forest filled with wetlands, streams and spectacular rock formations. This impressive landscape, created by glaciers 12,000 years ago, once felt the footsteps of Nehantic Indians.
Known simply as “the Hills” or “the preserve,” this sanctuary contains seven miles of trails enjoyed by thousands of hikers a year, and also serves as a natural outdoor laboratory for students studying botany, biology, geology and other sciences.
This is the 457-acre Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve, a critical element of the Niantic River watershed that provides habitat for scores of species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects. Several rocky ridgelines also support one of the few remaining concentrated stands of pitch pines and scrub oaks in Connecticut.
Take a hike in winter after a light snowfall and you may spot tracks of red fox, bobcats, fisher and deer. In March skunk cabbages, which produce their own heat, push through the snow on marshy ground to mark the first signs of spring. Soon the croaking of mating wood frogs fills the air. In June trails glow with mountain laurel blossoms, and during fall oaks and maples blaze with crimson and gold.
Visitors may explore an area affectionately known as “the lunar landscape” due to glacial striations that are clearly visible. There also is a long-abandoned quarry that supplied granite used to build New York City’s Grand Central Terminal more than a century ago. The preserve’s Clark Pond once provided ice for the local fishing fleet; today it offers a safe haven for a healthy, breeding population of wood ducks. From Mt. Tabor, at 280 feet the preserve’s highest point, a panoramic view extends through the river valley and beyond.
Many people, who have been working for years to protect the preserve, know all too well how close it came to being developed for high-density housing. Although the property had been recommended for open-space preservation as early as 1968, a developer, who had acquired acreage at the northern end of the Hills, submitted numerous applications to build hundreds of homes and condominiums.
In 2001 when the threat to develop the Oswegatchie Hills intensified, dedicated volunteers joined town officials, state and federal legislators, the East Lyme Land Trust and The Trust for Public Land to raise money to buy the property. The group managed to raise $2,840,000 to purchase 420 acres, and in 2007 The Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve was formally dedicated. The preserve expanded to 457 acres with a subsequent purchase in 2012.
The Friends of Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve, the organization that grew out of that band of early volunteers and now has more than 400 members, continues to oppose development proposed for the remaining 236 acres of the Hills. In 2016 the Friends joined forces with Save the River-Save the Hills and the Connecticut Fund for the Environment (CFE) to establish the Save Oswegatchie Hills Coalition. CFE also provides legal counsel in the ongoing effort to halt development. The threatened area, which includes a mile of river frontage, contains numerous wetlands, important to such species as fairy shrimp, spotted salamanders and wood frogs.
The Friends coordinate the management of the preserve with the East Lyme Land Trust and the town of East Lyme to ensure the safety of trails and to undertake a variety of projects. Among them:
· Creation of a bluebird trail with local scouts
· Installation of a purple martin nesting site at Veterans Field
· Participation in National Frog Watch
· Establishment of a pitch pine/scrub oak conservation project
·Installation of a bridge at Clark Pond
· Mitigation of trail erosion by abandoning and realigning trails on wide old logging/fire roads
We offer guided tours of the preserve on Connecticut Trails Day on the first Saturday in June. Guided hikes for interested groups are also available upon request at [email protected], and trail maps for self-guided tours are available at the kiosk at the main entrance to the preserve, located on Memorial Park Drive in Niantic, just off Pennsylvania Avenue.
By Kristin Lambert, FOHNP Board Member and President
Rising dramatically above the Niantic River is a rugged forest filled with wetlands, streams and spectacular rock formations. This impressive landscape, created by glaciers 12,000 years ago, once felt the footsteps of Nehantic Indians.
Known simply as “the Hills” or “the preserve,” this sanctuary contains seven miles of trails enjoyed by thousands of hikers a year, and also serves as a natural outdoor laboratory for students studying botany, biology, geology and other sciences.
This is the 457-acre Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve, a critical element of the Niantic River watershed that provides habitat for scores of species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects. Several rocky ridgelines also support one of the few remaining concentrated stands of pitch pines and scrub oaks in Connecticut.
Take a hike in winter after a light snowfall and you may spot tracks of red fox, bobcats, fisher and deer. In March skunk cabbages, which produce their own heat, push through the snow on marshy ground to mark the first signs of spring. Soon the croaking of mating wood frogs fills the air. In June trails glow with mountain laurel blossoms, and during fall oaks and maples blaze with crimson and gold.
Visitors may explore an area affectionately known as “the lunar landscape” due to glacial striations that are clearly visible. There also is a long-abandoned quarry that supplied granite used to build New York City’s Grand Central Terminal more than a century ago. The preserve’s Clark Pond once provided ice for the local fishing fleet; today it offers a safe haven for a healthy, breeding population of wood ducks. From Mt. Tabor, at 280 feet the preserve’s highest point, a panoramic view extends through the river valley and beyond.
Many people, who have been working for years to protect the preserve, know all too well how close it came to being developed for high-density housing. Although the property had been recommended for open-space preservation as early as 1968, a developer, who had acquired acreage at the northern end of the Hills, submitted numerous applications to build hundreds of homes and condominiums.
In 2001 when the threat to develop the Oswegatchie Hills intensified, dedicated volunteers joined town officials, state and federal legislators, the East Lyme Land Trust and The Trust for Public Land to raise money to buy the property. The group managed to raise $2,840,000 to purchase 420 acres, and in 2007 The Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve was formally dedicated. The preserve expanded to 457 acres with a subsequent purchase in 2012.
The Friends of Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve, the organization that grew out of that band of early volunteers and now has more than 400 members, continues to oppose development proposed for the remaining 236 acres of the Hills. In 2016 the Friends joined forces with Save the River-Save the Hills and the Connecticut Fund for the Environment (CFE) to establish the Save Oswegatchie Hills Coalition. CFE also provides legal counsel in the ongoing effort to halt development. The threatened area, which includes a mile of river frontage, contains numerous wetlands, important to such species as fairy shrimp, spotted salamanders and wood frogs.
The Friends coordinate the management of the preserve with the East Lyme Land Trust and the town of East Lyme to ensure the safety of trails and to undertake a variety of projects. Among them:
· Creation of a bluebird trail with local scouts
· Installation of a purple martin nesting site at Veterans Field
· Participation in National Frog Watch
· Establishment of a pitch pine/scrub oak conservation project
·Installation of a bridge at Clark Pond
· Mitigation of trail erosion by abandoning and realigning trails on wide old logging/fire roads
We offer guided tours of the preserve on Connecticut Trails Day on the first Saturday in June. Guided hikes for interested groups are also available upon request at [email protected], and trail maps for self-guided tours are available at the kiosk at the main entrance to the preserve, located on Memorial Park Drive in Niantic, just off Pennsylvania Avenue.