Volunteer Opportunity: Help Build Middletown’s Next Nature Trail!

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We’re kicking off the transformation of the Middletown landfill summit into a nature trail loop on Thursday, July 17th at 9AM.

When this trail is complete, it will have educational signs, benches, and an elevated wildlife viewing platform.

(Pictured – Aerial view before solar panels)

This is a great chance to work outside with friends and neighbors as we are just getting started. If you’re able to join us, click here to sign up! 

Here’s what we’re doing! 

We’re clearing weeds and overgrowth so that our partners in the Middletown Land Use Department can mark out the path for the new nature trail.  

Why do this?  

This is the crucial first step in creating a wonderful outdoor space for everyone in Middletown to enjoy. This area will be a natural oasis in the North End, providing a healthy space for exercise, fresh air and time in nature, listening to and watching coastal and wetland birds and an amazing view. 

Mugwort and other weeds on top of the landfill need to be cut down.

BYOG – Bring Your Own Gear: Whatever you have that can cut through tough weeds.

  • Weed whacking tools 
  • Loppers 
  • Gloves 
  • Refillable Water Bottle (Extra water and snacks will be provided by the Jonah Center)  

When: Thursday, July 17th, starting at 9 AM. Stay as long as you can!

Where: We’ll meet at 180 Johnson Street, right next to the Recycling Center. You can park anywhere in the lot, then walk up the wide gravel path to the top. 

Many hands make light work, and your participation truly makes a difference! If you’re able to join us, click here to sign up!  

If you can’t volunteer but you’d like to walk with us, read this article “Walk With Us on The Landfill Trail” and sign up for the next walk on July 19th!

 

Connecting the Air Line Trail in Portland to East Hampton and Middletown

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Overhead view of the East Hampton Air Line Trail gap near Route 66 where a proposed boardwalk will be installed over the wetlands area. Google Earth image.

Portland to East Hampton Developments

There is a major development happening with the Air Line Trail in Portland and East Hampton Connecticut. Users of the trail will be glad to know that significant progress is being made to connect the Portland and East Hampton sections of the trail and thereby connect the Portland trail to the rest of the 55-mile long Connecticut State Park Air Line Trail.  This has been a long-term goal of the two towns and the State Parks Division.

June 3 marks the 7-year anniversary of the ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the opening of the Air Line Trail in Portland in 2018.  A few months later, East Hampton completed a section of their trail connecting it to Portland’s. However, a small 1800-foot gap remained in East Hampton separating the two segments. This gap has frustrated many users of the trail for the past 6 years.

The 1800-foot gap was unable to be completed as part of the original plan because a stream ran through it and it was designated as wetlands, requiring a wetlands study.  A plan then needed to be developed to allow the trail through without disturbing the stream and water way and appropriate permits obtained. Eversource also had power lines running through this section that further complicated the situation. Sufficient funding also needed to be found. This all took several years to work out.

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Walk With Us On The Landfill Trail

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This is a sneak “peak” of the view.
See the rest for yourself, join an upcoming walk with us!

– May afternoon at the retired landfill

Imagine yesterday’s trash as today’s treasure. At Middletown’s retired landfill, you can see stunning views of three rivers, a 1000-acre tidal marshland, the Arrigoni Bridge, and faraway hills. This quarter-mile path (rising 80 feet to the top) is next to the city’s transfer station and the Keating Building. It even has its own soundtrack…bird songs! This is a transformation in progress that’s worth seeing.

Join the Jonah Center for a short, invigorating walk! It’s about 10 minutes or less to get to the top where we can have a snack and take in the view together.

Ready to explore?
Come to a group walk: Sunday, June 8th, 9-10 AM and Saturday, July 19th, 9-10 AM
Sign up to walk with us or explore on your own and share your feedback!

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Video — A Tawny Garden Slug?

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Videographer Phil LeMontagne wrote: This video proves that you don’t have to leave the planet to see something that looks truly alien. I took the video on the grounds of the Wadsworth Mansion.  I believe that it is a Tawny Garden Slug, (Limax flavus).  The long tentacles at the front are for sight and smell.  The short ones are for taste and touch.  It was probably looking for something to eat, but since it was very exposed, in the middle of a very wide trail, it was more likely to be eaten itself.

Video — Paddle With A Purpose

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Phi LeMontagne captured this video of our Paddle With A Purpose event on July 14, 2024. We invite new volunteers, even if you have never paddled before, to join us this summer. Our partner, The Connecticut River Conservancy, has a limited number of kayak to loan to those who don’t own one. See our 2025 paddle schedule and access our registration form here.

 

Socially Conscious Music

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Student composer Emma Mistele (center), with John Hall (left) and Kristen Colombo (right) at the presentation of music written for Noah Baerman’s class at Wesleyan.

Some of the Wesleyan students in Noah Baerman’s course “Experiments in Public Life: Creating and Presenting Socially Conscious Music” met with the Jonah Center, Community Health Center, Gilead Community Services, Oddfellows Playhouse, and Artists for World Peace, to find inspiration for their projects.  Our readers can listen to  the resulting 5 compositions and 12 others here.

The composition that emerged from the Jonah Center interview, “Vernal Piano” by Emma Mistele, is included in the above album, but its introduction and recording can also be found here

Public Input Needed For Complete Streets Projects

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Middletown’s Complete Streets Committee and the Jonah Center will be conducting a Public Information and Input meeting regarding current projects on Monday, June 9, at 7 PM in Room 208 of City Hall, 245 deKoven Drive.  This will be a good opportunity to learn more about what’s going on with bike paths, sidewalks and multi-use trails in and around town. Continue reading →

Spring & Summer Paddle Schedule for 2025

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Our “Paddle With A Purpose” schedule for 2025 is below. We need volunteer paddlers to help us remove invasive water chestnut plants from local waterways. Scroll down to find the Registration Form. A limited number of loaner kayaks are available from our partner, the Connecticut River Conservancy, for Middletown paddles only. Continue reading →

Video — Life In The Wangunk Meadows

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This wildlife video by Phil LeMontagne shows the abundance of life in Portland’s Wangunk Meadows that includes a special wetland area known locally as “the Rookery.”  Click on the image to watch the video. The animals shown and directions to the site are below.  Continue reading →

Saving Energy, Money, C02 and Air Quality Together

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While broader clean energy and energy conservation policy changes are under attack at the federal level of government, our collective, local actions have an impact. If you have had a home energy audit, installed solar or added a heat pump, let us know! Take our Energy Saver Survey (10 minutes or less) Continue reading to see what we’ve heard so far…

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Vernal Piano

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Wesleyan graduate student Emma Mistele reached out to the Jonah Center seeking ideas for an “earth-art” musical composition. “Vernal Piano” takes us into the woods where frogs chorus and breed in vernal pools after rain in early spring. Imagine a pool of rainfall accumulating inside a grand piano gradually becoming inhabited by frogs. Using different techniques—both on the keys and on the strings inside the body of the piano — the piece simulates the sounds of thunder, rainfall, and frogs calling. The track ends with a sample of the soundtrack from a Jonah Center video recording (by Phil LeMontagne) of vernal pool frogs in Middletown.
The project was part of Emma’s work for Prof. Noah Baerman’s course on Creating and Presenting Socially Conscious Music. The assignment was to interview a local nonprofit leader and create a musical composition inspired by the conversation and by that leader’s work in the community.

 To watch the Vernal Pool video by Phil LeMontagne, click on the image below.. 

 

A glimmer of good news this Earth Month…

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It’s official! The Middletown Resource Recycling Advisory Commission (RRA) is transitioning to the Middletown Sustainability Commission (MSC).  

How did this happen?  

Through the dedication of the RRA and resident advocacy, this important ordinance change has been discussed publicly and passed through the Public Works & Facilities Commission as well as the General Council before it moved forward to the Middletown Town Council for discussion and approval.  

On April 8th, Middletown Common Council members heard final public comments from the community and unanimously approved this change!  

Middletown Town Hall lawn, springtime tree with no leaves, Town sign and Tree City USA sign
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