After a $9,253 match from the Sustainable CT Community Match Fund, the Jonah Center Tree Fund now has $20,000 available for planting along streets and sidewalks in Middletown and Portland. The project was initiated and received strong community support in recognition of the large number of trees that have died in recent years due to old age, drought, pests such as gypsy moths and emerald ash borers, and the replacement of sidewalks. Climate change has had a significant impact on the specific tree species that are suitable to our new southern New England environment. Continue reading
Author Archives: John Hall
Local Food News
Support your local farms!
This message is from Jane Brawerman, posted on the CT River Coastal Conservation District’s Facebook page. Food security is on many people’s minds right now. There are many ways we can promote self-sufficiency in our town, region and state when it comes to our food. Farmers are working hard now growing fruits and veggies, and raising animals so we can enjoy healthy local foods. It’s a great time to connect with your local farmers and find out how you can buy from them to support their farms. Whether it’s signing up for a CSA, going to a farmers market, stopping by a farm store, or ordering online for pick up, you can eat really well, reduce your carbon footprint, and support local businesses! For more information about farms in your local area, go to the Connecticut NOFA Local Farm and Food Guide, https://guide.ctnofa.org/.
Healthy PlanEat will soon launch a new website that will enable farmers to manage inventory, distribution, and incoming orders from local customers. For updates on the launch (aiming for mid-June), please follow the Healthy PlanEat Facebook page or Instagram.
The Bridge, located in Middletown, makes tofu, seitan, amasake, and tofu salad, using non-GMO soybeans. Its products can be found locally at ION, Whole Foods, and the Willimantic Coop. The website is http://www.bridgetofu.com/.
Located in Haddam, Auntie Arwen’s Spices offers about 500 different spice and herb blends, as well as teas. The products are sold online and at farmer’s markets. The website is https://www.auntiearwenspices.com/about.html.
Owned by Nancy DuBrule of Middletown, Natureworks in Northford is a small garden center that focuses on organic gardening and native plants. Due to the pandemic, the retail shop is closed, but orders are taken on line at https://naturework.com/ and can be picked up at the curb.
Heirloom Market at Comstock Ferre in Old Wethersfield offers delicious organic food in its café, as well as groceries, bedding plants, and a wide variety of Baker Creek heirloom seeds. The Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/heirloommkt/, and the Web site is https://www.heirloommkt.com/.
The Rockfall Foundation’s newest video in the Nature’s Supermarket series highlights two types of nettles. Wood Nettle is a native species found in our woodlands. Stinging Nettle is an introduced species that may seem like a nuisance plant in your yard, but has culinary value and many other uses. Click here for the video on identifying both types of nettle. We’ve included a recipe that we enjoy for Stinging Nettles Indian Style.
Issues Involving Arrigoni Bridge, St. John Square, Main Street, & Spring Street
While the project to repair and replace the approach ramps and sidewalks of the Arrigoni Bridge is underway, controversy about the work continues to swirl. Apparently, CT DOT’s original plan was approved by the previous Middletown administration with no public hearing or citizen comment. The stated goal of the project, according to CT DOT, was to improve the efficiency of Main Street between Washington and Hartford Ave. and the entrances to Route 9 and the Arrigoni Bridge. DOT’s interest in reducing congestion in this area is probably related to future plans to remove traffic signals from Route 9, which will involve some changed traffic patterns in the downtown area, especially near the bridge. Here are some of the issues and concerns surrounding the project. Continue reading
Water Chestnuts Threaten The Floating Meadows
The aquatic plant known as the water chestnut (trapa natans, not the kind you eat in Chinese food) showed its invasive potential in recent summers at many points along the Connecticut River and its tributaries. In our own Floating Meadows, the freshwater, tidal marshland formed where the lower Coginchaug and Mattabesset Rivers converge, the presence of these plants was first recorded in 2009. The Jonah Center has been monitoring the area closely since 2013, pulling out a few plants each year.
The summer of 2016 marked a turning point. Since then, water chestnut plants have abounded, forming expansive, dense patches at multiple locations. in 2016, the Jonah Center and its partners removed approximately 48 canoes full in the course of 8 separate work parties. The pattern continued in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Then came the pandemic of 2020, when our ability to assemble large work parties became no longer feasible. Continue reading
Fight Climate Change and Plant A Tree
In the course of our campaign to increase Middletown’s tree-planting budget, some people told us they would like to donate their own money to plant trees. That’s commitment! Then we heard about Sustainable CT’s program to match dollar for dollar any community-generated funds raised for qualified projects through IOBY (In Our Back Yards) – a crowdfunding service.For example, your $20 gift will instantly become a $40 gift.
Sites for new trees in Middletown and Portland are being considered. In Middletown, priority will be given to the North End, where the tree canopy is even sparser than in other parts of the city, and to high-visibility commercial corridors. In Portland, priority will be given to areas in the town’s central residential and commercial area where trees were removed for sidewalk replacement or due to disease. Funds will be allocated between the towns based on the residence of donors.
Click here to read more or donate. (100% of all donations will be used for trees; not administration.)
Action Alert — Support Bike Infrastructure
Governor Lamont’s CT2030 Transportation Plan Now Includes Bike- And Pedestrian Infrastructure
(Or so they say.)
The Governor acknowledges that we need to increase the use of public transit and that public transit needs to work better. But how are people supposed to get to a train or bus station? One way is by bicycle!
The first public release of Governor Lamont’s Transportation Plan includes no mention of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. Obviously, such infrastructure needs to be included in any smart transportation plan. To address climate change, air pollution, and highway congestion, we need to reduce the miles traveled by car, and to do that we need to improve access to public transit. Bicycles do that by providing a way for people to reach trains or buses (the “first mile”) and a way to reach their final destination (the “last mile”). Continue reading
Pedestrian-Wheelchair-Bike Improvements On West Street Bridge
West Street bridge before reconstruction
West Street bridge after reconstruction with pedestrian & wheelchair side path
The West Street bridge that crosses the railroad tracks just east of Washington Street was opened for travel recently after many years of study, plans, plan revisions, public review, more revisions, and construction. Prior to this improvement, this bridge was a narrow, wood-decked structure that allowed traffic to cross only from one direction at a time. This was a hazardous area for pedestrians, bicyclists, and wheel-chair users attempting to reach businesses on Washington Street.
The Jonah Center and the Complete Streets Committee became involved in this project as early as 2013. The Complete Streets Master Plan recommended West Street to serve as a major north-south bike route within the City, in spite of many issues, including the West Street bridge. We encouraged the public to attend hearings on the project, and we collectively recommended that the plan include at least one widened pedestrian and bicycle sidewalk over the tracks. During this process, we became aware that several users of motorized wheelchairs also used the bridge, even in its condition. Continue reading
Linden Tree Planted In Honor of Krishna Winston
Photo by Laurie Kenney
Photo by John Hall
The linden planted on November 15 near the corner of High St. and Wyllys Avenue honors Krishna Winston’s fifty years at Wesleyan as a professor of German Studies, an administrator, and, for the last ten years, also a professor in the College of the Environment. The Jonah Center celebrates this tree planted adjacent to a public street because Krishna has been an environmental leader in our wider community for many years. She has served on the Jonah Center’s Board of Directors since 2012 and as its president since 2014. Wesleyan’s replacement of lost trees along High Street, once renowned for its thick elm tree canopy, supports the Jonah Center’s Replace Our Trees campaign in Middletown. Continue reading
Replace Our Trees — Sign The Petition
In recent years, the City of Middletown has removed dead and dying trees at a much faster rate than the city has planted new trees. Due to the Emerald Ash Borer, about 300 dead ash trees currently need to be removed, according to the Urban Forestry Commission. A line of dead ash trees along Church Street between Broad and High (shown here, before removal in late 2019) is one striking and sad example. Only 20-30 trees will likely be planted city-wide in the current year, given the available budget. Removing a large tree is far more expensive than planting a younger, smaller tree. For this reason, the urban forestry budget is being exhausted by the need for tree removals.
To make a donation to the Replace Our Trees fund, click here.
Climate change is playing a role in this process, just when trees are more urgently needed to mitigate climate change. Invasive plants, changing insect populations, and damage by vehicles are additional negative factors. Continue reading
New Sidewalks In Portland
Sidewalks are being replaced in Portland. The Town has completed nearly $1 million in sidewalk replacements funded by the Town’s voters through a ballot referendum in 2017. The Jonah Center’s recommendations of a “road safety audit” and the state’s Community Connectivity grant program led to an additional $200,000 in funding for the Town’s sidewalks.
Shown in the picture here is work underway on a stretch of new sidewalk on the northwest side of Main Street between Russell Street and Arvid Road.
Cheers For 16 Year-Old Environmentalist
Lily Herron (daughter of Kathy and Bob) turned 16 this summer. As a sign of hope for the world, Lily’s party invitation requested no presents and that instead her friends make a donation to the Jonah Center. What an inspired young woman, and what an example for others! Her idea was very well-received and resulted in a collective donation to the Jonah Center of $226. This came in the month of August when our income is usually zero. Thank you Lily! And congratulations to Bob and Kathy for nurturing a child into a young adult who wants to do something good for the world rather than accumulate more stuff for herself. See? There is hope!
Portland To Vote On Purchase Of Riverfront Property
The town of Portland is holding 2 public hearings on Thursday, August 22 and Tuesday, August 27, both beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Portland Library, to provide information and public conversation regarding the purchase of properties at 222, 230, and 248 Brownstone Ave. A Town Meeting vote to authorize purchase of the properties will take place on Wednesday, September 4, at 7:30 p.m. at the Brownstone Intermediate School at 314 Main Street in Portland. Continue reading