CT Insider has reported that construction began on the Tariffville Connector between the village of North Bloomfield (near Old St. Andrews church) and the village of Tariffville in Simsbury.  The connector will provide an off-road route for the first time between these two points, and is a key link on the East Coast Greenway between Hartford and Simsbury, as well as for local riders coming from West Hartford and Bloomfield.

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by Joanna deBear
Associate Director, Cheshire Pollinator Pathway

Have you noticed some new, beautiful gardens along the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail (FCHT) in Cheshire? Those are thanks to a dedicated group of volunteers that were inspired to install native perennial gardens to support local wildlife. The group is known as the Cheshire Pollinator Pathway, and their mission is to create closely spaced native, straight-species food and habitat oases to support all pollinators such as butterflies and moths, bumblebees and solitary bees, birds, and other wildlife. The pollinator gardens installed along the FCHT were in response to the devastating decline of pollinator and bird populations in the past few years.

This local movement was inspired by Louise Washer from the Norwalk Watershed Association and Pollinator Pathway Northeast steering committee. She spoke to a group of land trusts, garden clubs, and community conservation advocates in and around Cheshire back in 2019 and motivated them into action! With their conservation friends at Southington Land Conservation Trust (Shari Guarino) and the Hamden Land Conservation Trust (Gail Cameron and Jim Sirch), the journey began. The Cheshire Pollinator Pathway was initially under the umbrella of Cheshire Land Trust but has since transitioned to Coalition for a Sustainable Cheshire (CSC).

The first garden at 487 North Brooksvale Road, along the FCHT, was designed by Connecticut’s own well-known landscape designer and native plant advocate Kathy Connolly. A core group of volunteers set to work smothering grass, killing invasives, and taking down dead ash trees to prepare the site. During that time, they installed a “Summer Splash” garden, a mix of brightly colored annuals and perennials, some native and some not. Users of the Canal Trail loved it! The perennial garden was completed in spite of COVID in the summer of 2021, thanks to the hard work of all-ages volunteers.

In early April 2022, they took over stewardship of the gardens on West Main St. adjacent to the Ball and Socket Arts complex and FCHT. In the three garden beds is a Petit Family Foundation memorial named after Michaela Petit, called “Michaela’s Garden,” planted with Michaela’s favorite annual, four o’clocks. The bed also has extensive native plantings including several varieties of milkweed that specifically support Monarch butterflies.

Their third garden (Cheshire Pollinator Pathway at Lock 12) is underway directly across from the original garden at 487 Brooksvale, adjacent to the parking area at the historic Lock 12 site. A successful fundraising event was held in May, 2022 to support the work involved in determining wetland areas for protection, clearing invasives with heavy machinery, and obtaining a plan and plants for installation of native trees, shrubs and perennials. The new garden will have an open view to Willow Brook as well. Currently they are working to smother invasives and have recently planted native shrubbery. The garden will be completed in early 2023.

The generous support of donors and hard work of volunteers has enabled the success of these gardens. Just listen to the happy hum and buzz of the pollinators and you will agree! The hope is that passers-by on the trail will take these lessons home to their gardens and find ways to support these fragile ecosystems.

In addition to the garden work, the Cheshire Pollinator Pathway under the CSC has been able to host educational talks at the Cheshire Public Library. They’ve held on-site workshops and have regular, weekly volunteer workdays in the gardens spring, summer and fall. Additionally, they send out a monthly newsletter with the goal to inform and raise awareness of pollinators and native plants. If you are interested, they are always looking for volunteers to plant, weed, water, work in outreach, and whatever else is needed! Follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Contact them for more information at Cheshirepollinatorpathway@gmail.com.

Photos courtesy of Joy VanderLek

We were happy to see on the front page of the Oct. 23 Hartford Courant a really nice article on the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail.   The Courant reports that the long-awaited closing of the gap in Plainville and Southington should be completed by 2027 (with an outside chance of an earlier date).  The article  the recreational, economic, and transportation value of the FCHT, as well as the ultimate plans to close the Massachusetts gaps and complete the 83-mile trail between New Haven, CT and Northampton, MA.  Read the full article here.

The Town of Avon has advised us that the Rt. 44 underpass on the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail will be undergoing improvements September. 19-21 and again on September 26-28.

Work will be conducted on one side of the tunnel at a time, allowing traffic to pass on the other side.  For the safety of the workers and all tunnel users, the Town asks that bicyclists dismount and walk through the tunnel during construction.  Signs will be posted at the tunnel approaches as a reminder.

Aug 2022: The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Discretionary Grant program awarded $16.3 million to the Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG) to fund the design and construction of two connected trails in the municipalities of Plainville and New Britain. The first trail will fill the last major gap in the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail (FCHT), completing a 66-mile off-road multi-use trail from New Haven to Westfield, Massachusetts. The second trail will connect the FCHT to the CTfastrak trail in New Britain, greatly enhancing access to the FCHT as well as active transportation possibilities.

Recently, the Farmington Valley lost an ardent trail advocate of many years’ standing. Al Ryan was a long-time, dedicated and hard-working member of our board. Al retired from the board a few years ago and died, peacefully, on November 16, 2021. We asked our fellow board members to contribute recollections of Al and have assembled them into this memorial. It does not begin to recognize our debt to all the work that Al did to the benefit of us all.

A few remembrances:

One way I like to remember Al was as the tall, unassuming guy who would do whatever needed to be done for the trail. He and I did a trail side table up at the Copper Hill Rd. trail crossing, at which Al did his best to keep crossing cyclists safe and confident.

Let’s not forget Al’s efforts with the trail counters. He collected all the necessary parts, fabricated the post containing the counter, fitted the counter into the post, and then installed the posts alongside the trail at locations specified by others.

We all remember Al as the quiet one who never said much at meetings, but when he did speak it was always something worth the attention of the Board. Al brought dignity and serious purpose whenever he spoke.

Here is a shot from our strategic planning weekend of several years ago:

He was also someone who enjoyed a good time, as seen here during a joint meeting with the FCRTTA Board at Renaissance Cyclery:

In addition to working on the Suffield portion of the trail with the town planner weekly for more than nine years, he spent much time modifying the specification for the state line monument.

He was instrumental in converting the Suffield portion of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail over a nearly 10 year period.

Al Ryan’s obituary may be read at: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/hartfordcourant/name/allen-ryan-obituary?id=31600960.