Coginchaug River Cleanup 9/29/07

About 20 folks assembled this beautiful September morn for the annual cleanup of the Coginchaug River in Middletown CT. This effort is sponsored by the Connecticut River Watershed Council and other organizations. We found carpets, mattresses, tires, and shopping carts just to mention the larger items. Other assorted trash filled scores of large garbage bags. The city supplied materials handling supplies and trucks to haul away the debris.

This post also appears at http://conservacity.us
I apologize for earlier photos here which did not render properly for all viewers.

The Hidden World in Our Neighborhood

That so stunningly magical a place as "The Floating Meadows" can exist unnoticed, under our very noses, is exposed today in Peter Marteka's excellent column in the Hartford Courant. Marteka writes a weekly piece called "The Path Less Traveled" and this weeks offering is an account of his, mine, and a couple dozen others' journey into the Mattabesset River and a hidden world of Wild rice, Arrowroot, and Swallows.

Marteka'a column begins.....

When I first decided to journey up the Connecticut and Mattabesset rivers, I had visions of my canoe tipping over because of strong currents, slapping away mosquitoes the size of blimps and paddling around half-sunk refrigerators and washing machines rusting in the murky water. Not even close.

Peter Marteka is pictured below as we near the bridges between Middletown and Portland.