Favorable weather and volunteer commitment moves riparian restoration one step closer to completion.

Over the last several weeks Avalonia and Eastern Connecticut Conservation District (ECCD) staff and volunteers have dedicated more than one hundred hours to implementing the first stages of a restoration project along the banks of the Anguilla Brook in Stonington.  Funding for this work has been, in large part, provided by a CT DEEP Urban Forested Natural Areas and Riparian Corridor Restoration Grant.

From public meetings to stewardship events, the project has engaged nearly 30 volunteers thus far, with most participating in the removal of invasive vegetation such as autumn olive, multiflora rose, bittersweet and others.  By removing the dense, choking vegetation, changing the light regime, and opening up suitable planting sites, we expect to increase overall plant and animal diversity and, ultimately, create a  more effective means of reducing erosion, runoff, and sedimentation into the waterway. 

Together with the thinning of grey birch, this management sets the stage for spring planting of native trees along the banks of Anguilla Brook.  

To learn more about this project, including upcoming Atlantic white cedar swamp restoration work on the same preserve click here, contact staff at Avalonia and ECCD,  and/or consider attending an upcoming public information event!