Take a hike - during botany tour along the Eightmile River
EAST HADDAM -- Residents curious about the diverse plant life living along the Eightmile River can participate in a free botany walk this Saturday.
The Eightmile River Wild & Scenic River Study Committee has scheduled the three-hour walk along the river flowing through Devil's Hopyard State Park to give people a look at the treasures lurking along the river's muddy banks and up on the Hopyard's craggy slopes.
"Our consulting botanist Bill Moorhead will show people the plants living along the river and growing more upland," Kevin Case, Eightmile River Wild & Scenic River study project manager, said.
Other highlights of the Devil's Hopyard walk include exploration of the flora communities living on the park's cliff faces, and an old-age, ravine hemlock forest. Connecticut's hemlock forests have been massacred by a parasite called the woolly adelgid, which forced state and local authorities to cut down thousands of trees.
In Nov. 2001, Congress authorized the study of the Eightmile River Watershed to determine whether it's ecosystem warrants federal protection.
The two-pronged Eightmile River flows through East Haddam, Lyme and Salem and boasts a rich ecosystem that is free-flowing and nearly free of dams.
The river system, which has 85 percent forest cover, is haven to numerous fish species such as native trout and blue back herring, and a fresh water tidal marsh protecting rare, fresh water mussels.
Since the study's approval, a committee made up of representatives from the town, the state and area conservation groups have worked to identify plant and animal species living within the watershed, thus determining if it is eligible for designation as a federal wild and scenic river.
If the Eightmile River is designated as such, a locally based committee will receive federal dollars and technical support to conduct a long-term management plan to mitigate potential water pollution and other biohazards.
"We're planning on having the study done by the spring of 2005," Case said. "Hiring Bill Moorehead to conduct a botanical inventory is just one part of our effort to map out the watershed's biodiversity as a whole.
"And he's found a lot of stuff out there," he said.
During Moorehead's inventory of the watershed, he has found 19 native species thought to be extinct by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Devil Hopyards State Park is located on Hopyard Road off of Route 82 in East Haddam. The walk will begin at the park's first picnic area on Hopyard Road and run from 9 a.m. to noon.
Hikers should wear footwear and clothes suitable for walking shallow water and mud, as well as moderate uphill terrain.
To register for the free hike, call Case at (860) 738-1092.
To contact John Christie, call (860) 347-3331 ext. 220 or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.org.