The mosquito season will shortly be upon us and many of us, in an effort to keep the pesky insects at a distance, will get out last year’s spray cans and bottles of DEET™ and OFF! or OFF! Backwoods (SC Johnson products.) We may get our sprayers ready and check the hardware stores that feature the latest backyard propane mosquito traps and clip-on repellents. The danger to … [Read more...] about The Latest Buzz about Mosquitoes
Conservation Corner
Conservation Corner: A Killer Lawn
It’s that time of year again. The lawn looks dead after all you did to make it lush and verdant last year, the envy of the neighborhood. You mowed it 33 times, spent over $300 on fertilizer and pesticides, another $55 for fuel for the brand new sit-down mower you purchased, and spent $24 on Rhode Island grass seed and fertilizer to repair the bare spots. And now it looks dead … [Read more...] about Conservation Corner: A Killer Lawn
Op-Ed: Connecticut River System Highlights Role of People in Sustaining Nature
A fishway around a dam on the Mattabesset River in East Berlin might not seem to have much to do with Lyme and Old Lyme. But the fishway The Nature Conservancy is building on the property of StanChem, a polymer manufacturing company about 35 miles from my home in Old Lyme, is good news—here and there. As the Conservancy’s state director, I have a vested interest in the … [Read more...] about Op-Ed: Connecticut River System Highlights Role of People in Sustaining Nature
Old Lyme Conservation Commission – Working For a Pesticide Free Community
Coinciding coincidentally, with the DEEP sprayings of glyphosate on the phragmites in several locations in Old Lyme, the Old Lyme Conservation Commission’s banner (pictured above), which has been in the works for some time and its placement over Halls Road scheduled months ago, is displayed to bring awareness to reduce the use of pesticides in Old Lyme. The banner’s debut … [Read more...] about Old Lyme Conservation Commission – Working For a Pesticide Free Community
Shades of Green: Lessons Learned from a Lawn
Have you noticed the little island of green that now graces the Old Lyme landscape? The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme’s lawn looks wonderful and the accolades just keep rolling in. Perhaps there are weightier issues on the minds of most residents, but the story of this little patch of grass underlies a larger issue that is sweeping through the town. At the … [Read more...] about Shades of Green: Lessons Learned from a Lawn
“A Chemical Reaction”
This letter was delivered by the Old Lyme Conservation Commission to the Old Lyme Board of Selectmen The new state law requires that no pesticides are to be applied to school grounds at elementary and middle schools except in the case of a health emergency ( e.g. a ground hornets nest). The District 18 Board of Education took this one step farther and will use organic … [Read more...] about “A Chemical Reaction”
One View of the Issues at Rogers Lake
The Old Lyme Conservation Commission considers Rogers Lake to be Old Lyme’s single most important natural resource, and we believe that its future care and protection should be made a major part of the 2010 Old Lyme Town Plan of Conservation and Development. Watershed The Rogers Lake watershed of over 4800 acres or nearly one third of the land area in town collects … [Read more...] about One View of the Issues at Rogers Lake
Old Lyme Conservation Commission: 2010 Action Item List
Highest priority 1. Reduce pesticide use on town fields and school campuses to protect our children. Reduce the use of lawn chemicals town wide to protect well water purity. 2. Rogers Lake –develop a long term plan –promote it as a high priority item for the 2010 Town Plan of Conservation and Development-coordinate with Conservation and Inland Wetlands Commissions, Rogers … [Read more...] about Old Lyme Conservation Commission: 2010 Action Item List