[CT Birds] Long Beach

[ORCHIDS]

It is true that the public have the right to access the area below  
mean high water - which is in the public trust.  However given the  
recent fires, the police are likely trying to protect against  
vandalism and fires.  So the best advice is be respectful and not  
challenge the police.  Someone may want to contact the police  
department and inquire about walking below mean high water.

I will bet that most the digest folk do not know that it was DEP's  
coastal management program that suggested that the town discontinue  
the leases of public land for the cottage owners.  This is contained  
in the ERT report to that the town of Stratford requested in the 1980's.

Great Meadows trivia - most but not all of the marshes were ditched in  
the 1930's.  Some areas were never ditched - Great Meadows has the  
best examples of unditched natural marsh in all of Long Island Sound.   
The Great Dike was constructed from ditch peat across the meadows - an  
attempt to provide flood protection to the land to the north - there  
were tide gates placed in the main tidal creeks - but storms destroyed  
the gates.  The dike is visible on maps.live.com.

Frash Pond is a kettle hole which was historically at the northern  
boundary of the Great Meadows tidal wetland!  It is about 45 feet  
deep.  This pond stratifies and accumulated sulfides in the bottom  
waters - it becomes anaerobic!  Every four or five years it ventilates  
(overturns) usually in the fall - the water is at first black and then  
oxidation turns it grey.  In the past the sulfide gases have been  
responsible for paint peeling from buildings.

Frash pond is essentially a Fjord - Fjords have sills between the deep  
basin and the ocean that promotes stratification and anoxia.  There is  
even a rare bacterial community that grows atop the anoxia bubble.

While the birding community is aware of the value of Pleasure Beach  
and Long Beach for birds - it is a hotspot for rare plants.  The main  
reason for this is that there is a secondary dune and extensive  
backbarrier flats.  The construction of the breakwater at the end of  
PLeasure Beach to prevent sand movement into the harbor - thus  
reducing dredging, has caused the beach to prograde seaward at  
Pleasure Beach.  The backbarrier flat habitat - lacks the active  
aeolian deposition of sand - so common on the dunes - this is a rare  
coastal habitat and rare plant communities occur here.

Ron, Ashford