The Coverts Project—

Taking Up The Cause Of Conservation Begins In Your Own Backyard

By Kendra Bobowick

It is in the lichen covering stepping-stones hidden beside a stream. It is in the trickling water soaking the soil, and the four sturdy back feet of an inchworm eating the edges of a viburnum leaf — bit by bit. Unable to hide and unable to sidestep harm, the forest sits and waits.

Roads cross through it, neighborhoods bloom, towns flourish and backyards encroach on the state’s woodlands — also bit by bit.

After a deep breath, resident Charles Kilson said, “Development. We’re losing woods and habitats.” As of May 1, Mr Kilson and Robert Taylor have joined those in town who have become Coverts Project Cooperators after completing a forest and wildlife conservation course. (A covert is a thicket providing shelter and cover for wildlife.)

Can they help protect the grasping roots of native pines and maples, gnarled understory limbs of laurels, and the light touch of trillium lining the footpaths of Connecticut’s woodlands? They are going to try. “The goal of the project is to establish stewardship for our land and make resources available to people,” Mr Kilson explained. Anyone with land they wish to manage for forestry can contact a coordinator. “We set them up with the right contacts to help them with the habitat,” he said. As an example, he continued, “If they want to improve it for the songbirds, we have that information.” The project promotes wildlife and forest resources.

Sponsored by the University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension System, Connecticut Forest and Park Association, and the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, the Coverts Project Cooperators are available, free of charge, to help landowners to improve and enjoy their woodland.

Forester Stephen Broderick points to daunting odds. Roughly 80 percent of forestland in the state belongs to private owners, including land trusts and sportsman’s clubs. The Coverts Project is an outreach to those people, he explained. “We educate people on how to be good stewards. The Coverts Project is designed to create a corps of volunteer land owners.”

What do property owners need to know? “Two things,” said Mr Broderick. “First, no two landowners are the same as far as goals and interests. Some people like to cut firewood and some enjoy the beauty and privacy — all legitimate [uses]. We advise people to think about why we own our land and what are the benefits.” Second, he urges, “Gain knowledge of your habitat. What kind of forest do you have and who is available for you to ask questions?” The coverts cooperators, for one, are ready with answers and resources. The local peer-to-peer focus is what makes the Coverts Project work, he said.

Peer-To-Peer: The Cooperators

Describing Deputy Director of Land Use Rob Sibley perfectly, Mr Broderick had noted, “Coverts cooperators love their land, they love the outdoors, they have good stewardship ethics, they love doing things for the community and are willing to invest effort, time, and energy in their towns.” Although the deputy director took the course eight years ago, he was quick with praise.

“It was a wonderful experience,” he said. Mr Sibley — among the town’s intense environmental advocates and conservationists — welcomes the idea of a community taking care of wildlife. “It’s close to my heart,” he said. “It’s one of those courses that began to look outside the box working with wildlife and resource management.” Academics, science, and what Mr Sibley refers to as “the intangibles” are all pieces of the good stewardship puzzle. “[The Coverts Project] took the people in the field and the people in academics and tried to marry the two.” The project “rallies the troops” for land management, he said. “But tools don’t mean anything without helping people change things,” he said. The Coverts Project brought people together “to try to affect change locally,” he said.

The larger picture is more than backyard management, or protecting a breeding habitat for one species, for example. Preservation is not static. “We look at nature and want to capture it and say, ‘This is how it is and should always be,’ but it’s constantly changing,” he explained. “You have to maintain the changes to the rocks, the soil, air, water, and the living things that interact.” Consider the meadow, pond, or forest: “What if you cut down a tree, how often do you cut the meadow?” he prompts. If you remove a plant, was it something that should have been there or was it invasive? Learn the answers.

He also turns an eye toward areas in decline. “How do we manage them? That’s the flavor of the decade,” Mr Sibley said. With a nod toward the stewardship and conscientious management of the various acres owned by the Newtown Forest Association (NFA), Ms Sibley said, “They have it in spades.” The Parks and Recreation Department and Assistant Director of Parks Carl Samuelson also work closely with Mr Sibley to best maintain open spaces, including meadows at Orchard Hill preserve, for example.

“The birds and wildlife and meadows must interact properly or they won’t survive,” Mr Sibley said. Although hikers stepping through the paths along meadows stretching across Orchard Hill may not realize the amount of thought that went into a simple looking swath cut into the taller grass, “We use management tools constantly in town,” Mr Sibley said.

He talked about “intangibles” also. Do home and property owners understand their property? “I hear their questions and I give them references,” he said. For management purposes, he stressed, “The most important thing to recognize is that there is no cookie-cutter approach.” Every area is unique. “It’s not until you walk the property that you have an idea of how to manage it.”

Course by course, Mr Broderick educates the covert cooperators, and one by one the cooperators return to their towns and become another resource for landowners.

“The environmental thing is biting me,” said Mr Kilson. “I’m in the woods all the time.” A lifelong Schaghticoke Tribal Nation member, he heads the tribe’s environmental committee and recently completed the coverts course — three-and-a-half days of instruction at the Goodwin Forest Conservation Education Center in Hampton — and is ready to give back to the tribe, he said, and talk about conservation and wildlife.

“I have a couple of goals — one of the most important is the wildlife habitat restoration,” he said. The reservation lost much of its habitat to fire damage. Afraid that he will “never get it back,” he said, “I’ve seen changes in the habitat there. The trees are still dying.” He blames the prolonged aftermath still attacking root systems on a November 2001 fire. Since the Coverts Project training, he has learned how to “improve and restore the habitat on the reservation.”

 With one hand he takes hold of the Coverts Project’s knowledge, and with the other he is reaching for grant funds. He is behind a grant application seeking funds from a General Electric settlement for environmental and public safety projects at the tribe’s reservation on the Housatonic River.

The electric company signed a settlement in 2000 with the US Environmental Protection Agency and the states of Connecticut and Massachusetts to clean up toxic PCBs — polychlorinated biphenyls — from its Pittsfield, Mass., plant and two miles of the river downstream.

Bob Eckenrode, recently appointed as the new Newtown Forest Association president, took the intensive covert course 12 years ago. With his knowledge, he feels “beholden to share.” Admitting he was “all fired up” after taking the course, he nearly approached one of Newtown’s farmers, thinking he could offer suggestions to a multiacre landowner. Before he got to the farm, however, his mood cooled when he realized that owner Stephen Paproski had been farming in town for many years. How would he have received Mr Eckenrode?

The forest association president never found out. He headed for home instead, and thought to use his own property as an example. With his focus on indigenous species, he said, “I used my property as a demonstration of landscaping with native [species].” Outreach could be as small as communicating with a neighbor, or sharing techniques for stewardship. Using Greenleaf Farms Preserve as an example, he notes that the property nestled over watercourses that had been mowed and used for horse grazing. Mr Eckenrode said that the forest association members are trying to restore it to a natural songbird habitat. He learned what he uses in the coverts program.

“There is a seasonal mowing plan now to help the nesting birds,” he said. “Wildlife can thrive. It’s a wonderful example of good stewardship.” Overall the property now offers public access to trails, improved wildlife potential, more diverse habitat, a healthier forest environment, and recreation for visitors.

He has learned simply to lead by example. Forest associations, land preserves, and farms aside, every property owner has the opportunity to make the most of his or her land. Anyone who landscapes, who enjoys wildlife or gardening might listen in. Mr Eckenrode said to assess the habitat; assess what is growing naturally. “There is a reason it’s growing there,” he said. Look at the yard. “There are usually several [native species] existing already.” Most common are sweet pepper bushes, maple leaf viburnum, and silky dogwoods. “The bonus of landscaping with natives is they’re acclimated…”

Do you have water on your property? Look for amphibians. “They’re a clear sign that things are balanced,” Mr Eckenrode said. “It’s my reality that you shouldn’t have to go to a museum to see a turtle.” Bolster your outdoor environment, he suggests. “Contact a local nursery. Look for bird- and insect-friendly native plants.”

Looking back, Mr Eckenrode offered a comparison. “A rock makes waves in water…all the way back to [Stephen Paproski]” Rather than speaking with the farmer as he had first considered, Mr Eckenrode said again, “I started with my own property and radiated out.” From his home to the forest association properties, his ripple effect eventually encompassed his original goal. “Mr Paproski asked, ‘Would you talk to me about my property?’” Today, 12 years later, Mr Paproski is also a forest association supporter.