GMF leads bug count to determine stream health

Tom Fahsbender, right, directs stream testers in Great Mountain Forest May 31.
Patrick L. Sullivan
Tom Fahsbender, right, directs stream testers in Great Mountain Forest May 31.
FALLS VILLAGE — One way to determine if a stream has trout in it is to fish it, either with rod and reel, or by electrofishing, in which a section is zapped with electricity and stunned fish float to the surface, where they can be quickly cataloged before they get their wits back and swim away.
The other way is to look at the local environment. Trout need cold, clear, oxygenated water, and they need bugs to eat. If these conditions are met, then the habitat probably supports trout.
This was the plan along Wangum Brook in Great Mountain Forest on the Falls Village side on Saturday, May 31.
Educator Tom Fahsbender met at the GMF barn on Canaan Mountain Road with a group of adults and high school students for a quick briefing at 9 a.m.
He explained that he had performed the same survey in the same spot about 10 years ago with a different group of volunteers.
The work is part of a state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection program called Riffle Bioassessment by Volunteers.
The surveys, conducted by similar groups of volunteers statewide, look for streams and rivers with no known pollution sensitivities, a year-round flow, plenty of riffles, no dams, and relatively shallow so the volunteers can get in and out without too much trouble.
Fahsbender said he will submit the information gathered by the group to DEEP, which will include it in the next update of the health of the state’s streams.
Of particular interest were macroinvertebrates, such as may flies, caddis flies, stone flies and dobson flies — also known as hellgrammites.
Fahsbender said the presence of these insects is used as “a proxy for water quality.”
“If it’s too warm or polluted or not oxygenated, these organisms won’t live there.”
“You don’t have to be a scientist,” he emphasized.
“It all comes from fly-fishing,” he added. Fly anglers know about the different insects that make up a trout’s diet, and use artificial imitations of real bugs to catch trout.
The surveys must be done the same way, with the same equipment. Fahsbender brandished a kick net with a rectangular business end of 18 x 14 inches and a fine mesh net.
As a bonus, the handle end serves as a wading staff as the volunteer enters the often slippery stream.
The procedure went like this.Each team — there were two teams of two people and one team of three on this occasion — selected a riffle and two areas within the riffle to sample.
Prior to entering the stream each team got about an inch of water into a smallish plastic storage bin and stashed it securely along the bank.
Once in the stream, one person held the net steady in the flow while the other spent two minutes just upstream of the net, picking up rocks and scrubbing them with their hands.
Cali Hoehne held the net steady while her mother Keri scrubbed insects off rocks.Patrick L. Sullivan
Fahsbender said this is necessary to dislodge the insects, which often cling quite stubbornly to the rocks.The sampler spent a minute stirring the streambed with a foot to dislodge anything that might have escaped the first procedure.
Then the gunk in the net was carefully emptied into the storage bin.
Just to make everything more exciting, it rained off and on during the collection period. And young Jackson Davis lost the felt sole from one of his hip boots.
The somewhat soggy crew then drove back up the hill to the GMF barn to examine their samples.
As expected, this involved a lot of separating stream matter — leaves, moss — and bugs. Sometimes a bug was lurking in the stream matter.
Bugs were then transferred into ice cube trays with a bit of water to keep them happy.
Kurt and Jonas Johnson from North Canaan — and Housatonic Valley Regional High School — found a prize: a cased caddis fly.
“It was coming out when we found it but it went back in” observed Jonas.
Jackson Davis, his mother Barb, and Julia Reinert nabbed a stonefly. The Davises are from Canton and Reinert from Winsted. The teens, along with a member of team number three, Cali Hoehne of Torrington, are in the agriculture education program at Northwestern Regional High School.
Cali’s mother Keri rounded out the third team. She displayed considerable rock-scrubbing skills.
Fahsbender scooted around the room, keeping an eye on things and reacting to the occasional cries of triumph. It was a pleasant scene.
For more information on the RBV program, see portal.ct.gov/deep/water/inland-water-monitoring/riffle-bioassessment-by-volunteers-rbv
Dee Salomon
After moving to West Cornwall in 2012, we were given a thoughtful housewarming gift: the 1997 edition of “Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs.” We were told the encyclopedic volume was the definitive gardener’s reference guide — a fact I already knew, having purchased one several months earlier at the recommendation of a gardener I admire.
At the time, we were in the thick of winter invasive removal, and I enjoyed reading and dreaming about the trees and shrubs I could plant to fill in the bare spots where the bittersweet, barberry, multiflora rose and other invasive plants had been.Years later, I purchased the 2011 edition, updated and inclusive of plants for warm climates.
On the cover of the new edition, a quote from Adrian Higgins of The Washington Post boasts, “Michael Dirr is the oracle of ornamental horticulture. I trust his judgements implicitly.” I heartily disagree with Mr. Higgins: I blame this book — and my poor use of it — for some of my worst tree and shrub choices.
Join The Lakeville Journal for a community celebration, featuring local nonprofits and businesses, festive family fun, great food, and engaging activities.
What to Expect:
See you at the Lakeville Journal Street Fair!
If you have any questions, please email streetfair@lakevillejournal.com
Cobbler n’ Cream
5 to 7 p.m.
Freund’s Farm Market & Bakery | 324 Norfolk Rd.
Canaan Carnival
6 to 10 p.m.
Bunny McGuire Park
Canaan Carnival
6 to 10 p.m.
Bunny McGuire Park
Cocktail Party
5 to 7 p.m.
Douglas Library | 108 Main St.
Canaan Carnival
6 to 10 p.m.
Bunny McGuire Park
Boot Drive
8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
North Canaan Fire Co. | 4 E. Main St.
3rd Annual Fly-In
8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Triumph Airfield | 547 W. Main St.
Canaan Railroad Station Museum
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Canaan Union Station
New England Accordion Connection
9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Canaan Union Station
Canaan Carnival
3 to 10 p.m.
Bunny McGuire Park
Berkshire Resilience Brass Band
5 to 8 p.m.
Canaan Union Station
Barbecued Chicken Dinner
5 to 7 p.m.
St. Martin of Tours | 4 Main St.
Canaan Fireman’s parade
6 p.m.
Rosa setigera is a native climbing rose whose simple flowers allow bees to easily collect pollen.
After moving to West Cornwall in 2012, we were given a thoughtful housewarming gift: the 1997 edition of “Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs.” We were told the encyclopedic volume was the definitive gardener’s reference guide — a fact I already knew, having purchased one several months earlier at the recommendation of a gardener I admire.
At the time, we were in the thick of winter invasive removal, and I enjoyed reading and dreaming about the trees and shrubs I could plant to fill in the bare spots where the bittersweet, barberry, multiflora rose and other invasive plants had been.Years later, I purchased the 2011 edition, updated and inclusive of plants for warm climates.
On the cover of the new edition, a quote from Adrian Higgins of The Washington Post boasts, “Michael Dirr is the oracle of ornamental horticulture. I trust his judgements implicitly.”I heartily disagree with Mr. Higgins:I blame this book — and my poor use of it — for some of my worst tree and shrub choices.
I realize some readers might find this declaration inflammatory. The book still occupies a place of high regard among experienced and novice gardeners alike, so please allow me to explain.
In addition to giving the reader his opinion on the aesthetic worthiness of the woody plants included in the book, Mr. Dirr makes good on the book’s title with a review of each species’ hardiness. What makes a tree hardy?It thrives in its intended site, resisting disease with leaves and bark not readily eaten by insects and other critters.
Non-native plants make up the majority of the recommended hardy plants in the book.And here is why:Native trees and shrubs are, by evolution’s design, food source and host to our native fauna — critters large and small. There is no substitute equal to the fauna’s co-evolved flora.A native caterpillar cannot eat a kousa dogwood leaf, as it has not evolved to digest it.Non-native plants seemingly have the advantage if the lens we look through values pristine, uneaten leaves.
In the days when there were sufficient thriving ecosystems to maintain local habitats, a non-native specimen tree here and there was just fine.But where we live in Northwest Connecticut, our woods, meadows, marshes and other natural areas have, for a couple of decades, been severely compromised by invasives that have almost entirely removed the food sources for native insects. It is up to us — now — to plant native plants to save the food chain.Without insects, not only will native animals die, but human food sources will also be at risk.
The security of our food pipeline seems a worthy exchange for some caterpillar-eaten leaves — and to be clear, we’re not talking about non-native infestations such as spongy moth, but rather native caterpillars, which are the singular food source for nesting birds.
My issue is that, in being a trusted source for plant selection, Dirr’s book should give equal — if not prioritized — space to information on ecological impact.For example, it would be good to know when selecting a tree, that a native oak provides food and other ecosystem services to more than 400 native animal species, while a native tulip poplar supports fewer than 30 — though that includes the Eastern tiger swallowtail. Including information on the birds and insects attracted to a given plant would enable reader to weigh these factors in choosing what to grow.But this information is not mentioned at all.
Dirr makes no mention of the role some of these plants have played in the degradation of our natural areas — an omission that is highly relevant, as many of the plants featured in his book are, in fact, invasive culprits. Plants like barberry, porcelain berry and tree of heaven are showcased for consideration alongside native plants without recognition of the devastating infestations they can manifest. Tree of Heaven is now responsible for hosting the spotted lanternfly, which is devastating crops.
Similarly Euonymous alatus (winged euonymous) and Actinidia arguta (hardy kiwi) — two highly invasive plants touted in the book — have been banned or are close to being banned for sale from nurseries in the state of Massachusetts. To his credit, Dirr does point out the invasive nature of Ligustrum sinense (Chinese privet), calling it “a terrible and devastating escapee that terrorizes floodplains, fencerows and even open fields, reducing native vegetation to rubble.” Yet Japanese honeysuckle gets an understated warning, with Dirr describing this massively invasive shrub as “bullying their way into understory and open areas.”
The latest edition of Dirr’s book devotes seven pages of copy and photos to various Berberis species, about which Dirr waxes poetic. He notes the addition of “30 new cultivars” in the latest revision and complains that “this species is under assault for its aggressive invasive nature.” He refers to Berberis thunbergii — Japanese barberry, the most invasive of them all — as “the species of major importance in garden commerce.” This plant has already been outlawed for sale in New York, Pennsylvania, New Hamphsire and Maine.A few weeks ago, a bill was passed in Connecticut recognizing the harm of a broad group of invasive plants. Under this new legislation, barberry will be phased out from sale or transport by October 2028.
In understating the invasive nature of many non-natives and de-prioritizing the importance of native species, Dirr’s widely used reference may be partly responsible for many a devastated woodland, forest, meadow and marsh in New England — if not across the U.S.Certainly, the evolution of species, and scientific knowledge about the environment, is changing faster than new editions of books can be printed. I can only hope that if a new edition of Mr. Dirr’s reference book is in the works that it will account for this criteria we now know to be vital in plant selection.
Which brings me back to that quote on the cover from The Washington Post and the larger issue it suggests:Should “ornamental horticulture” get a pass when it comes to ecological survival?I think we can agree — it should not.The consequences are simply too destructive.
Dee Salomon ‘ungardens’ in Litchfield County.