NRWA Newsletter & Webinar Series

Norwalk River Watershed Association

Webinars

Our New Nature-Friendly Gardening Webinar Series With Norwalk Library

Click on the title to watch each 1-hour webinar

Seeds for Seven Generations

Let’s Grow the Best Food! Organic Vegetable Gardening

May! New England’s Best Birding Month With Chris Bosak

Every Small Space of Meadow Helps the World with DEEP’s Peter Picone

Sound Ecology: Welcoming the Voices of Nature to Your Garden

Virtual Tour of the EcoType Project

Know Your Weeds With Roberta DiBisceglie (this is a recording of the same talk Roberta gave for NRWA on July 9, but it was given earlier at a CT NOFA Conference)

Attracting Butterflies to Your Garden and Yard with Redding’s Victor Demasi.

Attracting Songbirds to Your Garden & Yard With John Root

Invasion of the Invasives With Pollinator Pathway NE co-founder, Jackie Algon

Weeds & Seeds: Building Wild Resilience Through Ungardening

Our Partnership With Weston Pollinator Pathway

BEE the Change: How to Join the Pollinator Pathway

For Earth Day 2021, join the Norwalk Historical Society for “Conservation Norwalk: A Present Day History”

This panel discussion will include guest presenters from Norwalk’s leading conservation organizations including the Norwalk Land Trust, Norwalk River Valley Trail, Norwalk River Watershed Association, Norwalk Tree Alliance and Oak Hills Park Nature Advisory Committee. Discover each organization’s history in preserving land and open space in Norwalk, as well as their past, current, and future endeavors. The discussion will conclude with a Q & A moderated by Norwalk Historical Society Executive Director, Diane Jellerette.

Creating More Diverse Communities and Healthier Environments: The Environmental Case for More Equitable Planning

Most Connecticut residents support equity, inclusive growth, and a clean and healthful environment. Tune into this webinar to learn how these three things are inextricably linked. You’ll discover how our communities can promote both equitable housing and better environmental stewardship – including better health for our watersheds. The talk will be given by Desegregate CT founder Sara Bronin, an architect and law professor.

Sara’s talk is brought to you by NRWA, which has invited the libraries and communities of the watershed to attend. Our watershed is made up of 6 Connecticut towns – New Canaan, Norwalk, Redding, Ridgefield, Weston, Wilton, CT – and Lewisboro, NY. We all share this beautiful river, and it’s connected streams, and library communities. Imagine sharing the vision of working together to provide clean water, clean air, and access to nature for everyone in our 40,000-acre watershed. This talk will explore that possibility.

Webinar Series on Wilton’s Comstock Brook–-Its Importance as a Trout Brook, Threats to its Health, and What We Can Do to Restore It With Co-hosts Wilton Library, Wilton Land Conservation Trust, Trout Unlimited and NRWA

Comstock Brook provides Wilton and Norwalk with drinking water and is home to some of our watershed’s only native brook trout—which is exciting for fishermen but is also an indicator of a healthy aquatic ecosystem, and one we as a community need to work together to protect. The Brook is currently threatened by storm-water runoff, habitat fragmentation, dams, and water company withdrawals. All of these impacts are magnified by the impacts of climate change.

We would like to open a town-wide discussion in Wilton about how we can advocate for protecting and restoring it. Please join us and learn how you can play a role in protecting and conserving this precious stream. This series is presented by NRWA, Wilton Library, Wilton Land Conservation Trust, and Trout Unlimited Mianus Chapter.

Part 1: Comstock Brook: Protecting & Restoring Our Native Brook Trout Stream with Jeff Yates, Conservation Chair of the Mianus Chapter of Trout Unlimited. August 18, 2020.

Part 2: Bee The Change: Protecting Our Rivers By Joining the Pollinator Pathway with Donna Merrill of Wilton Land Conservation Trust and Louise Washer with Norwalk River Watershed Association.

Part 3: From Spectacle Swamp to Long Island Sound: Growing Up Fishing Comstock Brook with Long Island Soundkeeper Bill Lucey. Sepetember 15, 2020.

Part 4: Comstock Brook Benefits from New Initiatives to Improve Stream Management in Connecticut with Chris Bellucci, CT Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection. Wednesday, January 13, 6 PM.

Pollinator Pathway Talks

BEE the Change: How to Join the Weston Pollinator Pathway, 6/22/20

Join the Glastonbury Pollinator Pathway, 2/11/21

New Digital Conservation Mapping for Norwalk Neighborhoods and City Planners

Learn about your neighborhood, and our city, at a glance. Common Council representative and member of the Norwalk Land Trust, Lisa Shanahan, and H2H Coordinator Katie Blake demonstrate how we can all use these maps to better understand the conservation issues our city faces. Connectivity, Ecology, Urban Heat Island Effect, Equity and Social Factors, Flood Risk, Recreation Opportunities, and Public Health data were considered when creating the maps.

These maps are a resource available to help you plan and advocate for your community. Come learn how they can help you in:
o Addressing climate change
o Protecting open space
o Ensuring access to nature
o Creating connected corridors
of wildlife habitat

The maps are the result of The Norwalk Urban Conservation Mapping Pilot Project, an initiative of the H2H Regional Conservation Partnership in partnership with the Norwalk Land Trust. They were born out of a need for a new conservation mapping model that could be utilized by cities and towns across the H2H region to identify priority locations in need of conservation, protection, or restoration. This webinar was sponsored by the Coalition of Norwalk Neighborhood Associations, NRWA, Norwalk Land Trust & the Norwalk Public Library.