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The
Nature
of Branford
by Lauren Brown
A the landscape the
confronted Branford’s early settler was hugely
different from that of today: it was mainly forest,
broken only by rivers and tidal creeks. Where these
rivers met the Sound lay the vast tidal marshes and
upstream, perhaps, some wet grassy meadows.
Over the years, the
natural features of Branford have been drastically
modified. The 17th and 18th
centuries saw large-scale clearing of the forest and
the establishment of farms; the 19th and
20th centuries saw a decline of farming
along with an expansion of industrial, commercial
and residential development. This brings us to the
Branford we see today: a landscape dominated by
roads, houses, businesses and factories, and most of
the forest is now lawns or parking lots.
In spite of the
continued waves of building in town, however,
Branford is still blessed with a surprising amount
of undeveloped land and with a good diversity of
habitats, providing room for inhabitants, other than
just homo sapiens.
A major reason for
this diversity lies in our unusual geology. A fault
runs through the town, on a diagonal from the foot
of Beacon Hill to the northeastern end of the Supply
Pond. You don’t need to fear an earthquake if you
live near it, but it is significant, representing a
geological gap of approximately 200 million years.
On the east side of the fault are hard rocks like
granite, formed by heat and pressure around 400
million years ago; on the west side is soft
sandstone, laid down gradually as sediment around
200 million years ago. The sandstone is interrupted
by volcanic intrusions which have hardened into
basalt, also known as trap rock. These basalt
intrusions are easily visible: one on Beacon Hill,
by the Trolley Museum, another is the Lucy T. Hammer
Woodlands.
The trap rock ridges
are ecologically special. Rising like islands of
woodlands over the surrounding area, they are
important stopover spots for migrating spring
warblers. They also have fabulous displays of spring
wild flowers, thanks to the rich soil formed by
weathered basalt.
Most of the inland in
Branford is woodland, just as it was 350 years ago,
but these are new woods that have regrown after
abandonment of farmland and/or repeated logging.
These forests, composed of oak, hickory, maple, ash
and others, are home for deer, chipmunk, raccoon,
squirrels and others. River otter, a species that
went into severe decline earlier in the century,
have been sighted in Branford’s woods, and a
newcomer into our state-the coyote- has also been
seen. The worm eating warbler, a species in decline,
is seen every year in Branford’s forest. Wooded
tracts that are interspersed with ponds and open
fields harbor an amazing diversity. Noble Proctor, a
noted ornithologist who lives in Branford, has been
keeping a list for twenty years of all the birds he
has seen on the Branford Supply Pond’s property. The
total is 235: half of all the birds ever seen in
Connecticut.
One of our most
distinctive natural areas is the shoreline, with its
rocky coastal woods and broad tidal marshes.
Inhabitants of the marshes are the egrets, the great
blue heron and – in recent years- the osprey.
And thanks to the
efforts of the Town of Branford, State of
Connecticut, and the Branford Land Trust and many
generous individuals, much natural land is
accessible to the public. Beacon Hill, Pisgah Brook,
the Supply Pond, the Stony Creek Quarry, and the
Stony Creek Trolley Trail are but a few of the areas
that are open to the public to enjoy. Branford still
has many areas of great ecological interest and
exceptional natural beauty.
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