Paugussett Trail Clearing; Mayflower Lane to Rt. 110

On a muggy Saturday, several trails volunteers met at Sinsabaugh Heights to clear out the Paugussett Trail from Mayflower Lane down to Rt. 110.  The work party was a success, and after everyone sweated out several pounds of water the trail was much clearer.

Graham, Bob, Jim, Val, Betsy, Mark and Mike, along with Luis & Terry (not pictured) posing in the briar tunnel (and not many towns can say they have one of those) after the cutting was done.  Nice Job.

This was the "Before" picture in some areas.  It's amazing what sun and rain can do for plant growth where you don't want it to grow sometimes.

Here's the "After" picture.  Can you find the Paugussett Trail now?  Good.

Jim & Luis headed down to Rt. 110 and worked uphill.  A second team worked downhill from Sinsabaugh.  A third team cut uphill toward Mayflower Lane.

It was hot work, but we were making good progress in the heat and humidity.  Unfortunately, when we got up to Mayflower Lane there was a large dump of yard waste from nearby residential lawns that had been piled up in the trail.  I could repeat what was said, but this is a family blog.    There was ornamental grass, sticks, evergreen shrubs, grass clippings, and thick leaf piles that appeared to come from some of the neighboring yards, not the City Open Space.  We set about to clear out the trailhead and piled all the yard waste out on City-owed property by the road so everyone on the street could enjoy the waste piles.

The yard waste was dumped right behind the sign that said no dumping waste, and the City fine amounts.  Nice Touch.

 So the volunteers, on their Saturday, in high heat and humidity, cleaned up the mess.

And this is the view from the trailhead out to Mayflower Lane.  I can understand how some people want nicely maintained lawns, but most properties in Shelton can manage to have a compost pile somewhere on your own property, or else take the stuff to the transfer station for free.  And if you use a lawn service you are responsible for what your employees do and where they dump.  Do Not Dump Your Waste on City Property, and Do Not Dump Your Garbage in the Middle of the Trail.

We also cut back briars, raked the trail, cut brush and made it easy to see where the trail went for everyone.

So we got a lot of work done all the way down to Rt. 110 opposite Indian Well State Park.  Thanks to the Sinsabaugh folks that warned us about the bees; nobody got stung.  Enjoy your Shelton Open Spaces, and no dumping.  Lets show some community pride and Keep Shelton Clean.