Willimantic Wildlife Habitat

03/31/2026

Where can you see this? Lighthouse Point in Connecticut: A coastal site with great views of hawks and other raptors.
Or more locally...
Airline State Park Trail in Windham, Connecticut: A hiking trail with potential hawk spotting opportunities.
Sawmill Brook Preserve in Mansfield, Connecticut: A nature preserve with trails and potential hawk sightings.

03/23/2026

---PROTECT OUR RIVER--
SAVE THE DATE: APRIL 2, 7PM, WINDHAM TOWN HALL!
If you enjoy The Willimantic River and want to keep it looking wild, we could use your help. There is a 2.8 acre parcel on the south side of the Willimantic River which a large company wishes to develop. It is the only such undeveloped area in the central section of downtown Willimantic. It is covered by forest with many mature native trees Oaks,Tulip,Hickory) and serves as a watershed for the river as well as home for a vast collection of wildlife. A Manchester company is requesting an “accommodation” from our Wetland Commission to build a two-story 6,664 sq. ft. “Recovery House” which will partially fall within the 200 foot “Upland Review Area” designed to give the River Watershed legal protection. They won’t buy the parcel if they can’t build.
The hearing is on Thursday April 2, 7 PM, at the Windham Town Hall . If you can come and /or tell others, please do. It makes a difference to have a crowd. (For Wetlands meetings you don’t have to be a resident. …and that’s because River health… clean water… doesn’t affect only one locality.)
The proposed site is the only fairly large (2.8 acres) undeveloped forested habitat along the river in our downtown area. It’s in no-one’s private backyard, it suffers less light pollution than anywhere in its immediate vicinity, and it is essential for the many animals that support river ecology… owls, a heron, hawks, songbirds, an osprey, small and medium woodland mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and of course insects… those that feed the fish, fireflies that light up our backyards.
The company lawyers are well-prepared to argue that the variance should be granted because there are 1) no “endangered species” there, 2) it is not a “wetland”, 3) only a “little bit” of the building infringes on the protected watershed space, 4) the soil is extremely healthy offering good drainage, and 5) they will landscape with native plants.
I plan to argue that 1) any variance will set a bad precedent and undermine hard-won vital environmental protections , 2) there is already great pressure on the watershed’s ability to protect the river because there is so little undeveloped land in the city (homes line the state highway to the immediate south and west of the proposed site. the Railroad tracks and Main Street: town hall, downtown stores, parking garage, all to the North. 3) The building itself, along with the pavement for the planned parking lot and entrance road will significantly subtract from the ability of the soil to absorb the upland run-ooff , and 4) the quality of the remaining watershed, the the health of the river, and the ecological balance will all suffer.
The most important thing you can do to protect the watershed and the river is to attend the Wetlands Commission Meeting on April 2nd, 7:00 PM at Windham Town Hall. You need not be a resident to attend or to speak. If you want more information or have additional suggestions for me, message me on facebook (here or at 'Pamela Bliss Wright') and I’ll call or give you contact #.) And tell your Friends.

03/19/2026

Groundbreaking for the hardscaping at Whitewater Park and the suggested native trees to be added. (we hope)

12/17/2025

Last night, Trump signed away 13.3 million acres of Alaska.

Using the Congressional Review Act—a fast-track legislative tool that allows federal protections to be erased with a simple majority vote—he overturned the Central Yukon Resource Management Plan. This plan took over a decade of work by Alaskans, tribes, scientists, and land managers to create. Once repealed, similar protections cannot be reinstated. The rollback is permanent by design.

What does this actually mean?

13.3 million acres of public land in central and northern Alaska are now open to mining and industrial extraction.
The Arctic Refuge’s coastal plain—where the Porcupine Caribou Herd calves and where Gwich’in communities depend on the land for food—is once again available for oil drilling.

This decision also clears the path for the Ambler industrial mining road: a 211-mile corridor slicing through the wild landscape surrounding Gates of the Arctic National Park. The road threatens salmon runs and caribou populations that are already at historic lows and in crisis.

These are not abstract policy changes. They endanger food security, subsistence hunting grounds, clean water, and the wildlife that sustain entire communities—sacrificed for industrial and foreign interests.

Repealing the plan makes it easier to fast-track industrial access while reducing Indigenous voices and traditional knowledge in federal decision-making, despite Alaska Native communities bearing the greatest impact from extractive industries.

Share this. Alaska will only become a political priority again if enough people refuse to look away.

Photo credits:
USFWS – Danielle Brigida
Schuyler Alig

12/17/2025

Be aware of political decisions that affect our land.... land over which we have stewardship and responsibility... land we share with the many other species that make up our world. If we do not save them, we will not save ourselves. Speak out.

Last night, Trump signed away 13.3 million acres of Alaska.

Using the Congressional Review Act—a fast-track legislative tool that allows federal protections to be erased with a simple majority vote—he overturned the Central Yukon Resource Management Plan. This plan took over a decade of work by Alaskans, tribes, scientists, and land managers to create. Once repealed, similar protections cannot be reinstated. The rollback is permanent by design.

What does this actually mean?

13.3 million acres of public land in central and northern Alaska are now open to mining and industrial extraction.
The Arctic Refuge’s coastal plain—where the Porcupine Caribou Herd calves and where Gwich’in communities depend on the land for food—is once again available for oil drilling.

This decision also clears the path for the Ambler industrial mining road: a 211-mile corridor slicing through the wild landscape surrounding Gates of the Arctic National Park. The road threatens salmon runs and caribou populations that are already at historic lows and in crisis.

These are not abstract policy changes. They endanger food security, subsistence hunting grounds, clean water, and the wildlife that sustain entire communities—sacrificed for industrial and foreign interests.

Repealing the plan makes it easier to fast-track industrial access while reducing Indigenous voices and traditional knowledge in federal decision-making, despite Alaska Native communities bearing the greatest impact from extractive industries.

Share this. Alaska will only become a political priority again if enough people refuse to look away.

Photo credits:
USFWS – Danielle Brigida
Schuyler Alig

12/10/2025

Reminder: The Willimantic Wildlife Habitat project is a standing committee of the Garden Club of Windham, and related postings can be seen on the Garden Club of Windham page. There is also excellent information in the
Garden Club of Windham monthly newsletter. Consider joining the Garden Club of Windham. Your membership helps with our mission. Here are some winter activities to connect you with wildlife right in our neighborhood.

11/17/2025

11/17/2025

The "Wildlife Habitat Committee" is an active part of the Garden Club of Windham. Providing and Improving habitat for other species is one more way for us to protect the environment and improve our own quality of life.

11/03/2025

She doesn’t die in the hive. She dies where she lived — among flowers.
When worker bees grow old, their wings fray, their flight weakens, and their work begins to slow.

Scientists and beekeepers have observed a quiet ritual:
as the end nears, the bees slip away from their hives, choosing to rest on nearby blooms beneath the fading light.
By dying outside, they protect the colony from disease — their final act of service.

Sometimes, they gather one last grain of pollen before their wings give out —
a farewell offering to the hive they spent their lives building.
It’s less an ending, more a lesson — that purpose doesn’t fade; it transforms.

Every jar of honey, every bloom, every piece of fruit carries their devotion.
Because even in their final flight, they remind us what love in action looks like.

Source: Smithsonian Magazine (2023), National Geographic (2024), BBC Earth (2023)