The Year’s Ups & Downs

We’ve had numerous successes in the past year. No longer a parking lot, the grass around Pussy’s Pond may grow at last. The Trustees have instituted a plan to control the kayaks that had proliferated at Louse Point, with more than 100 left sitting on the vegetation and blocking the beach. The Town has decided to purchase (with help from the county, in some instances) several parcels that will help to preserve Accabonac’s health and beauty. Water quality seems to be improving due to increased flushing from the Gerard culvert. We have had our grant from the Overbrook Foundation renewed and enlarged! OMWM and phragmite-removal projects are getting underway, and the county is working on a new plan to perform vector control using “Intgrated Marsh Management” practices rather than the old ditch and spray approach. Hurray!

However (you knew that was coming), we are also looking at the arrival of public water in Springs. While we recognize that this may be necessary for the school and folks on Gerard, it was not supposed to come without adequate environmental study. Likewise, we are dismayed at the total lack of movement toward maintaining the Barbara Hale Refuge as a meadow, which the Town not only agreed to but in fact had inscribed in bronze on the very handsome stone marker that stands at — what will someday be — the entrance on Springs Fireplace Road. This stone, several other signs and the culvert on Gerard have been targets of spray-paint vandalism. The ongoing pressures of development, the enlarging of houses and the addition of new ones, continue to be sources of concern.

Overall, we do seem to be moving in a positive direction — maybe slowly or with some steps back —but there will always be the need for attentive, caring and determined folks (like you!), who cherish this area, to pay attention, get information and take action.