Bogus Brook Preserve
Chuck Wagon Road, Redding, Fairfield County, CT
36 acres

Directions:

From West Redding Station, take Long Ridge Road toward Danbury, second road on the right is Old Lantern Road, follow that to Chuck Wagon, park in the turn-around.

Or:

From Route 53, turn left onto Side Cut Road, while setting the odometer at 0; bear right onto Station Road; at 0.6 there is a stop sign; shortly afterward turn right onto Long Ridge Road heading over the railroad tracks at the West Redding Railroad Station; at 1.2 miles turn right onto Old Lantern Road; at 2.0 miles turn right onto Chuck Wagon Road; at 2.3 miles park at the dead end circle near the lake.

History:

1975  --  the preserve is purchased with state and federal aid.

1984  --  James Ellsworth designs the trail system.

Habitats:

There is a nice size lake here. There are also lots of signs of beaver activity as they have cut down a number of trees. Cattail marsh.  Bogus Swamp surrounds the Bogus Mountain Brook (that flows into the Saugatuck River). Upland woods.

Trails:

2.7 miles of  trails.  The trail system looks like a rough figure of a man.  The circular Beaver Trail forms the head in the north. The right side of the body is made up of the Bogus Trail, which also forms the skinny right leg along with an oblong right foot.  The Top Rock Trail forms the left side of the body, the left leg, and another fat oblong foot (left one).  At the point of the left foot there is a ledge (Top Rock).   

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney (March 15, 2002)

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Alnus glutinosa (black alder)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Ostrya virginiana (American hop hornbeam)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)

Shrubs:
Alnus serrulata (smooth alder)
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Chimaphila maculata (spotted wintergreen)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Eubotrys racemosa (fetterbush) with little scattered cloves
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus sp. (dewberry) prickly on both runner and stem
Spiraea tomentosa (steeplebush)
Vaccinium corymbosum (high bush blueberry)
Vaccinium sp. (a low-bush blueberry type)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)

Herbs:
Cardamine pratensis var. palustris (cuckoo flower)?
Geum canadense (white avens)
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)
Potentilla sp. (cinquefoil)
Pyrola rotundifolia (round-leaved pyrola)
Ranunculus sp. (swamp buttercup)?
Solidago sp. (goldenrod)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Typha latifolia (broad-leaved cattail)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)

Rushes:
Juncus effusus (soft rush)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (sedge)
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)
Scirpus cyperinus (woolly grass bulrush)

Grasses:
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Lycopodium obscurum (ground pine clubmoss)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)

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