New Canaan Audubon Society  -- Henry Kelley Uplands Wildlife Sanctuary
Cedar Lane, New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut

Directions:

US 287 north to Exit 9N for the Merritt Parkway heading north; get off at Exit 38; turn right onto New Canaan Avenue; drive under the Merritt Parkway and take the first right onto Carter Street; drive about 1.2 miles to make a right onto Hickory Drive; drive 0.2 of a mile and turn right onto Cedar Lane.  There are two signs for the Sanctuary, one across from house #77 and the other across from house #101. Park along the road.

Trails:

There are no trails here.  The first parking area is mostly wetlands.  The second parking area is a dry white pine grove. 

10/27/2005.  On a somewhat cold, cloudy day, dog Sonar and I parked at the wetlands parking area.  We walked west for a short distance and then forced our way past the "hedge" of multiflora rose and Asiatic bittersweet.  Jumped over a small stream and then entered the interior. The area is somewhat like a red maple swamp.  We tried to go straight but the area was too wet.  So we worked our way to the left side to get to a little higher ground.  We bushwhacked for awhile in the wet area until we came to a clearer area.  We turned right and I decided to try to make a loop trail back to my car. 

Near a stone wall we turned right again.  The area was a little wet.  Came to some drier land and found an informal route.  But to travel it I had to cut some of the invasive and thorny Japanese barberry.  The informal path led back to Cedar Lane.  Near the Lane we turned right to walk the short distance to the car. 

Drove the car east down Cedar Lane and parked at the second sign for the Sanctuary.  This was much easier going because we were walking on the soft needles of the white pine grove.  A little farther east there are lots of another invasive, winged euonymus. We walked in a small loop in the area to return to the car.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = plant found in bloom on date of field trip, 10/27/2005

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya sp. (hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo)
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs and sub-shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry)
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Pachysandra terminalis (pachysandra)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (dewberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Viburnum dentatum (arrowwood viburnum)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Euonymus fortunii (Fortune's euonymus)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Smilax rotundifolia (round-leaf greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis labrusca (fox grape)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Apocynum sp. (dogbane)
Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot)
Eupatorium virginianum (jumpseed)
Geum canadense (white avens)
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed)
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered sedge type)
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)

Grasses:
Glyceria sp. (mannagrass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail grass)
Setaria glauca (yellow foxtail grass)

Ferns:
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Osmunda regalis (royal fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)