Park on Long Ridge Road

Long Ridge Road, Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut

Directions:

Merritt Parkway north; get off at Exit 34; turn right onto Long Ridge Road; travel past the intersection with Roxbury Road and soon on the left is the small entrance to the Park.  If there is no traffic, one could turn left and go into the parking area, but the road is a very busy one.  (So one may need to travel south of the park to a side street so one can turn around and travel north on Long Ridge Road to the parking entrance.

History:

Land & Water Conservation Fund: A Cooperative Project of Outdoor Recreation.

Hikes:

10/10/2005. On a cool, cloudy day, Ceferino Santana, dog Sonar and I went botanizing in Stamford.  We started north through the large field of mugwort and goldenrod.  The Rippowam River is on the right (east)  We walked along the edge of the flood plain forest looking for an opening down to the river.  We found one soon enough and walked down to the River which here is not very big.    We found a very rough informal trail running parallel with the River.  There is a real problem here with the Asiatic bittersweet vines, which are slowly killing the trees.  We cut some of the vines, but could not cut them all since they are so numerous, multiple vines on the trees.

We soon reached a blockage and so we had to leave the flood plain for the field.  Turned right and walked through the field.  It was very difficult because there is no real trail and the mugwort was extremely dense.  Worked our way up to the roadside cliff leading up to Buckingham Drive.  We turned right and walked along a ditch by the cliff until we reached the River.  We turned right and walked south parallel to the River.  We had to do some bushwhacking and cutting of invasive species to push through all the way back to the car.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = plant blooming on date of field trip 10/10/2005

Trees:
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharinum (silver maple)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya sp. (hickory)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Paulownia tomentosa (princess tree)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Populus deltoides (cottonwood)  --  lots of them
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus sp. (crab apple)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Salix sp. (willow)
Tilia americana (American basswood)
Ulmus rubra (slippery elm)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)

Vines:
Ampelopsis brevipedunculata (porcelainberry)
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)  --  a real big problem  (cut those vines off at the base)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese barberry)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Arctium sp. (burdock)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Aster spp. (small white aster)     *
Boehmeria cylindrica (false nettle)
Conyza canadensis (horseweed)
Cryptotaenia canadensis (honewort) 
Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot)     *
Geum canadense (white avens)
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)
Lepidium virginicum (poor man's pepper)
Lysimachia nummularia (moneywort)
Oenothera biennis (common evening primrose)
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)
Peltandra virginica (arrow arum)
Pilea pumila (clearweed)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed)     *
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese smartweed)   
Polygonum sp. (smartweed)
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Solanum dulcamara (bittersweet nightshade)
Solidago caesia (blue-stem goldenrod)     *
Solidago rugosa (rough-leaved goldenrod)     *
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)     *
Thalictrum pubescens (tall meadowrue)
Urtica dioica var. dioica (stinging nettle)

Grasses:
Cinna arundinacea (wood reedgrass)
Digitaria sp. (crab grass)
Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail grass)

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