Robbins Swamp

Canaan, CT

more than 1,500 acres

Source: Cooley, #39

Directions:

From Falls Village, drive north on Route 7; left turn on Page Road; right turn on Sand Road; drive 0.6 miles and stop at the Hollenbeck River. At the junction of Sand Road, the Hollenbeck River, and the railroad tracks, walk north along the tracks for about a mile. The huge swamp lies to the east.

From Canaan, drive south on Route 7; bear right on Route 126 (Sand Road); drive for about 2.5 miles. Stop at the junction of Sand Road, the Hollenbeck River, and the railroad tracks; walk north along the tracks for about a mile. The huge swamp lies to the east.

Habitat:

Robbins Swamp is the largest wetland in Connecticut. Sand Road runs along the base of a lime-rock ridge. Here are seen some limestone mines where the white rock is exposed. . Calcareous fen and seepage swamp.

History:

Mrs. Louise Stanton gave over a hundred acres in three tracts to the Nature Conservancy.

The state control about 500 acres.

Trails:

Access is difficult; one can follow deer paths. The boundary line starts near the area where the train tracks splits from one track to two tracks. The area is also marked by a mixture of yellow and blue ribbons. You really just have to just bushwhack in this area.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney, brief stop March 4, 2002)

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Betula sp. (gray or white birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Chamaecyparis thyoides (northern white cedar)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus macrocarpa (bur oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)

Shrubs:
Alnus sp. (alder)
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Cornus sp. (red osier dogwood)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus sp.
Salix sp. (willow)
Spiraea alba var. latifolia (meadowsweet)

Vines:
Echinocystis lobata (wild cucumber)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Apocynum sp. (dogbane)
Arctium minus (lesser burdock)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)  Centaurea maculosa (spotted knapweed)
Calla palustris (wild calla) according to Eleanor Saulys
Centaurea maculosa (spotted knapweed)
Cirsium sp. (thistle)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)
Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot)
Oenothera biennis (common evening primrose)
Solidago spp. (goldenrods)
Typha latifolia (broad-leaved cattail)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)

Sedges:
Carex stricta (tussock sedge) lots

Grasses:
Elymus sp. (wild rye grass)
Melica sp. (false melic grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)
Setaria sp. (foxtail grass)

Ferns:
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)

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