Trails:

7/01/2005.  On a warm day, Ceferino Santana, dog Sonar and I made a brief stop to learn the name of this park.  We parked in a lot off of Route 7 by an old bridge.  The bridge was built in 1888 by the Berlin Iron Bridge Company of East Berlin, Connecticut.  We crossed over the bridge and the railroad tracks to take a look at the signs on the gate blocking the entrance way to the park.  I just noted down a few plants along the railway and by the bridge.  We did not actually travel the trail in the park.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

7/05/2005.  This time just dog Sonar and I visited the park.  This is basically a loop trail.  Crossed over the railway.  A section of old asphalt road heads north through the woods to a huge narrow meadow.  About 200 yards from the start of the meadow there is a left turn between two large sugar maple trees to a trail that heads north parallel with the Housatonic River.  I kept going straight along the meadow.  After a short walk, I came upon the pond in the park.  Someone was fishing on the other side of the pond. 

I turned right at the pond to follow around the circumference, but then decided to take a fork trail uphill.  I had to do a little trail maintenance to get through several parts of the path.  I reached a woods road and turned left.  The path heads along the north side of the pond.  I took one of the several trails heading down to the pond.  Picked up a few new species such as wooly grass bulrush and dark-green bulrush.  Head back up the path to the woods road.  Took a right path that headed farther north.  A short walk brought me through an ATV party area and then down to the Housatonic River.  The River was slow in this section. 

Turned around and went back to the woods road.  Kept following the woods road and then headed off left to head south back to the car.  The Housatonic River is down the cliff off my right shoulder.  Went through a white pine section and then a hemlock section.  The trail comes really close to the meadow on the left and then joins the meadow trail at those two sugar maple trees mentioned at the start of the walk. 

With the river, pond, meadow and woods the park is a good one because of its wide variety of habitats.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney

*  =  plant blooming on date of field trips, 7/05/2005

Trees:
Acer negundo (box elder)
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya cordiformis (bitternut hickory)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Catalpa sp. (catalpa)
Celtis occidentalis (hackberry)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)  
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juglans nigra (black walnut)   ?
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Morus alba (white mulberry) 
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Populus deltoides (cottonwood)
Populus tremuloides (quaking aspen)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Salix sp. (willow)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Tilia americana (American basswood)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Ulmus rubra (slippery elm)
Ulmus pumila (Siberian elm)     ?

Shrubs and Subshrubs:
Alnus serrulata (smooth alder)
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Ceanothus americanus (New Jersey tea)     * 
Chimaphila maculata (striped wintergreen)        *
Cornus alternifolia (alternate-leaved dogwood)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Cornus racemosa (gray dogwood)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)  
Forsythia sp. (golden bells)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Ligustrum sp. (privet)    
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rhamnus cathartica (common buckthorn) 
Rhus glabra (smooth sumac)
Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus flagellaris (northern dewberry)
Rubus hispidus (swamp dewberry)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Salix sp. (willow)
Staphylea trifolia (bladdernut)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)
Viburnum sieboldii (Siebold's viburnum)
Vinca minor (periwinkle)

Vines:
Apios americana (groundnut)
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis aestivalis (summer grape)
Vitis riparia (riverbank grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)      *
Actaea rubra (red baneberry) 
Agrimonia gryposepala (common agrimony)       *
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)      *
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed)
Amphicarpaea bracteata (hog peanut)
Anemone virginiana (thimbleweed)     *
Apocynum androsaemifolium (spreading dogbane)     * 
Arabis glabra (tower mustard)
Aralia nudicaulis (wild sarsaparilla)    
Asarum canadense (wild ginger) 
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)     *
Aster spp. (asters)
Cardamine impatiens (narrow-leaved bittercress) 
Caulophyllum thalictroides (blue cohosh)
Centaurea maculosa (spotted knapweed)      *
Chelidonium majus (celandine)     *
Chenopodium album (pigweed) 
Chrysanthemum leucanthemum (ox-eye daisy)     * 
Circaea lutetiana (enchanter's nightshade)     *
Collinsonia canadensis (horsebalm)
Commelina communis (Asiatic dayflower)     *
Conyza canadensis (horseweed) 
Coronilla varia (crown vetch)     *
Datura stramonium (jimsonweed)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)     *
Dianthus armeria (Deptford pink)     *
Epipactis helleborine (helleborine orchid)     * 
Erigeron annuus (daisy fleabane)     *
Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot)
Fragaria virginiana (common strawberry)
Galium aparine (cleavers)
Galium mollugo (wild madder)     *
Galium sp. (bedstraw)
Geranium maculatum (wild geranium) 
Geum canadense (white avens)     * 
Hemerocallis fulva (tawny day lily)     * 
Hesperis matronalis (dame's rocket)     * 
Hypericum perforatum (common St. Johnswort)     * 
Impatiens pallida (yellow jewelweed)     *
Iris sp. (iris)
Laportea canadensis (wood nettle)    *
Lapsana communis (nipplewort)     * 
Leonurus cardiaca (motherwort)     * 
Lespedeza sp. (bushclover) 
Linaria vulgaris (butter and eggs)
Lysimachia ciliata (fringed loosestrife)     *
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)      *
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Medicago lupulina (black medick)     *
Melilotus alba (white sweet clover)     *
Monotropa uniflora (Indian pipe)
Myosotis scorpioides (forget-me-not)     *
Osmorhiza claytonii (sweet cicely) 
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)     *
Pastinaca sativa (wild parsnip)     *
Pilea pumila (clearweed) 
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)    
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed)     *
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Portulaca oleracea (common purslane)
Potentilla recta (rough-fruited cinquefoil)     *
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal)    
Ranunculus acris (tall buttercup)    
Rudbeckia hirta var. pulcherrima (black-eyed Susan)     *
Rumex crispus (curled dock)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Sagittaria latifolia (broad-leaved arrowhead)
Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot)
Sedum ternatum (wild stonecrop) 
Silene latifolia (white campion)     *
Smilacina racemosa (false Solomon's seal)
Solanum dulcamara (bittersweet nightshade)     *
Solidago caesia (blue-stem goldenrod)      
Solidago flexicaulis (zig-zag goldenrod) 
Stellaria pubera (giant chickweed)     * 
Thalictrum pubescens (tall meadowrue)     *
Trifolium aureum (yellow clover)     *
Trifolium hybridum (alsike clover)     *    
Trifolium pratense (red clover)     *
Trifolium repens (white clover)     *
Trillium erectum (red trillium)
Triodanis perfoliata  (Venus looking glass)     *
Urtica dioica var. procera (tall nettle)    
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)    *
Veronica anagallis-aquatica (water speedwell)     *
Vicia cracca (cow vetch)     *
Viola pubescens (yellow forest violet) 
Viola sp. (violet)

Rushes:
Juncus canadensis (Canada rush)
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Carex lurida (sallow sedge)
Carex ovales types (ovales type sedges)
Carex vulpinoidea (fox sedge)
Scirpus atrovirens (dark-green bulrush)
Scirpus cyperinus (woolly grass bulrush)

Grasses:
Bromus inermis (smooth brome grass)
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Elymus hystrix (bottlebrush grass)
Elytrigia repens (quack grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Phleum pratense (Timothy grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Equisetum arvense (field horsetail)
Equisetum hyemale (scouring rush)
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Dryopteris marginalis (marginal woodfern)
Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)

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