Woods Pond Park
across from house #97, East Rocks Road, City of Norwalk, Fairfield County, Connecticut

Woods Pond Association, City of Norwalk, Department of Recreation and Parks, Bird Sanctuary

Trails:

11/02/2005.  On a pleasant morning, Ceferino Santana, dog Sonar and I parked at the pull-off on East Rocks Road by the sign for the park.  There is a curtain of Japanese knotweed concealing the pond from view.  (I would suggest that a Friends of Woods Pond be formed to remove this screen of a very invasive plant.) we walked south a short distance to pick up a trail.  There are lots of multiflora rose sticker branches arching over onto the trail as well as the stems of Asiatic bittersweet.  Then there came a problem of a wet section of the trail, wet from the run off from a culvert.  (I would suggest someone channel this wide flow into a channeled stream that one can just jump over.)  Then on the south end of the pond the way was blocked by a tangle of trees, bushes and vines that blocked our way. We had to cut through the mess which took a while.  And then there is the dam.  It was a mess.  The water was flowing very slowly over the dam, blocked by jammed up logs, branches and thick carpets of water plants. And there are no stepping stone on which one can cross the dam.  I tried crossing without getting wet but was not successful. Someone should keep the dam flowing and set up some stepping stones. 

From here the trail was much easier to walk on, although the clarity of the path leaves something to be desired.  As I reached the northern end and started on thinking I could make it all the way around, the trail becomes too clogged and gets too close to private houses. 

Now, why can't someone clear a path all the way around the Pond?  Would that be too difficult? 

In short, the park is in such bad shape and is not open enough in terms of a view that I doubt many visit it.  That's a shame because it is a nice pond and the citizens of Norwalk have very little natural area.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney. 

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = plant found in bloom on date of field trip, 11/02/2005

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Alnus glutinosa (black alder)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carya sp. (hickory)
Catalpa sp. (catalpa)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus sp. (crab apple)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Ulmus rubra (slippery elm)

Shrubs and sub-shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Cephalanthus occidentalis (buttonbush)
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepper bush)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Forsythia sp. (golden bells)
Ligustrum spp. (privet) 
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Salix sp. (willow)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)
Vinca minor (periwinkle)

Vines:
Ampelopsis brevipedunculata (porcelainberry)
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Smilax rotundifolia (round-leaf greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)

Herbs:
Ajuga reptans (ajuga)
Agrimonia sp. (agrimony)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Aster spp. (aster)     *
Boehmeria cylindrica (false nettle)
Chenopodium album (pigweed)
Cichorium intybus (chicory)
Commelina communis (Asiatic dayflower)
Epilobium sp. (willowherb)
Geum canadense (white avens)
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)
Iris sp. (blue or yellow flag)
Lepidium virginicum (poor man's pepper)
Myriophyllum sp. (milfoil)     ?
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed)     *
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal)
Solanum dulcamara (bittersweet nightshade)
Solidago bicolor (silverrod)
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)
Trifolium pratense (red clover)     *
(water meal)
(water lily)

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

Grasses:
Digitaria sp. (crab grass)
Setaria glauca (yellow foxtail grass)

Ferns:
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)