Groton Open Space Association

GOSA President, Addressing Annual Meeting, Cites Main Concerns

NOANK–GOSA President Priscilla Pratt singled out Haley Farm, the Merritt and Watrous properties, the proposed Great Brook development and creation of a Town of Groton open space fund as focuses of GOSA’s current efforts when she addressed the organization’s annual meeting.

The meeting on Oct. 16, 2003, reelected Ms. Pratt as president and elected two new members to the board of directors, Sidney Van Zandt and Genevieve Cerf. Ms. Van Zandt, who had served as GOSA’s first president, has been active in GOSA since moving back to the area in recent years. Ms. Cerf, a systems analyst who holds a PhD in electrical engineering from Columbia University, will serve as the organization’s new treasurer, succeeding Omar Allvord, who remains a director. Lorraine Santangello was elected secretary, to succeed Charles Kroll, who stays on the board.

Ms. Pratt thanked GOSA’s two pro bono lawyers, Paulann Sheets and William Kroll, and two other members of the GOSA legal team, William Hescock and Richard Dixon. She expressed gratitude to Duncan Schweitzer, a civil engineer who has advised GOSA extensively on a pro bono basis; to Cheshire-based soil scientist Sigrun Gadwa, who has worked for GOSA on a discounted basis; and farmer Thomas Crowley, who mows the fields at Haley Farm annually for a fee that has not been raised in 16 or 17 years.

She also paid tribute to Groton Councilor Elissa Wright for backing the Conservation Commission’s recommendation for a Town open space fund. Ms. Pratt complimented the Mystic River Press for excellent environmental coverage and expressed appreciation for The Day’s editorial hailing GOSA’s legal victory this summer over would-be Merritt property developers who had attempted to intimidate GOSA with a SLAPP lawsuit.

In discussing issues facing GOSA, Ms. Pratt said the GOSA-financed mowing of Haley Farm had become especially important now, because the financially strapped state has downgraded Haley Farm to a “natural area” from a state park. GOSA has appealed for funds to help pay for the mowing because current low bank interest rates fail to generate enough cash to cover the charges. Ms. Pratt also reviewed GOSA actions aimed at saving the Merritt and Watrous properties, heading off a threat to the area’s drinking water in the form of the proposed Great Brook development, and creating a town open space fund. (Details on these efforts can be found in news stories below.)

Following the business meeting, Maggie Jones, executive director of the Pequotsepos Nature Center, gave a talk, supplemented by slides, on less-well known animals found in eastern Connecticut and on the environments that support them. She said that modern conservation efforts stress linking open spaces to form connected environments. She said that although New England is heavily forested, fragmentation of the forests by roads and other development threatens wildlife. Among the less-known species that inhabit this area in varying numbers, she said, are: fishers, a form of weasel that eats squirrels; occasional black bears; 15 species of warbler; ovenbirds; whipporwills; nuthatches; grossbeaks; wood turtles; river otter (sometimes mistaken for seals); screech owls; short- and long-tailed weasels (called ermine when they turn white in winter) and indigo buntings. The Connecticut environments that nuture these and other species include vernal pools; oak-hickory forests; borderlands covering both forest and marsh; brooks and rocky ledge areas, she said.