2020-7-9, Yale Nature Preserve, New Haven, CT

On 2020-7-9, I went back to the Yale Nature Preserve in New Haven and continued the explorations I started on my 2020-7-8 trip.  Here's a link to my interactive map of this trip: http://arcg.is/01G9nC .

1.  An old road led to the edge of the Yale golf course.  The course must be closed because of the pandemic.


2.  No trail leads to this old dam.  Note the number "1926" to the left of the gate in the dam.  Was this dam built in 1926?


3.  This boardwalk is no longer useable.


4.  One of two useable boardwalks.


5.  It seems this is buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis.  It was growing in the wetland next to one of the useable boardwalks.


5.  Buttonbush, I think.  The leaves are either opposite, or in whorls of three.


6.  There was lots of evidence of blow-down cutting on thoroughfares in Yale Nature Preserve.  This was a path that seemed to have been once a road, but maintainers don't seem to be coming through with trucks --- there is not enough room between this blowdown and the standing tree.


7.  This sign is at the approximate border between Yale land and South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority land.  I believe you can purchase a pass to legally visit many areas owned by South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority, including the land beyond this sign.  Here is the link for more informtion: https://www.rwater.com/in-the-community/recreation .


8.  The path I was on must have been an old road.  I call this a stone culvert.  I'd guess that it was built more than a hundred years ago.


8.  Here, you can see the path where it crosses the culvert.  How do you define the difference between a culvert and a bridge?


9.  This inviting-looking path continued.


10.    A view of the woods, which had a lot of wetlands.


11.  Evidence that this path was once a  road:  the remains of a clay culvert.


Near 4.


Near 4.  Chimaphila maculata, spotted wintergreen.


4.  Chimaphila maculata, spotted wintergreen.  The foliage (which is evergreen) is usually darker than this.



Below is a map that appeared in a 1965 publication entitled "Yale Natural Preserve, New Haven," written by Frank E. Egler and William A. Neiring.












David Reik

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