The Bennett's Pond property has become a defacto nature preserve for the town of Ridgefield. This large, pristine property not only fulfills the town's stated open space objectives; it is also home to a panoply of flora and fauna -- many of them threatened. The property is also an important source of clean water.

A precious water source

The Bennett's Pond property is an essential drinking water source for an area stretching from Ridgefield to Long Island Sound. The pond directly feeds the Saugatuck Reservoir, which supplies drinking water to 350,000 people in lower Fairfield County.

Most of the property is designated Class I, signifying land within a public water supply watershed. The property also helps to recharge (refill) the Sugar Hollow stratified drift aquifer, an underground potable water reserve vital to bedrock wells in the area. As such, most of the property is also classified "GAA," designating its influence on community and non-community water supply wells.

Surface waters on the property bear AA classifications, indicating they are known or presumed to meet quality criteria for such "best usages" as public water supplies, fish and wildlife habitat and recreational uses.

A myriad of animals

The inventory of animal life on the Bennett's Pond property is impressive. The property's large size and pristine ecology supports imperiled species that elsewhere have suffered habitat loss.

In addition to foxes, coyote, mink, deer and other mammals, two species of concern -- the eastern hognose snake and the wood turtle -- inhabit the property, according to the state DEP's Natural Diversity Data Base. The bog turtle, one of the rarest and most elusive turtles in North America, was sighted close to the property and is likely to dwell there. Another rare species, the Thompson salamander, is also believed present. The pond is home to several active beaver dams. Many species of water fowl can be found, including the rare American Black Duck.

Songbirds included on national, regional and state conservation priority lists populate the site. Here, high hemlock and mixed conifer/deciduous woodlands support populations of birds -- Hermit Thrushes, Acadian Flycatchers, Yellow-throated Vireos and Scarlet Tanagers among them -- more typical of northern forests than of Fairfield County. A Cerulean Warbler sighting during breeding season suggests the possibility of a nesting colony of this rare species.

Rare and endangered amphibian species, as well as fairy shrimp, seed shrimp, snails, dragonfly larvae and other invertebrates, reproduce only in vernal (seasonal) pools such as those found on the property.

A lush habitat for plants

Mixed hardwood forests flourish on the property. Striped maple, yellow birch and several woody species more commonly found in northern climates abound. Conifers include hemlock and white pine. Ferns, mosses and lichens -- key indicators of air and water quality -- are found in great abundance. Vegetation communities with considerable ecological value thrive in the pond and stream corridor, the vernal pools and the forests connecting the wetland system to the undeveloped lands north of the property. The threatened Lady Slippers orchid, the rare Cardinal flower and the prized wild ginseng all grow here, along with other rarely seen plants and flowers.

So much to lose -- what to gain?

The Bennett's Pond property represents the last, large parcel of quality open space in Ridgefield. Preserving this land in perpetuity will protect the health of our water and air, maintain the rural flavor of our town and a preserve an irreplaceable diversity of disappearing natural treasures. We simply can't afford to lose it.



This is the fourth in a series of columns prepared by the Ridgefield Open Space Association (ROSA), a non-profit, grassroots organization dedicated to the preservation of the Bennett's Pond property and open space throughout Ridgefield. For ROSA information, contact: P.O. Box 492, Ridgefield; email: ROSA@mags.net; phone: 431-6662; Web site: www.rosaopenspace.org.