Coginchaug River
Cleanup July 28

From today's Hartford Courant:

MIDDLETOWN - - The Jonah Center for Earth and Art will hold a river clean up July 28 from 9 a.m. to noon along the Coginchaug River in the North End. The goal is to remove plastic bottles, tents and tarps left by campers and other debris from the site of the Jonah Center's proposed boat launch adjacent to the city's closed landfill, and from the 20 acres of newly acquired open space on the river's floodplain. Volunteers are needed at both locations. Volunteers can reach the boat-launch site via the Middletown recycling center, at North Main and Johnson streets. Go left after entering the recycling center, park near the brush piles, and follow the access road to the north. The open space location on the Coginchaug floodplain, known as the Salafia property, may be reached from the west end of Catherine Street. Guides will be at these locations to direct volunteers..... For more information, call John Hall at 860-343-3259. Link to group's web site:
http://www.thejonahcenter.org/index.php

To help volunteers find the site here is a link to a Goggle map.






This is view a of my favorite little river, the Coginchaug, as it flows near my home in Middletown's West End. The riverbed and banks are fairly clean in my neighborhood although I have noticed quite a few cans and bottles and even one abandoned shopping cart. Conditions deteriorate rapidly, I have learned, at the area known as the city's North End peninsula near the confluence of the Coginchaug and the Mattabesset. Here debris has accumulated, carelessly discarded by campers, boaters and others. Fortunately, a group called Jonah Center for Earth and Art has put forth an ambitious plan to cleanup the area and develop it as an innovative center for ecological study and community activity. A boat launch is planned. The Jonah Center's web site offers a wealth of information about the area.

The Jonah Center for Earth and Art wants to transform the neck of land at the confluence of the Mattabesett and Coginchaug Rivers (the “North End Peninsula”) in Middletown, CT into an innovative educational facility and a major tourist destination. This property, which now appears to be urban industrial blight, is rich in educational and recreational possibilities.

The Jonah Center for Earth and Art wants to teach — by means of a truly living, evolving facility — how energy from the sun is captured and then circulated through the ecosystem, from plants to microbes to complex human culture. This learning center will be integrated with the present recycling center and evolve into a multi-faceted science and cultural center that will eventually include space for performing arts, planetarium shows, and more.

Here is an aerial view of the area from the group's web pages: