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FRIENDS OF TOPSMEAD STATE FOREST
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Topsmead Projects

VOLUNTEER HERE!

Volunteers have so much fun at Topsmead! 

Take a look at an overview of our projects by downloading the file below: ​
ftsf_2020_projects_list-web.pdf
File Size: 60 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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Orintas Viewing Pavillion and Butterfly Garden photo: Tom Holzel

 Gardening Partnerships: Working with
DEEP on the gardens at Topsmead

2020 marked the inaugural year of FTSF helping the DEEP seasonal staff maintain the gardens at Topsmead.  This effort is in addition to the work we have been doing on the butterfly garden. Once a week, our volunteer gardeners, under the direction of seasonal maintainers at Topsmead, helped to pull weeds, edge the garden, and do similar chores near the Chase House. The gardens were especially beautiful this summer, due in part to this collaboration. Thanks go to Gene Ptachcinski who helped with logistics, and to Cindy McPhee of DEEP who cheerfully guided the work of our volunteers. Thank you! We will be raring to go with this program again next spring and would welcome more gardeners to the crew.  
Volunteer
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 Songbird Trail

Each year since our inception the Friends of Topsmead has been refurbishing and maintaining the songbird trail at Topsmead.  This includes over 25 nesting boxes. We annually repair winter damage to them and, in the spring, begin monitoring their occupants.  In 2020 we counted 40 bluebirds that fledged at Topsmead, which is up from 23 in 2019. The nesting boxes were also home to a multitude of other fledglings; 55 wrens, and 31 tree swallows that year. The data collected will contribute to statewide efforts to foster a renewal of Bluebird populations in Connecticut.  The songbird trail success was due in no small part to the wonderful maintenance efforts of our Songbird Trail team led by Janet Blauvelt. Janet hopes to offer twice-monthly tours of the trail in 2021.  Watch for updates about these tours on our home page.
Volunteer
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Barbara Hart, garden volunteer, and Cindy McPhee from DEEP.
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Chase Cottage library garden
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Educational Partnerships

Since our inception, Friends of Topsmead has made working with local schools a priority project. We developed a working relationship with 4 schools bringing students out to Topsmead with their teachers for varied efforts. In 2019, they monitored the bluebird nesting boxes and collected Monarch butterfly cocoons and raised them to emerge as new butterflies. We have several more projects in mind with ideas for the Montessori school children to teens from Wamogo High School. We welcome more hands-on support for this ongoing effort, in particular to coordinate with the schools and act as school liaison.
Volunteer
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Welcome Center

In partnership with DEEP, Friends of Topsmead is creating a Welcome Center in the ‘garage’ or shed adjacent to the Chase House. The purpose is establish a space to orient visitors to Topsmead as well as support our mission of providing programs and information to engage visitors in appreciating the history, environment and ecology, beauty and tranquility of Topsmead.

In 2018 we worked with DEEP to improve the interior of the shed with a cleaning, painted ceiling, electrical service, and a new floor.  Volunteers are working on a series of informative panels to be housed in the Welcome Center with photos and text that highlight the history of Topsmead, and noteworthy environmental features of the State Forest.  There will also be a detailed map and what sites it offers as well as links to online information such as the Story of Topsmead documentary.
Volunteer
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