The Connecticut Botanical Society conducted a site walk on Saturday in conjunction with the Citizens for the Protection of Public Land to evaluate the property involved in the controversial proposed land swap deal in Haddam. The 17.4-acre parcel, located adjacent to the Eagle Landing State Park, is known as the Clark Creek Wildlife Management Area.

Botanists, naturalists and other concerned citizens toured the property with cameras, guidebooks and notebooks in hand to identify and record the plants, birds, butterflies and invertebrates that consider the property home. 

Martha McLaud Tonucci, past president of the CT Botanical Society and current member of the East Haddam Land Trust, led the site walk.

“We are trying to emphasize that this property is not a ‘wasteland’ or ‘sand pit,’ but a vanishing habitat,”, she said. “The development of this property, for example, could have an extraordinary implication for birds. This is currently a pristine bird habitat.”

Judy Preston, of the Tidewater Institute in Old Saybrook, is an ecologist concerned with conservation issues in the lower Connecticut River Estuary. Preston felt that the active participation of citizens in the site walk was representative of “everyone coming together and recognizing the importance of this space.”

Charlotte Pyle, of Storrs, and Pat Bresnahan, Associate Director of the CT Institute of Water Resources, participated in the identification process with field guidebooks in hand.

“I feel that this area is an interesting place because there is little open space, especially for birds,” Pyle said. “Additionally, the shrubs and low-growing plants are perfect habitats for wildlife and insects.”

Participants in the site walk gathered at the crest of the property in a wooded spot to air their concerns over the potential development of the property.

Homeowners like Richard Bellemare are concerned that the development of the 17.4-acre parcel would lead to additional drainage problems in the area. Bellemare’s cottage is located next to Eagle Landing and he feels that drainage from a development would add to the “waterflow that invades our property.”

John Priontkowski, of the East Haddam Land Trust, spoke openly about his concerns regarding potential additional traffic to the area and the costs that would be incurred by residents if the parcel were to be developed. For example, he argued, there would be additional costs for the taxpayers to get water from the reservoir to the site if it were developed as proposed.

In an earlier interview, the CT Rivershed Council came out in opposition to the swap.

“We are deeply concerned about the precedent that handing over land intended for conservation to a private developer would set,” Jacqueline Talbot said. “It is important to consider land proximal to the Connecticut River very carefully, and we feel that there are multiple concrete reasons to look at this much more carefully."

The issue, meanwhile, is starting to attract attention outside of the region and the state. The Boston Globe this week wrote this story about the issue.

The experts for the site walk were called in by Citizens for Protection of Public Land with the goal to help counter assertions by some who support the swap and say the land has numerous invasive species and does not represent a sensitive conservation area.

The land swap calls for trading the 17.4 acres in Tylerville for 87 acres of woodlands that abut theCockaponset State Forest in Higganum. It is being sought, and backed by state Sen. Eileen Daily, D-Westbrook, so that the developers of the Riverhouse at Goodspeed Station can build retail and other businesses that would complement their banquet facility, which abuts the land.