The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

Partners in a more than yearlong effort to restore the Aspetuck River at Toth Park have reached a milestone with the planting of a large native wild garden. The plantings will help reduce the impact of polluted runoff on the river’s water quality and discourage geese from loitering in the park.

Toth Park is one of the few sites within the Aspetuck River watershed where inconsistent water quality has been a concern. The public park has been closed for swimming for a number of years.

While the work may not restore swimmable water to the park, it will be a first step in restoring the native buffer; helping deter geese from loitering, which reduces polluted runoff caused by their waste; and creating a beautiful place for children and adults to learn about native plants and stormwater management.

“The Toth Park project is a truly collaborative effort and a great example of the good things that can happen when people work together,” said Sally Harold, project director for The Nature Conservancy. “We think it will serve as an example of habitat enhancement work that can be replicated on other streamside properties.”

Funds for this project came from fines that were to be paid to the state’s stormwater program by the towns of Easton and Weston, after they were fined for submitting stormwater sampling reports after their due dates. The state approved a plan developed by The Nature Conservancy to use the money help address water quality concerns in the Aspetuck.

“Directing the fines to a local water quality improvement project seemed like a creative use for the money,” Harold said.

The project partners include The Nature Conservancy’s Saugatuck River Watershed Partnership; project designer Nancy King, landscape architect and principal with Seventy Acres, LLC in Redding; and Jean Stetz-Puchalski, certified master gardener and chair of conservation for the Easton Garden Club of Connecticut.

“We take conservation very seriously in Easton,” said Stetz-Puchalski. “This project brings attention to our town’s natural resources.”

Stetz-Puchalski saw the opportunity to build town-wide support for this important conservation project and agreed to partner with Harold and King on the effort. She leveraged the skills and abilities of members of the Easton Garden Club, interns from the 2011 class of University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension System’s Master Gardener Program, and Easton’s Parks and Recreation Department in a coordinated effort to install the recent plantings as well as streamside buffer plants put in during the summer.

The enhanced buffers will reduce erosion, filter and absorb runoff, create favorable conditions for fish in the stream and enhance the beauty of the park. The streamside beds will be expanded in the spring. The Easton Garden Club is committed to increasing knowledge in conservation and sustainability and protecting our environment. It has adopted the Toth Park Project as a perpetual project.

Additional project collaborators were members of Westport’s League of Women Voters, who volunteered with Westport’s Earthplace to conduct stream water sampling in the Aspetuck River from May through September.

To learn more, please contact Sally Harold at (203) 226-4491, ext.113.

The Conservancy’s Saugatuck River Watershed Partnership is a group of municipal representatives, conservation partners and interested citizens who collaborate on project development and implementation with the goal of protecting and enhancing the health of habitats throughout the 53,000 acre Saugatuck river basin. The Aspetuck Watershed is one of the four major watersheds within the Saugatuck Basin.