Eco-gardening is at its best in The Monday Garden
Issue 191, Part 6, January 21, 2006
THE CHERRY TREE PARK
note: This entry is part of a series on Stamford's Mill River. Click here for the introductory page to the series.
PICTURE: looking north from the West Broad Street bridge at the Mill River; to the right is the UConn parking garage. Jan. 2006. Click here to view same scene in the fall of 2003.
The Mill River riverwalk, that ends at North Street, starts again south of West Broad Street in what is informally called the "Cherry Park" (It's official name du jour is the Mill River Park). Broad Street is a main east-west Stamford thoroughfare, running past the Landmark Towers (mall and office complex), the Ferguson Library, Target, and UConn. As Broad Street crosses the river, it becomes "West Broad Street" and continues up the hill, west pass the hospital complex.
PICTURE: View from the Northeast corner of Broad Street and Washington Boulevard, looking southwest at the Cherry Park. December 2005.
PICTURE: View of the West Broad Street bridge from the Cherry Park, looking north-west at UConn; Target, and the new vest-pocket park by Target, are to the far right. Jan 2006.
PICTURE: Canada geese on the ice just south of the Broad Street bridge, December 2005.
The Cherry Park spans both sides of the river right below West Broad Street but the east side of the park is somewhat neglected and less frequented. Immediately south of the Cherry Park is a mill dam that is a relic from prior days (the mid-1600's to the late 1880's) when a variety of mills in downtown Stamford were powered by the river and, at some point, the river acquired the local name "Mill River". Click here to view plaque describing the mills.
The banks of the river along the Cherry Tree Park have been narrowed and confined by high concrete walls, preventing direct access to the water's edge
PICTURE: View south from the West Broad Street Bridge May 2003. Many of the area swans winter farther east on the shore line at Holly Pond; they then spread out in small family groups for the summer. Swan families do nest on the banks of the Mill River as well as long the Sound. Click here to view the cherries in full bloom. Click here to view cherry petals.
THE MILL RIVER CORRIDOR DEVELOPMENT PLAN: The section of the Mill River Corridor that runs from here down to the sea is the subject of the City's 25-year development plan, now being updated. For details on the plan, go to: The Mill River Collaborative. (At the bottom of the Collaborative's home page there's an aerial view of the river winding its way through town -- the Cherry Park is the lower left.) Click here for the City's Master Plan map.
The dream is that, one day, there will be an unbroken green corridor along both sides of the river all the way to the sea. Part will be park, part residential, and part mixed use. There will be a great lawn on the east side of what is now the Cherry Park, and many wonderful things for the residents, human and otherwise. Immediately plans include a west-side playground that 500 City volunteers will build with their own hands in May 2006.
In conjunction with the City's redevelopment plan, the Army Corps of Engineers will be taking down the mill dam and re-grading the river bed. Click here to view the on-line documentation for the US Army Corps of Engineers' Mill River and Mill Pond, Habitat Restoration Project. It is said that salmon once ran up the Mill River to spawn, and, perhaps, someday, without the dam (and with a little help from a salmon hatchery), the salmon will be back.
The current plan is to simultaneously liberate the river from the high cement walls that have prevented this body of water from being a proper river, with wet lands and a flood plain, since the time of the mills.
THE CHERRY TREES: A controversial issue from the human's point of view is the fate of the historically significant (and extremely pretty) ornamental cherry trees given to the City on Arbor Day in 1957 by Junzo Nojima, a Japanese-American who had made his home in Stamford since sometime before WWII. The trees are the subject of an annual Cherry Blossom festival, which has included appearances by Mr. Nojima's relatives from Japan. The trees are beloved by Stamford residents. Many stories, some of them true, are told about Mr. Nojima's life here before, during, and after WWII.
If the concrete walls are removed, and the banks returned to a gentle slope, the most of the cherry trees will have to go. The current proposal is to line both banks of the river, all the way to the sea, with as many new ornamental cherry trees as possible, so that the display rivals that of Washington D.C. However, there's great attachment to the existing trees, and, as of December 2005, no final decision has been made.
PICTURE: View of the cherry trees on west side of the park, looking east, at sunset, December 2005.
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PICTURES: The cherry trees, October 2005; the plaque at the base of one of the trees commemorating Junzo Nojima's gift of the trees. Click here for a larger view of the plaque.
PICTURE: The gazebo in the center of the current Cherry Park has taken on a character of its own. The riverwalk (and bicycle path, etc.) around the west edge of the park, leading south to Tresser Street, has recently been beautifully renovated. At some point, the gazebo will also get a face lift.
PICTURE: Gulls drinking rain water from a post hole in the top of the concrete river wall. December 2005. The almost mature gull to the left is a yellow-legged ring-bill gull; the younger gull to the right is a pink-legged herring gull. Apparently, there was once a railing on top of the wall; there also are fenced off stairs leading down to the river, they say that the stairs were used for ice skating once at long time ago. Coins dating back to the late 1800's have been found in the park.
PICTURE: View from the west side of the Cherry Park, December 2005. The hooded mergansers wintering on the river stay as far from humans as possible. Click here for a closer view of the mergansers along the icy river bank by Scalzi park, Jan 2006.
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PICTURES: The lives of the Cherry Park squirrels revolve around the tall red oaks, thoughtfully provided by the Parks Department. The double row of ornamental cherry trees does serve as a squirrel-only overhead highway. The ornamental cherry trees don't have fruit, a major environmental lack from the animals' perspective. However, the fat winter buds serve as food if the acorns run out. The squirrels' leafy summer home to the right, in a "volunteer" mulberry tree, is slated for removal along with the concrete walls.
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Photo credits: Sue Sweeney © Sue Sweeney 2006