With a name like Mukluk, it has to be good
After clambering up a steep slope through a dense evergreen grove, our group paused briefly to gaze at the fast-flowing Shetucket River far below, and issued a collective “Wow!”
It was a breathtaking moment, coinciding with a short break to catch our breath, at the crest of the Sprague Land Preserve’s Hemlock and Pine Forest Ridge Walk.
“That gets your heart pumping,” commented Susan Allen, who was leading one section of what turned out to be a seven-mile hike.
“Stunning,” agreed Maggie Jones, director emeritus of the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in Mystic.
Allen is treasurer of Friends of the Shetucket River Valley, whose volunteer members have helped raise money to purchase and preserve an extraordinary stretch of land along the 20.4-mile waterway between Willimantic and Norwich.
The Sprague Land Preserve, which evolved from a 270-acre tract known as the Mukluk Preserve, has since grown to 625 acres with the purchase of
the 230-acre Watson farm and the 225-acre Robinson property. The preserve is nearing acquisition of the 67-acre Peltier tract, and hopes to continue expanding.
“We’d (like to reach) 1,000 acres, but my personal goal is 3,000 acres,” State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-19th District, said in a telephone interview last week.
Osten, formerly Sprague’s first selectwoman who also serves on the Friends of the Shetucket River Valley board, was among local leaders who pushed to buy the Mukluk property for $800,000 in 2005.
Back then, a developer had proposed a large-scale gravel operation, but overwhelming opposition forced him to withdraw the plan, and in 2008, voters agreed to accept
a $500,000 state grant that would keep the land preserved as open space.
Establishing a pristine preserve, though, was not so simple.
The Mukluk Sportsman Club, Inc., founded in 1955, had been using a portion of the property as a skeet shooting and rifle range beginning in 1966, and left behind vast amounts of lead shot and clay pigeons. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared the land a brownfield site and spent $8 million supervising the removal of 300 tons of target and shell debris, along with an estimated 17 tons of building material and eight tons of solid waste.
Osten said not long after the cleanup, she noticed wildlife
returning to the preserve’s diverse habitat that now is home to songbirds, coyote, beaver, bobcat and eagles.
One other species also has been flocking to the preserve more frequently, she added: Humans.
“You see more people now out walking on the trails,” Osten said, particularly during the pandemic.
Today, the only vestige of the shooting range is the old Mukluk clubhouse; the rest of the preserve is a treasure trove of waterfalls, streams, beaver ponds, ledges, meadows and forests, all connected with 11 miles of well-marked hiking trails.
Maggie was most impressed
with the extensive hemlock groves that managed to survive widespread damage from wooly adelgid infestation that destroyed so many of the trees throughout the Northeast.
Equally captivating were two waterfalls, and a broad floodplain surrounding Beaver
Brook, where beavers have been busy building dams. We also hiked past remnants of Wood’s Bridge, which crossed the Shetucket River until it was destroyed by a spring freshet in 1822; and the stone foundation of an inn that had been situated on a centuries-old stagecoach route.
Susan also led us through a particularly delightful section on the Fairy Trail, decorated with whimsical animal sculptures carved with a chainsaw by her husband, Don Konow. Families with young children will find this short, easily accessible trail enchanting.
The Sprague Land Trust is part of a sweeping expanse of largely undeveloped land in eastern Connecticut and south-central Massachusetts known as the Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor. Consisting mainly of forest and farmland, the corridor is the last swath of dark night sky between Boston and Washington D.C.
Entrance to the preserve is free and open to the public daily.
From Route 207 in Franklin,
follow Holton Road 1.1 mile, pass a steel gate that is open from sunrise to sunset, and continue 0.7 mile on a dirt road. Bear right at the fork, and park up the hill next to a cabin.