‘FOREST JANITORS’
Father, son volunteers repair trails in New Milford area
NEW MILFORD — For as long as Noah Wistman can remember, weekends were all about spending time with his dad, James Wistman, helping to fix up trails.
“He was in a baby backpack and I would carry him. As he got bigger, he wanted to help daddy out,” said James Wistman, 58, a Manhattan resident who stays at his parent’s home in New Fairfield on the weekends.
At 23, 6 feet tall and 180 pounds, Noah Wistman is now much more of a help to his dad than in past years.
On weekends, James Wistman, a banker on Wall Street, is a volunteer trail manager with the Connecticut Forest & Park Association, a nonprofit organization that trains volunteers to help protect forests, parks, walking trails and open spaces. Noah Wistman, a student at Hunter College in Manhattan, is a registered volunteer with the assocation.
Father and son work side by side every weekend, maintaining 25 miles of trails throughout Sherman, New Milford, New Fairfield, parts of Gaylordsville and Brookfield.
“We are a team,” said James Wistman, who is also the father of a 10-month-old girl, Emory Lee.
To date, father and son have volunteered hundreds of hours of their time on local trails.
“There’s a lot of storms come through in the winter and the summer, so we go out regularly on the different trails to see what needs to be fixed,” James Wistman said.
On some occasions, they’ll get a report about a fallen tree or broken steps through the Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy or CFPA.
“As soon as we can, we’ll go out there with a chainsaw or hatchets and get rid of the problem,” James Wistman said.
Other times, they learn about a repair that’s needed through word of mouth at a Sherman coffee shop.
Since Connecticut is so hilly, bridges tend to get damaged often, James Wistman said.
Creating trails
They add a new trail about every year.
Last fall, they added a new portion of a trail Mallory Trailhead in Sherman that’s steeper and not as well developed, for those who want more of a challenge. The work took about two months to complete — with about 20 separate trips in total to the site, Noah Wistman said.
Father and son also extended the Connecticut Blue Trail in New Milford, called the Eleanor and John Hunt Preserve. New Milford Mayor Pete Bass came out for the grand opening, along with the descendants of the Hunts, who deeded the land to the public.
“We were in tears, talking about that. They were so thankful to me, for working on that trail with my son,” James Wistman said.
They have also been responsible for the reopening of trails that had been closed for a few years.
“Vines and shrubs on trails become impenetrable because of storms,” and must be cut down, said James Wistman, adding this takes dozens of hours of work with pruning sheers, loppers and hatches.
James Wistman is a certified sawyer, which allows him to operate a chainsaw on public access trails.
“Noah is the more cerebral one,” James Wistman said. “Anytime I’m using the chainsaw, he’s my adviser.”
Cleaning up
Not all work takes place directly on trails, however.
Some weekends, father and son spend their time picking up litter in trail parking lots.
The pair also ride in a canoe, cleaning up Squantz Pond for the Candlewood Lake Authority in New Fairfield.
By far, James Wistman said his best experiences to date have been when he’s on the trails and thru hikers come by, since he said he enjoys making conversation with them.
Whatever their work entails, they appear to enjoy all of it.
“I love the nature stuff — even observing the animals,” said James Wistman, adding he especially loves trails in the winter because of all the footprints of animals in the snow.
They make the repairs with their own materials — oftentimes, recycling and repurposing abandoned items they find along the trails.
During the summer of 2020, the Wistmans saw a huge uptick of trail use, which James Wistman attributes to the pandemic.
“It’s tapered off now,” James Wistman said.
Come February, when the ground is frozen, they go onto ponds and clean out duck nesting boxes.
“We do it when the ice freezes over so you can walk out onto the lakes. Wood ducks will only nest in hollowed out boxes that are over open water so that predators can’t get to the eggs,” Noah Wistman said. “We go to shallow spots in various lakes and we drill a hole in, put in some wood chips and billings and then we leave it for the ice to melt and the ducks to move in and nest.”
No job appears too difficult for the Wistman men.
“I will take on almost any challenge as long as I’m prepared for it,” James Wistman said.
Father-son bonding
James Wistman said he hopes to continue working on trails with his son indefinitely — and eventually introduce his daughter to them.
“The trails we have here are beautiful. They are quiet trails and they are just lovely, if you like Connecticut flora and fauna,” James Wistman said.
Aside from getting great exercise, escaping from city life and the feeling of accomplishment in keeping the trails safe, father and son both agree it’s spending time together that they love the most.
“It’s a lot about quality time with my son,” James Wistman said. “We talk about everything — work and friends and school.”
“It’s great being with my dad every weekend,” Noah Wistman said.
Most people who spend time on trails most likely never think about all the work done behind the scenes to make their experience possible.
“My son and I refer to ourselves as the forest janitors,” James Wistman said. “We are the guys you don’t ever see.”