Connecticut Audubon Society

The Making of a Refuge, By Milan Bull, Director

No piece of Connecticut real estate holds more attractive charm than an offshore island, from both human and wildlife perspectives. Consequently, undeveloped islands along our coastline are as rare as proverbial heron’s teeth and almost always are home to a myriad of wildlife seeking isolation from land-based predators.

Such was the case of Chimon Island, Norwalk, in 1979 when the landowner had it listed on the international real estate market, and the Town of Norwalk had the development concept plan filed at Town Hall.

Covering about 70 acres, Chimon was prime for development of over 60 townhouses, roadways, and even a helipad for easy access to NYC. As an undeveloped matrix of dense vegetation, trees and wetlands, it was also the only Long Island Sound home for a large number of herons, egrets and ibises. Since the island was posted and off-limits to the public, the conservation community had only an inkling of what was soon to be lost forever.

In the spring of 1980, CT Audubon launched an effort to document the numbers and diversity of wading birds nesting on Chimon, and with the assistance of President Roland Clement, contacted the owner, and obtained a summer lease in order to survey and census the bird life on the island. Over the next three summers, CAS Staff and volunteers, working under a small grant from the Nature Conservancy, made some astounding discoveries and documented what turned out to be not only the largest heronry north of New Jersey (over 1,000 breeding pairs), but also the most diverse heronry in New England with eight species of herons, egrets and ibises stratifying the dense habitat on the island. It was, at the time, the only place in Long Island Sound where these birds nested.

Chimon was literally an oasis of bird life in Long Island Sound. Much of its attractiveness to wading birds was due to the fact that after the cottages and bath houses had been abandoned in the 1950’s, the grassy fields and openings had succeeded to nearly impenetrable thickets of bittersweet, poison ivy and stinging nettles, severely reducing its attractiveness to the weekend party crowd.

The CAS Chimon Island Study resulted in a heightened awareness and concern throughout the conservation and political communities. At the request of the Nature Conservancy, CAS staff conducted a follow-up study locating the feeding grounds of the wading birds nesting on Chimon to determine if the colony was dependent on areas also at risk. Nearly all of the feeding areas were found to be at well-protected wetland sites to the east.

With this information in hand, the Connecticut Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, under the leadership of Ken Olsen, launched its largest fund raising campaign to date and successfully completed the acquisition of the island.

CAS, however, had been doing its homework on the national level as well, and CAS friend and supporter, the late Congressman Stewart B. Mckinney quickly and efficiently paved the way for bipartisan support for what became the newest National Wildlife Refuge in Connecticut, and the most quickly adopted Refuge in the country.

Today, the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge encompasses islands, coastal habitat and marshes from Darien to Guilford, provides secure nesting habitat for many of our threatened and endangered species, and is operated and maintained by a dedicated group of talented professionals with whom CT Audubon is a proud partner.

Archived from CT Audubon Society News Winter 02/03 Copyright Connecticut Audubon Society Reuse by Permission Only