Shelton Conservation

11/12/2025

Many thanks to this hardy crew from the Iroquois Pipeline Operating Company for digging up invasive Japanese Barberry at Birchbank Mountain! This location has a number of native plant species that are rare for our area, including a carpet of Dutchman's Breeches and Red Trillium in the spring.

08/26/2025

Is it time to break up with your bird feeders? Sure, birds at the feeder appear happy and are fun to watch, but what else is happening that you don't see? Wildlife biologists urge people to consider the unintended consequences of feeding wildlife. The best way to help birds and wildlife is to provide habitat and natural foods (native plants, insects) and minimize the use of insecticides (most summer birds need to eat insects, not seeds). Read more here: https://www.mass.gov/news/break-up-with-your-bird-feeder

04/22/2025

Got some woods on your property? Please don't "tidy up" the dead wood. It provides critical habitat (food and shelter) for many species. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122232969386210863&set=a.122123356904210863

That rotting log? That’s my nursery.
Dead wood is full of life — fungi, beetles, amphibians, birds.
When you remove it for looks, you also remove habitat, food, and safety.
A “clean” garden isn’t always a living one.

03/26/2025

How many of you have heard something like this in Shelton?
https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=507814492209549

03/05/2025

Please watch out for migrating frogs and salamanders on the roads tonight! It's the first rainy night after the snow melts and they will be rushing towards vernal pools to breed. Some stretches of roads can be covered with them (examples: a section of Buddington Road, Wesley Drive, as well as Booth Hill Road). Most of the frogs will be Wood Frogs, which live in the forest and breed in ponds that are too small for fish. Spotted Salamaders also live in the forest and are seldom seen except during the spring mating season. They are large with yellow spots.

01/23/2025

Registration now open for this class at Plumb Library.

01/15/2025

Attention Scout Parents: Shelton Clean Sweep registrations are now open - make sure your troop leaders know! This annual litter-cleanup effort occurs the entire week of Earth Day (April 22). Free custom patches! We used to get lots of Scout participation, but it's hard to get the word out these days. Last year we didn't have a single Girl Scout troop when we used to get five or ten. So pass it along if you know any Scout parents. All a troop needs to do is pick up litter from a public area (school grounds, park, waterway, etc). We are flexible on the timing, especially for early bird cleanups in March or April. For more info or to register, visit DontTrashShelton.org.

01/15/2025

Coyote breeding season has begun, soon to be followed by coyote denning season. This time of year, a coyote pair will patrol a large territory, typically at night when you don't seem them. Once the puppies are born in the spring, the coyote family will stay in a smaller area, the core of their territory, and will aggressively defend that core area from dogs and other coyotes, even during the day. Core areas are often more wooded and remote parts of town, sometimes with hiking trails cutting through them. Leash the dogs when walking the trails!

In Connecticut, the breeding season for the eastern coyote is from January to March. During this time, you are more likely to hear and see coyotes. Contrary to popular belief, coyotes do not call to announce a kill. Instead, coyotes use a variety of vocalizations to communicate with family members, warn non-family members to stay out of their territory, and advertise for a mate.

As coyotes have become more common, public concerns about coyotes attacking people have increased. Although some coyotes may exhibit bold behavior near people, the risk of a coyote attacking a person is LOW. However, this risk can increase if coyotes are intentionally fed and then learn to associate people with food, or if a person is walking with a dog, especially one that is not leashed, near a coyote den or territory during the denning and pup rearing seasons.

Here are a few important tips for preventing conflicts with coyotes:

✅Do not allow pets to run free! Keep cats indoors, particularly at night, and keep dogs on a leash or under close supervision at all times.

✅Never feed coyotes! It is illegal to intentionally feed coyotes and other potentially dangerous wildlife (P.A. 23-77). Clean up bird seed below feeders and pet foods. Secure garbage and compost in animal-proof containers.

✅Always walk dogs on a leash. If approached by a coyote while walking your dog, keep the dog under control and calmly leave the area. Do not run or turn your back. Coyotes are territorial and many reports of bold coyotes visiting yards, howling, or threatening larger dogs can often be attributed to this territorial behavior.

More information is at https://portal.ct.gov/deep/wildlife/nuisance-wildlife/living-with-coyotes

📸: John Clery

12/30/2024

If you own property, consider leaving part of it as natural woodland that is left messy with leaves and logs for wildlife habitat. As a bonus for you, there will be zero maintenance and it won't cost anything! It is said that a dead tree has more life than a live tree in part because of all the bugs that live in dead wood. Those bugs are critical food sources for songbirds, amphibians, small mammals, and even bears (bears will roll logs to find grubs).

12/20/2024

How much open space in Shelton is open to the public?
City-owned Public Open Space: 1863 ac.
Parks & Rec properties: 136 ac.
Shelton Land Trust (private group): 368 ac.
Indian Well State Park: 154 ac.
TOTAL 2521 ac.

And there is open space with restricted access: 939 acres of Centennial Watershed State Forest are located within Shelton. It is mostly closed to the public, but some sections are open by permit only to fishing and hunting. None of it is currently open to hiking in Shelton (but is in other towns). This state forest is scattered. Some of it is owned by the State of Connecticut (239 acres), while other parts are owned by the Aquarion Water Company (700 acres) but protected by state easements preventing future development and providing for potential passive public recreation. The core areas in Shelton are around the Far Mill Reservoir (aka Isinglass Res) and around Means Brook Reservoir.

There is an additional 645 acres of various types of conservation restrictions across private property, including agricultural easements, conservation easements, private open space or community areas (for condominiums and other developments), and development restrictions specified by P&Z conditions of approval.

12/18/2024

Possibly Shelton.

On Tuesday December 17, 2024 two EnCon officers and K9 Luna were patrolling the Housatonic River for striped bass poaching activity. Officers located a group of six anglers fishing. As the officers watched, they observed an angler climb the riverbank, climb over the guard rail, run across the road, and enter a steep wooded hill side on the opposite side of the road, disappearing into the woods. The angler appeared to be carrying something heavy. After a few minutes the angler returned to the riverbank empty handed and continued to fish. Contact was made with the anglers, two had no fishing license. They claimed to have caught and retained no striped bass. K9 Luna was deployed on leash along the roadside and requested to search the wooded hill side. She located four separate bags of striped bass each buried in the ground and covered with leaves, the bags spanned a 75 yard long stretch of roadside. In total there were 34 striped bass, all ranging from 12.5” to 25” in length, in violation of the striped bass slot limit which is 28” to 31”. The anglers had 64 striped bass violations and two license violations. They were issued fines totaling $4,974.00. All fish were seized and donated to a non-profit wildlife rehabber.
Connecticut Fish and Wildlife

11/27/2024

Enjoy some backyard wildlife photos taken from a single game cam in Shelton throughout the year. There were no bird feeders or compost piles to attract wildlife, although a goldfish pond proved to be a good source of food and water, and an adjacent strip of natural woodland provided cover. A Barred Owl and Great Blue Heron caught some of the goldfish, and a Red Shouldered Hawk ate Green Frogs all summer. Raccoons were in the pond a few times a week, probably catching tadpoles.

Coyotes came through frequently in pairs during the mating season (late winter), vanished during denning season, then reappeared solo in the fall, which is dispersing season for the pups. Always at night. This backyard appears to be in the outer territory of a pair of coyote, but not in their "core" territory, which is where they nurture young pups. In over three decades at the house, a coyote had only been seen once and never heard, yet they were quietly slipping through the yard at night. Just because you don't see or hear them, doesn't mean they aren't there!

Share your Shelton backyard wildlife in the photos!