Norfolk natural resource inventory due May 16

By Bruce Frisch

After three and a half years of work, the Conservation Commission will deliver its “Natural Resource Inventory” in mid-month. Consisting of 125 pages, most in color, 16 maps, many photos and nine appendices stuffed with tables and lists, the report will be given to town employees, agencies and commissions and offered for sale to the public for $25 per copy. Order forms for reserving a copy are at the Corner Store, the town clerk’s office, the selectmen’s office and on the town Web site. A copy will be available for reference at Town Hall, and the whole book will be carried on the Norfolk Web site as a PDF file that can be downloaded and printed at home. Eleven chapters cover geography and geology, weather, soils, aquatic resources, plantscapes, wildlife, areas of ecological importance, open space, scenic, historic and cultural resources and recommendations. The seven members of the commission, chaired by Sue Frisch, wrote the report with the help of more than 20 local and outside experts, including personnel from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and the University of Connecticut. Recommendations are intended to guide town agencies and other employees, and the report backs those recommendations with a store of facts. Beyond that, Sue Frisch points out, the commission hopes individuals will use the information to steer them when they work on their own land. People move to Norfolk because they like the surroundings, but do not always appreciate the role of plants and animals in creating and maintaining that world. Furthermore, she says, individual actions can have effects beyond the town borders. For instance, Norfolk is at the top of three watersheds, the Naugatuck, Housatonic and Farmington Rivers. Maintaining the purity of water flowing out of town affects many others downstream. The project began in 2005 as the mission of the Natural Resource Inventory Subcommittee of the Conservation Commission/Wetlands Agency. In March, the subcommittee was dissolved and most members became part of a separate Conservation Commission. Other than Sue Frisch, members of the commission are Vice Chair Shelley Harms, John Anderson, Edward Machowski and Elizabeth Borden and alternates Nash Pradhan and Elizabeth Potter. As members of the subcommittee, Adair Mali, William Couch and Stanley Civco also worked on the study. The total cost to the town for the tome was $1,800 and sales will reduce that sum. The Coalition for Sound Growth is paying the printing costs. As it turns out, Norfolk’s biggest resource is its volunteers.