A hugely popular spot to watch fireflies during the height of their summer season will be closed this year for habitat and trail restoration purposes.
The trail to the New Canaan Land Trust’s firefly sanctuary, located off of Sleepy Hollow Road, “needs some work due to water erosion on it,” according to Robin Bates-Mason, the nonprofit organization’s executive director.
She continued: “There’s something called ‘water bars’ which are on trails and they direct water away. We’ll put them in diagonally and it’ll take the water off the trail before it can really build momentum and wash out the trail.”
The trees in the sanctuary also pose a risk for the public, Bates-Mason said.
“We found that there were some trees in the meadow that needed to be addressed, making it not safe to have people up there at the moment,” she said. “One tree had a big limb come down that snagged on another tree, and it’s hanging over a walkway. We need to take down those trees before we’d be comfortable with anyone in the meadow.”
The time off also will give interns a chance to clean up and restore the meadow itself.
“We’ll have our interns coming in this summer, and we’re going to be working getting some of the invasive plants out of the meadow,” Bates-Mason said. “Just overall making a better habitat for the fireflies.”
Typically, the NCLT opens registration for visitors to the sanctuary, where benches are provided to watch the “laser show” of thousands of mating fireflies, peaking in late-June/early-July. Bates-Mason said that it was created as “this kind of perfect habitat for fireflies” with help from local expert Bill McDonald.
This year, the NCLT is setting up an alternative firefly tour.
“We received permission to have a tour of the Waveny meadow on July 1st where we recently discovered a significant firefly population there,” Bates-Mason said. “People can go to our website and sign up starting in June.”
While the firefly meadow is closed, the NCLT will be working with volunteer Sven Englund to restore and rebuild the trail, she said.
To prevent people from walking in on Sleepy Hollow, there will be a sign and ropes in front of the sanctuary trail entrance, Bates-Mason said.
“We’re putting up a new sign and yellow tape across the trail. We just don’t want anyone coming up for their own safety,” she said.
The sanctuary land was gifted in 1983 to create a habitat for fireflies, which now hosts “seven to eight different species,” Bates-Mason said.