Submitted by Peter Fleischer
(November 12, 2025) — Haddam-Killingworth area youth will continue a multi-year fight to save endangered trees at Haddam Meadows State Park on November 15, 2025. Many dozens of mature trees are at risk from severe, ongoing vine growth that, over time, has killed such trees and brought them down onto the landscape.
Teenagers from Haddam-Killingworth High School’s Horticulture Class and the Environment Club will gather at 9:30 a.m. at the parking lot by the train tracks near the park entrance. With State Park authorization, they will cut and kill the Oriental Bittersweet and other vines, thereby saving the trees and preserving the woods in the northern end of the park.
Haddam Meadows State Park is heavily used by the surrounding communities. Boating, walking, relaxing, jogging, fishing, and ice-skating are common uses of this popular green space, containing a variety of mature oak, maple, beech, and pine trees.
Unfortunately, the fast-growing invasive vines have grown among a substantial portion of the trees, climbing and attaching themselves as they grow. These destructive plants can be seen in the leaf canopies of trees reaching as high as seventy feet. Scientists from the Yale School of Forestry, the Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group at UConn, and the Cornell School of Forestry agree that over time these vines will suffocate and kill many invaded trees, threatening the beauty and bucolic state of the park.
This second ever student-event is intended to empower young men and women to become stewards, taking responsibility for environmental and recreational assets through citizen action. Haddam First Selectman Bob McGarry has been invited to cut the first vine.
The Essex Hardware Company and Urban Resources Institute at the Yale School of Forestry have contributed handsaws, loppers and clippers that will be used to cut the vines.
