Westwoods is located in Guilford, Connecticut and consists of about 40 miles of trails over 1,500 acres and connects to an equally impressive chunk of land in Branford,CT . It lives on state, town and private land and contains a variety of ecosystems from salt marshes, to fresh water streams, to rocky caves and cliffs. The trail system was created in 1967 for everyone to explore and enjoy. The trail system sits on top of glacial deposits, indian homes and hunting grounds, major through-fares of prehistoric-to-settler ages, at least one battle ground, dams, quarries, foundations, and god only knows what else. It's a treasure in our backyard, waiting for you to explore. I recommend a Westwoods trail map

The Hemlock forest on the shore of Long Island Sound in Guilford, CT’s Westwoods was a trademark of the landscape just over a decade ago. It littered the dark forest floor with soft pine boughs and needles, providing a safe place for many plants and animals. When I first started biking in Westwoods in 1988, it was much more daunting than it is now. You could not see landscape and trail through the woods. It was richer and darker. The forest was so dense it would get dark an hour sooner than the outskirts. Today my mountain bike rides are rockier and the woods is more eroded and open. It almost reminds me of J.R.R. Tolkiens description of Mordor. Many new species of trees are dying, while the soft dark hemlock forest, (filled with Ents & other mysteries), is just a memory.

In his case for setting aside Westwoods as a trail system and preserve, in 1967 Richard Elliot noted that it may contain the largest and oldest hemlocks in New England. But most of the hemlocks are now lying and rotting into the soil.

Here’s an exerpt explaining what happened from New York Times in 1992: “The disappearance of the Eastern Hemlock could potentially induce severe ecological changes, particularly along the state's watersheds, where the tree is most plentiful, said Dr. McClure. Many of those areas could be exposed to erosion, and some river ecosystems may be vulnerable to severe disruptions. The Eastern hemlock, native to Connecticut, is among the state's most abundant conifers and accounts for around 10 percent of all its trees. It grows to a height of 60 to 70 feet, with a diameter of 2 to 3 feet, and can live up to 600 years. In the wild, hemlocks serve as a habitat for a variety of mosses, lichens, mushrooms, slime molds and shelf funguses. Animals, like the white-tailed deer, feed on its foliage and use the hemlock stands as a barrier against winter winds."

The description of what might happen to ecosystems that depend on the Hemlock is what we see in Westwoods now. Thousands of rotting hemlocks on the ground, drying streams, and increased erosion. Much of the rock, Other than quarry areas) , we see peaking out from under the eroding soil base, probably hasn't been exposed for a very, very long time. You can be sad, or be interested in what's going to happen next. The constant in nature, and particularly in Westwoods, is change. I'm thankful that the town, state, and trail committee has given me the privilage to explore these woods on my bike and to watch the change occur.