Easton Park Blooms Again After Cleanup

EASTON, Conn. – Samuel P. Senior Memorial Park will open Saturday after a cleanup effort to remove damaged trees and debris left behind by Tropical Storm Irene and last October’s snowstorm.

The debris had forced closure of the park, which had been scheduled to open April 1. The effort was sponsored by Aquarion Water Co. The park is on Center Road across from the Easton Town Hall.

Gary Haines, manager of watershed management and forest operations at Aquarion and a 32-year resident of Easton, said the severe weather had caused “blow downs and loose limbs."

"We’re cleaning the area to make it passable,” he said.

Twenty-one Aquarion employees and contractors, including Southbury Tree Service, worked throughout the day Thursday to clean up the park, which occupies 10.6 acres, includes woodland and streams and is inhabited by ducks, deer, egrets and other animals.

Aquarion owns the land and leases it to the town, which has operated the park since 1963, when it was created by the Easton Garden Club. Aquarion has two reservoirs and a treatment plant in Easton. Officials there said they were eager to assist the town with the cleanup effort.

Carolyn Battaglia, president of the Samuel P. Senior Memorial Park board, said the trails can now reopen.

“Without the work done today, the park would have to be closed,” she said.

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