BRIDGEPORT ---
It sits on the edge of the state’s most densely-populated city --- 422 acres of unspoiled woods and a beautiful
23-acre lake.
It’s home to
nesting eagles, deer, wild turkey and 70 species of birds.
How many people
have heard of Remington Woods?
Not too many.
“It’s Bridgeport’s
best-kept secret,” says Lela Florel, a member of the group Preserve Remington
Woods.
The Remington Woods
tract, with 347 acres in Bridgeport and
another 75 acres in Stratford, is owned
by the DuPont Corporation. DuPont years ago bought up Remington Arms, which
once had a manufacturing plant on the East Side, and tested its firearms at the
Remington Woods site, located on the northeastern end of the city.
The testing stopped
long ago and the site has sat virtually untouched, except for pollution remediation
carried out by DuPont, a chemical products company.
Now, Florel and
others in the group are sounding the alarm that Remington Woods may be
destroyed, if a subsidiary firm of DuPont is allowed to go ahead with
development plans.
“Dow/DuPont with
its spin off Corteva are planning to destroy the living forest community. They
plan to build a road splitting it in two, a large industrial complex by the
lake, cutting off wildlife access to the lake, and another building complex on
the edge of the forest, which they call a research facility,” said Florel.
There will be
construction of infrastructure --- including roads, water piping,
and sewer and electrical lines. Florel
estimates that thousands of trees --- many of them decades old --- will be removed
in the process.
“The forest is not
an object, it is a living organism. Destroying part will destroy the whole,” she
says.
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| Remington Woods |
Recently, Florel and
others in the group spoke at a City Council meeting, alerting officials to the
environmental threat and asking for their help.
They are asking the
city to change the zoning of Remington Woods from industrial to one which preserves the entire woods. They are also asking that the city not issue any permits
that would allow development to proceed.
Dr. J.D. Smith spoke of the many environmental and
health benefits that the Remington Woods provides --- including holding carbon
and controlling global warming; cooling air; mitigating drought; aiding in the physical and mental health of local residents; and giving off
oxygen.
He also noted that
the forest helps to fight air pollution, which has been a significant problem in
Bridgeport and Fairfield County.
“Air pollution is a
serious threat to our health and safety,” he said. “Bridgeport deserves clean
air. Forest cleans the air.”
Smith also
commented, “Destroying nature has a terrible cost, but it never makes it to the
ledger books.”
Erik Kuranko talked about environmental racism in
Bridgeport, and how in more affluent, whiter communities, nature is valued and
people have access to it.
The group also noted that Bridgeport’s 10-year
Master Plan emphasizes the need to “Value Nature,” and that preserving
Remington Woods will honor that goal.
Florel says that a "win-win solution" is possible --- preserving Remington Woods in its entirety and using "the many vacant existing commercial buildings" in Bridgeport for commerce instead.
