1.
Danbury youth become environmental
stewards in new program
By Katrina Koerting
Sunday, August 7, 2016
All photos: Scott Mullin / For Hearst Connecticut
Media
Fabian Mejia, 15, Simon Shaffer, 17, Digby Barrios,
14 and Lance Shaffer, 14, all of Danbury, discuss the
fioliage at Still River Greenway in Danbury as part of
a youth stewardship program through the Housatonic
Valley Association. The program is called the Still
River Watershed Connections.
Students spread landscape fabric over invasive
Japanese knotweed at Still River Greenway in
Danbury as part of a youth stewardship program
through the Housatonic Valley Association Thursday.
Simon Shaffer, 17 of Danbury, pulls landscape
fabric over invasive Jananese knotweed at Still
River Greenway in Danbury as part of a youth
stewardship program through the Housatonic Valley
Association.

2. Digby Barrios, 14 of Danbury, gathers stakes to hold
down the landscape fabric over invasive Jananese
knotweed at Still River Greenway in Danbury as part
of a youth stewardship program through the
Housatonic Valley Association.
Digby Barrios, 14 of Danbury, puts a stake through
the landscape fabric to hold it down over invasive
Jananese knotweed at Still River Greenway in
Danbury as part of a youth stewardship program
through the Housatonic Valley Association.
Lance Shaffer, 14, and Fabian Mejia, 15, both of
Danbury, stake landscape fabric over invasive
Jananese knotweed at Still River Greenway in
Danbury as part of a youth stewardship program
through the Housatonic Valley Association.
Simon Shaffer, 17 of Danbury, drives a stake into
landscape fabric spread over invasive Jananese
knotweed at Still River Greenway in Danbury as part of
a youth stewardship program through the Housatonic
Valley Association.

3. Simon Shaffer, 17, and Fabian Mejia, 15, both of
Danbury, pull landscape fabric around a tree to cover
invasive Jananese knotweed at Still River Greenway
in Danbury as part of a youth stewardship program
through the Housatonic Valley Association.
Tabatha Lewis, on site supervisor of Still River
Watershed Connections, cuts landscape fabric as
Fabian Mejia, 15 of Danury, holds the ends. The fabric
is to cover invasive Jananese knotweed at Still River
Greenway in Danbury.
Digby Barrios, 14, Simon Shaffer, 17, and Lance
Shaffer, 14, all of Danbury, pull landscape fabric over
invasive Jananese knotweed at Still River Greenway
in Danbury as part of a youth stewardship program
through the Housatonic Valley Association.
DANBURY — Four teenagers and their team leader spread pieces of black landscape fabric across a
clearing, covering the stalks of Japanese knotweed along the Still River Greenway.
They hammered spikes along the edges of the fabric with the hope the dark material will prevent the plant
from growing back.

4. “It’s an invasive species that has overrun the area,” said Digby Barrios, a sophomore at Henry Abbott
Technical High School.
This was just one of several projects the students are completing as part of Still River Watershed
Connections, an environmental stewardship program started this year in partnership with the Housatonic
Valley Association, Danbury Youth Services and the Still River Alliance Commission. The program
lasts six weeks and wraps up with a free presentation from the students to the public at noon on Friday at
the Still River Greenway.
The watershed is one of 27 work sites through the Danbury Youth Services summer work program and
the first focused on the environment. It is open to any Danbury resident between the ages of 14 and 21.
Students are screened and selected by Danbury Youth Services. They are placed at appropriate work sites
and paid minimum wage using money from the Department of Labor.
Joseph Dobbins, the program manager at Danbury Youth Services, said they were excited to be able to
offer a science placement this summer and that it matched some of the applicants’ interests. He said the
pieces fell into place last fall when the Still River Alliance Commission approached them.
Savannah Judge, a conservation technician with HVA, said this summer work was the most extensive part
of the greenway stewardship program so far. The Still River Alliance Commission created a position to
oversee the Still River work this year and through the HVA, began working with local high schools.
About $27,000 has been donated through the Fairfield County’s Community Foundation, the coalition
and Environmental Professionals of Connecticut to fund the work for two years.
She said its also part of a larger program the authority is doing to improve the Still River watershed and
create a watershed plan.
Lance Shaffer, another member of the team, said the environmental work, especially removing the
invasive species, was important.
“It creates a monoculture,” he said of the risk invasive plants pose, adding the stream could carry the
seeds to other areas in the city.
The students have also mapped invasive plants and signs along the greenway, removed tires and trash
from local water bodies and parks, determined the water pollution based on the amount and types of
invertebrates in the water, cleaned picnic tables, painted structures at various parks and cut down thick
patches of Japanese knotweed, which bordered the greenway in Danbury.
Fabian Mejia and Simon Shaffer, who are both crew members entering their junior years, said cutting
away the 13-feet stalks of Japanese knotweed was their favorite part because of the noticeable progress.
“At first you saw an impenetrable wall of green and a week later it’s gone,” Mejia said.
Tabatha Lewis, the program’s on-site supervisor, said she hopes this program will restore the area back
to its natural beauty and remove the invasive plants. She’s seeking volunteers to help continue the work
when the summer program ends. Some of the students have already said they plan to return as volunteers.
“My overall hope is to see this place look a little better,” she said. “It’s already beautiful.”
Judge said she hopes the program will help students and volunteers learn about the watershed they live in,
as well as offer job experience or introduce students to possible environmental careers.

5. Judge said she hopes the program will help students and volunteers learn about the watershed they live in,
as well as offer job experience or introduce students to possible environmental careers.
Although the teenagers don’t plan to pursue environmental careers, they said they would do it again,
adding the information will help them in future science courses.
“Rather than just looking at a book, we have first person experience,” Lance Shaffer said.
All four said they also gained a better appreciation for the environment and role the watershed plays in the
health of the area.
“Eventually anything you put in here will go into the Housatonic,” Lance Shaffer.
kkoerting@newstimes.com; 203-731-3345; @kkoerting