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Web Site: http://www.meridenlibrary.org
105 Miller Street, Meriden, CT 06450 - 4213
Tel: (203) 630-4621 Fax: (203) 238-6950

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"Meriden's Traprock Ridgelands" Landscapes of National Significance"

March 24, 2009

The traprock ridges attain their most spectacular expression in the Meriden area where magnificent cliffs tower over the lowlands and drop precipitously down to steep talus slopes and wind-riffled lakes and ponds. Once protected by virtue of their steep slopes and poor agricultural soils, the ridges are increasingly impacted by residential and commercial development, utilities infrastructure, and quarrying. The ridgelands are important natural resources, providing open space, wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, and critical water supplies. Functioning as"sky islands", the traprock ridges preserve critical natural areas in the densely populated Connecticut Valley.

In many ways, the Traprock Ridgelands have never been better managed, but at the same time increasing pressures from land development and earth materials industries threaten to further fragment and reduce the integrity of, what is arguably, southern New England's most important green corridor. The Traprock Ridgelands are, by any measure, landscapes of national significance, deserving of a coordinated effort to preserve and protect these vanishing resources.

Dr. Peter M. LeTourneau, a former, long-time Meriden resident, attended Israel Putnam and Washington Middle School, and graduated from Maloney High in 1972. He received his B.A. in geology from Ricker College, and earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Earth and Environmental Sciences from Wesleyan University and Columbia University, respectively. Dr. LeTourneau has conducted extensive research into the geology of the Connecticut Valley, a Triassic-Jurassic age rift that formed over 200 million years ago during the breakup of the supercontinent Pangea. His work has taken him to Morocco, maritime Canada, the southeastern U.S., as well as Death Valley, California. Ongoing studies of the geology, ecology, and environmental land use of the unique trap rock ridges of central Connecticut are of particular interest to Dr. LeTourneau. His recent work suggests that the talus barrens found beneath many of the cliffs may be the oldest undisturbed landscapes in southern New England, and that these unique lichen-based ecosystems warrant special environmental protection. Currently a visiting Assistant Professor at Wesleyan and an adjunct research scientist at Columbia, Dr. LeTourneau enjoys teaching geology and environmental science. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, a research biochemist, and his daughter, Annie.

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