On Dunham Pond    

(sorry, I couldn’t resist. Dunham Pond was for me what Walden was for Henry David.)

-Bob Kortmann

A few weeks ago, I received an email in my inbox from Bob Kortmann. Not all the emails I receive from unknown individuals are kind so I was pleasantly surprised when I opened Bob’s email and he wanted to compliment Joshua’s Trust and it’s terrific work preserving and maintaining the Dunham Woods property. He shared with me that back in the 1970’s he did his PhD dissertation on Dunham Pond and had used Dunham Woods for observation. He even shared that very dissertation (which was far above my level of scientific understanding.) The big takeaway though was that things today in Dunham Woods are as they were back when he was doing his research. I wanted to know more so I asked Bob a few follow-up questions. His responses highlighted that the work Joshua’s Trust does to protect habitats in our community matters.

~Kailyn Murphy

Share a little bit about how you got interested in studying water.

     I’ve always been intrigued by life in water and wanted to do water-based research since I was very young.  During my undergraduate years at Rutgers, I did several honors research projects, some in marine ecosystems, some in freshwater.  I spent a summer on St. Croix between junior and senior year taking graduate coral reef ecology courses and doing research.  My freshwater research was with exchanges between sediments and water and how it influences a lake.  It was the Jacques Cousteau era, everybody wanted to be a marine biologist.  I also wanted to do applied, problem-solving work.  So, I decided to pursue applied limnology because of my sediment work, sought a professor doing related research, and found Peter Rich at UConn.  Best decision I could have made.

How has Dunham changed since you first studied it until now? 

     I did some sampling of Dunham Pond last summer to see if it had changed over the past 45 years.  It hadn’t, largely because the watershed is protected.  Dunham continued to exhibit very healthy littoral fringe aquatic vegetation and similar water quality.  An invasive aquatic plant (Milfoil) had become established and very dense, that was the largest change (a change many lakes are struggling with).

What makes Dunham Woods and its watershed unique? 

     Walking through Dunham Woods was very reminiscent for me.  Dunham Pond was the site for my Ph.D. research at UConn in the 1970s.  Peter Rich, and most of his other students, were investigating what happens in the lake, while I was focused on the sediment-water interactions and the “whole ecosystem”. A “lake ecosystem” isn’t just the waterbody.  It is the waterbody and all land that drains to it.  I was interested in understanding how the whole ecosystem functioned, organic loads from the watershed (photosynthesis happens in the watershed too), nutrients, etc.  I installed an observation well to measure groundwater inputs.  I studied what entered the pond from the upland areas through a tributary stream. I studied what came into the pond from the watershed area that first passes through a large red maple swamp wetland. I measured what entered from the atmosphere during rain events and between storms.   The watershed is as it was 45 years ago.  It was a closed-canopy woodland, and still is (although 45 more rings have been put onto the tree trunks- old growth forest).  The observation well I installed in 1976 is still as it was.  And, most important of all, the red maple swamp remains in its natural state.  That swamp controls much of the nature of the pond.  Water entering the pond through the swamp is the color of steeped tea due to dissolved organic matter.  That tea coloration results in most sunlight and heat being absorbed in the top several meters. As a result, the 15 ft deep lake exhibits the physical, chemical, and biological vertical structure of a much deeper lake, 30-40 ft deep.   Someone once defined “limnology” as: “the study of lakes near universities”.  The Dunham Pond Ecosystem fits that definition very well, it is an excellent study site.  I’ve changed considerably over the past 45 years. Dunham hasn’t because of the preservation efforts.

Any parting words?

      Take a walk and see for yourself, it is an easy walk, very rewarding if you like Mother Nature.   I was very impressed with the maintenance of the trails, the naturalistic boardwalk across the wetland- smart, very smart.  There is a spot along the trail with a stone bench for sitting and contemplation.  I’ll bet that spot would be excellent for birding, or gazing over Dunham Pond in the winter after leaf-fall (I plan to check that out).  If you are into Fall foliage color, nothing beats the brilliant reds of a red maple swamp (they turn early).  Take an hour to check it out, the diversity of natural landscapes that will persist for our children’s, children’s, children. (Sorry, couldn’t help but inject some Moody Blues).