High Water Marks- NRWA Volunteer Profiles

Phil Bronson

Phil Bronson and his sugar shack on Simpaug Turnpike in Redding are a very familiar site to many members of the NRWA community. Phil has been making maple syrup for more than 35 years, and giving NRWA as well as Ridgefield's Discovery Center members a special presentation every March for roughly the past 10 years. Just when the days start to warm up after a long winter, the sap starts running in maple trees across New England. Phil has been there to tap into that sap so that the rest of us can indulge in the sweet, viscous treat that brings back memories of childhood… maple syrup.

Although he used to help out making maple syrup when he was a boy, Phil started his own production process 35 years ago using a home-made evaporator to boil down the sweet liquid. About 25 years ago, he built his maple sugar shed to house the equipment and his jars of high quality Connecticut syrup. Around 15 years ago, Phil bought his first stainless steel commercial evaporator from the Leader Company of Vermont, enabling him to run a safer, cleaner operation that increased his efficiency of production. The resultant syrup has been selling like 'hot cakes' at the Bethel Farmer's Market and through word of mouth. His production varies from year to year, depending on the season and weather. He produced 50 gallons of syrup in 2008, versus 30 gallons this past year, both of which he considers good years.

Phil has not been working the maple trees and sugar shack alone. He's had a lot of help from his daughter and two sons over the years, with his daughter even using her dad's product as the basis for a marketing class project in college. Although none of his children live close enough to help out like they used to, Phil's friend, Len Dryer, was helping him out for more than 15 years. Len would drive the tractor while Phil would go along side tending to the tapped trees. Unfortunately, Len passed away about a year ago and Phil has had a hard time tending to all of the trees himself. Sadly, Phil has decided it's time to retire from maple sugaring and for the first time in more than three decades, will not be firing up the evaporator this coming March.

NRWA personally thanks Phil Bronson for sharing his passion for syrup and welcoming us into the warm sugar shack each March. His has consistently been our most popular event each year, drawing as many as 125 people before realizing we needed to limit attendance at each event. Phil, we will greatly miss seeing you at the end of each winter and wish you the all the best.

Donna Roscoe

Dedication and inspiration… Donna Roscoe has been exemplifying these qualities for the past 16 years while keeping the River Study Program active each year in Ridgefield. For those unfamiliar with it, River Study is a hands-on educational curriculum originally developed in the 1970s by Lillian Willis and other members of the Junior League of Stamford-Norwalk. It focuses on teaching concepts of river ecology and land-use/water-quality interactions to interested parents who, in turn, lead river-focused classroom activities and field trips to fourth- and fifth-grade students (often their own children). Although once active in four of the six CT watershed towns, the program now runs in Wilton and Ridgefield, partially with the aid of Donna Roscoe.

Donna started as a parent volunteer River Guide for River Study in 1993, when her daughter was in first grade. She took over as School Captain at Ridgebury School in 1996 and continued through 2001. She also became Co-Town Captain in 1997 and the sole Town Captain from 2000 through 2005, when the Town took over the program. This development occurred through Donna’s persistence to raise the program from a PTA Enrichment Program to a curriculum requirement within the Ridgefield Schools. The Ridgefield River Study curriculum now includes science experiments, and math and writing components. However, the adult classroom training support for River Guides has gone largely unfunded and a replacement training coordinator hard to find. To make training easier for volunteers to deliver, Donna digitized the training components, and organizational responsibility was recently turned over to NRWA. Meanwhile, Donna has continued to lead the adult training and serve as a mentor to new guides – all because of her ardor for the unique program. “This was a rare opportunity to educate adults in concepts that were basic to the environment.”

Donna is tireless, authentic, enthusiastic, inspiring to kids and adults, and a true lover of nature and the Norwalk River and its ecosystems. We thank her for promoting a greater understanding of the River and its wonders in our community’s children and adults alike and hope a new volunteer will step forward to learn from Donna and help continue River Study for years to come.

Ralph Bosch

Ralph Bosch is a Principle in Overbrook Associates. He is also President of Georgetown Village Restoration, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to the improvement and revitalization of that small village area situated at the crossroads of Redding, Ridgefield, Weston and Wilton. The village of Georgtown evolved in the 1820's because of the Norwalk River and the needs of the Gilbert & Bennett Wire Mill for water power.

As a local businessman, Bosch is eager to bring more commerce to the village and to knit the division DOT caused when it constructed new Routes 107 and 57. At the same time, all villagers want to retain the charming character of this place that recalls history and a small-town atmosphere.

To demonstrate his dedication to Georgetown, Bosch has worked with the Town of Redding and with local merchants and residents to voice what Georgetown needs. He has also taken a leadership position by offering to donate- with Jeffrey Andrews, his partner from Overbrook Associates- the bulk of the land that will become the Georgetown Park at the junction of routes 107 and 57. It was that leadership- along with projected land gifts/easements from Flori Asario and Richard Paris- that allowed NRWA to apply for and win a Five Star Grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

In addition, Bosch promoted and actively participated in the NRWA 2002 clean up of the Gilbert & Bennett Brook and Norwalk River. For his promotional, organizational, and leadership efforts, NRWA salutes Ralph and looks forward to working with him on both the 2003 annual river clean up and the Georgetown Park project.