One field, many uses: A mowing question in Durham

On a recent hot July evening, residents from Durham and nearby towns settled into folding chairs, clutching letters as they gathered to propose an answer to a seemingly simple question that had divided the rural community: When should a town-owned field be mowed?

What began as a outdoor meeting of the local conservation commission at Curtis Woodlands was soon overtaken by public concerns about another parcel of land.

Last month, the town of Durham mowed one of the fields it owns at Frederick White Farm weeks earlier than many had hoped, prompting criticism that the decision destroyed nesting habitats for bobolinks, a bird species that migrates to the area in the spring.

Others at the meeting, however, believed the farm should return to its original agricultural roots — hay production.

At the heart of the debate lay a deeper question: Who gets to decide how public land should be used?

For Sue White, whose father owned the property for many years, watching the once-vibrant fields grow into unmanaged plots of grass and fallen trees has been disheartening. At the meeting, she urged the town to abandon the practice of delayed mowing.

“The idea that we can’t mow until after July 15, at which point the hay is worthless — it’s not surprising no one wants it anymore,” she said.

The July 15 mowing guideline is part of a wildlife conservation effort that allows time for grassland bird species to nest and raise their young before fields are cut.

White added that the town is “worshiping a little black and white bird that isn’t native to our area.”

Resident Russell Robinson echoed that message: “Durham’s crest is not a bird; it’s a cow, and agriculture is deeply rooted in this community.”

Both Robinson and White argued that regular mowing would benefit the town by reducing maintenance costs and producing high-quality hay for farmers, which they described as a “win-win” situation.

However, for birders like Annyta Vizard, who spent years organizing bird walks at White Farm, the property means more than just agriculture. It serves as a home for abundant wildlife and a source of joy where she watches bobolinks — songbirds that travel thousands of miles between South and North America each year — return to the farm during nesting season. 

Over the years, Vizard has watched visitors come to the farm to admire the birds, reinforcing her belief that the farm should continue to be used as an open space.

“We’re only talking about town-owned land. We’re not talking about land that’s owned by the farmer,” she emphasized. “This is town-owned land that’s also for recreation.”

Durham resident Susan Lundgren said, “Our public lands should be a sanctuary for wildlife, not a casualty for bureaucratic deadlines.”

The issue drew concerns from more than just birders, with other longtime users of the farm weighing in.

Stevan Akerley, a member of the model airplane club, who has flown model planes over White Farm for 35 years, pushed back against the idea that the club’s activities disturbed wildlife and should relocate, arguing the property is intended for public recreation.

“We coexist with the birds and the butterflies. We maintain the airfield … our planes have takeoff and landing requirements because they’re remote-controlled, and we stay out of the bobolink fields,” he said.

Many of the letters read that evening shared a similar sentiment: a desire for everyone to coexist with the farm.

Residents remained confused why the mowing was done so early this year, though some speculated that the town may have been trying to spend money before the end of the fiscal year.

In a statement to the Connecticut Mirror, Phil Augur, chair of the Durham Conservation Commission, said the decision to mow was “an effort to get back to grasslands.” He added that the mowed section “had started being overtaken by woody growth creating unfavorable conditions.”

Augur deferred further comments to the commission’s September meeting. 

The purchase of White Farm

Durham had a long-term vision when it acquired Frederick White Farm from the White family in the mid-1960s with federal and state assistance. As the town’s population grew, town officials saw open spaces as long-term investments for Durham’s future. In a 1965 letter, the Conservation Commission wrote, “The need for water supplies, open spaces for recreation and wildlife preservation will become increasingly important to the life of the town.”

Since then, the town has preserved the farm as open space while leasing portions of it to local farmers for haying.

Although Durham does not have a formal written mowing policy, the town’s 2019 lease agreement for White Farm stated that “harvesting cannot occur prior to July 15th each year.” Residents said that the rule has been followed in previous years, but this year, the property was not leased. 

“I just want to see a written policy and regulations. … Because whenever they want to mow, it’s not against policy. It’s not an ordinance,” Vizard said. 

Augur, the Conservation Commission chair, did not address questions from the CT Mirror about town policies or rules regarding the July 15 date.

Joe Greenbacker, a 77-year-old farmer who has lived in Durham for 40 years, said the town first needs to “decide what they’re going to do with the property and stick to it,” whether that means managing it as a wildlife sanctuary or an agricultural operation.

He agreed that delaying mowing could discourage farmers from harvesting the hay.

“If they put restrictions on when anybody could mow it, it’s fine with me. But don’t expect they’re going to have farmers willing to come in there and make the hay, because it just won’t be worth it,” he said, adding that hay loses nutrient value as it ripens.

There is another factor that also influences mowing decisions: unpredictable weather.

According to Greenbacker, farmers need three consecutive dry days to make hay, and rainy weather can delay that process.

“Weather plays a big role in what we can and can’t do,” he said.

Finding a balance

The debate in Durham reflects a broader challenge for the town as it grapples with how to balance wildlife preservation with agricultural needs. 

One organization that seeks to strike that balance is the Bobolink Project, a conservation program that pays farmers in parts of New England to adopt bird-friendly haying practices. According to its guidelines, the delayed first cut option recommends no cutting until July 15, while the delayed second cut allows for an early cut in May followed by a delay until July 24, giving the bobolinks enough time to renest. 

Hyla Howe, a grassland bird biologist at Mass Audubon and program manager for the Bobolink Project, said that mowing should be “an adaptive process where you’re watching what’s happening in the field, seeing if the numbers of birds are declining or increasing.”

While delayed mowing can protect the birds, which breed and build nests in the grass, repeated delayed haying without proper soil care can reduce a field’s quality over time, Howe said. She suggested testing the soil every two years to check nutrient levels, then following recommendations for maintenance of either warm-season or cool-season grasses.

Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has its own mowing guidelines for state lands, which include parks, forests, wildlife management areas and natural area preserves. According to DEEP, mowing decisions are made individually to ensure that management practices align with the purpose and intended use of the property. 

“In wildlife management areas that are managed for grassland birds, we typically do not mow until Sept. 1 or later. In general, we follow the guidelines published by Mass Audubon,” Bill Flood, a spokesman for DEEP, said in an emailed statement.

Similar tensions have emerged in other Connecticut towns over mowing. 

In neighboring Middlefield, residents have expressed continued concerns about the mowing at Strickland Farm, a town-owned property that it leases to the Durham Fair Association for parking during the annual September fair.

“With the aggressive mowing that’s been done two to three times a year in the last six or seven years, they have completely wiped out the bobolinks at that location,” resident Christopher Grice said. 

According to the fair association’s attorney, John Corona, the demanded changes are “inherently inconsistent” with what he described as a “mutually beneficial, almost symbiotic relationship between the fair and the town’s open space property.”

He added that the lease allows the property to remain open and mowed year-round, which would otherwise be costly to the town. 

This year, the town of Middlefield established mowing recommendations that call for delaying the first cut at several town-owned fields until after July 15. However, Grice said a large section of town-owned Coginchaug Greenway was still mowed in June.

At the Phillips Farm Preserve in Southbury, the Southbury Land Trust restricted dog walkers’ access to a field where woodcocks nest and asked the farmers to not maintain field edges until fall. The farmers complied. However, unlike White Farm, the property is privately managed by the land trust.

“It’s tricky,” said Pat Monahan, stewardship director of the Southbury Land Trust. “You’re always trying to maintain a relationship with a busy farmer and manage the land for lots of different uses and what people think you use it for.

In Wallingford, a similar case emerged in which its Conservation Commission asked a farmer to delay mowing of a town-owned field after noticing bobolinks nesting in the area. Jeffrey Kohan, vice chair of Wallingford’s Planning and Zoning Committee, said the farmer was “amendable to the delaying of [mowing] this part of the field.”

Kohan added that there was no opposition from residents because the field is not as heavily used for recreation as White Farm.