Posting of seasonal closure, Cromwell, CT

The Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge has dramatically expanded its protection of the Federally-threatened Puritan tiger beetles through the recent purchase of a 30 acre parcel in Cromwell, Connecticut.  Most of the parcel, along the mainstem of the Connecticut River is a floodplain forest that provides important stopover habitat to migrating songbirds.  A small part of the parcel is an accreting sand spit, where as many as 600 adult beetles have been found in one year.  This small portion of the parcel was recently posted to notify boaters that the sandy beach is seasonally closed during the adult beetle emergence period. 

These beetles are found in only two locations in the world - along the Chesapeake Bay and along the Connecticut River.  Historically, there were 11 populations along the river, but only two remain.  Although the refuge has long been the driving force in protecting and restoring the embattled beetle population on state- and city-owned property in Massachusetts, this recent refuge activity is helping to protect and maintain part of the beetles' other larger metapopulation in Connecticut. 

At the Massachusetts site, intensive recreational use of the beach by boaters has been observed to interrupt beetle mating.  Since no public access to the Cromwell site was allowed by the private landowner prior to the refuge purchase, the beach there has never received intensive use.  With the advent of public ownership, seasonal closure during the beetles' two-month period of adult emergence is considered necessary to protect the beetles from similar interference that would be caused by recreational users if they were allowed to use the refuge parcel during the mating period. 

Outreach in the area resulted in a positive article about the beetles and their plight in the Hartford Courant and a call from a local police officer offering to assist in enforcing the closure.