Upon closer inspection of the polluted soil dredged from Mill Pond one finds pieces of plastic, metal and landfill debris at every step.

It would be a challenge for someone to reveal a single square foot of the cornfield area that does not contain man-made pollutants withing the first few inches of soil. Oh well, nice try New Canaan ~ burying your trash in Waveny Park was not environmentally responsible.

A public-private group formed recently with the intention of restoring the Waveny Park cornfields.

Is public-private a word? Or is it two antonyms, such as good-bad, put together?

The cornfields, some 18 acres located in the southeast corner of the park, have been neglected for years, leaving it overgrown with invasive plants and vines that are choking native species of trees and bushes, many of which were planted 50 years ago or more.

I know newspaper journalists like to ‘editorialize’ but to say the fields have been neglected is an outright falsehood.

The truth is, the cornfields have not been neglected. The cornfields have received constant attention for years, purposeful destructive attention by the town of New Canaan and it’s contractors who have deposited hundreds of cubic yards of toxic crude oil product and thousands of cubic yards of dredged waste.

The fields have, under the care of The Town of New Canaan, been systematically destroyed according to their plan and the residents of New Canaan paid for that deleterious process. To call it neglect is just not true. Neglect is defined as “Fail to look after, pay no attention”

On the contrary, the Waveny cornfields have received constant attention and there are more than 100 photographs on Waveny.net showing “years” of ruinous attention.

Judging from the statement the cornfields are “overgrown”, the journalist who wrote the Advertiser article obviously hasn’t visited the cornfields which have been devoid of life for quite some time.

Does it not seem odd to anyone that persons responsible for the deplorable condition of the cornfields should be appointed to the Restoration Project’s Steering Committee?

Waveny.net has been concerned by the destructive behavior of a Town bent on selling off and irrepairably altering the natural landscape of Waveny Park for years.

Most of all, the question remains; How have we come to the point where a few residents are forming a committee to clean up for the Town of New Canaan? Why do citizens have to call on the Attorney General to protect us from our town governement? Why do we elect and support with our tax dollars men and women who don’t hold righteous values? Why do we as residents of New Canaan allow our elected officials to treat our precious resources with such injust disdain?

The article should have said: “We, as a town, have been using the Waveny Park cornfields as a dumping grounds for several years. The abuses have taken a serious toll on the environment, forcing out wildlife and completely obliterating native and planted flora. Despite our decision to use the grounds for debris storage, we have come to the conclusion that a Natural setting is preferable to the continued use of our Public Park as a dump and therefore have decided to reverse our decision despite the millions of dollars aready invested in destroying the area.

We, as a town, have decided to remove the tires, scrap metal, plastic and asphalt in order to reestablish the Natural environment to the best of our ability. Though it will take years for such a reversal of behavior, it is in the best interest of future generations to keep Waveny Park the wonderful natural landscape it has been for hundreds of years.

You know what’s really great about the new asphalt trails through Waveny Park in New Canaan? Instead of troubling with the sprinkling of wood chips we finally have a place to put our old roads, in the forest. Here’s a gallery celebrating pavement.

[Show as slideshow]

I spent my Valentine’s Day alone this year. During the day I took a walk through Waveny Park. A walk through my favorite woods gives me a chance to escape my small world for a moment and think a bit more clearly. Being immersed in Nature gives meaning to my existence and lends a perspective on my mortality and my significance in the Grand Scheme of things. It is a place where I am in Love.

I am glad to have a perspective which allows me to see the garbage as Art and the changes taking place as yours, not mine. I am not one with just the bent steel rusting in the puddle but rather, I am one with all of it; The puddle, the metal, the damage and the persistence of Nature to overcome the greed-fueled abuses of mankind. Am I separate from those that litter and spit upon the landscape without regard? I relate to the grass growing around coffee cups and discarded 5-gallon pails. I relate to the animals large and small pushed away onto increasingly smaller islands of safety and sustenance.
Anyway, I’m sure this is all quite boring to you. Go bury a tire so you can earn your five dollars and buy more plastic plates to throw away. Go drive your car and look out the window at the pretty trees lining the Waveny property…  Maybe, just maybe, you will remember these pictures of the garbage that is eating away at the backside of those trees when they are all that is left of what was once Waveny’s Forest.