river Archives – Page 2 of 2 – J. G. Coleman Photography

Hammonasset Descending (Hammonasset River, Madison, Connecticut) — “Hammonasset Descending”
Hammonasset River, Madison, Connecticut
© 2015 J. G. Coleman

My latest work features the lively cascades and verdant woodland banks of the Hammonasset River, which forms the border between Madison and Killingworth as it courses south from Lake Hammonasset en route to Long Island Sound.

Along its northern stretches, the Hammonasset River is a modest, boulder-strewn brook with cool waters shaded by a dense forest canopy. Swirling pools, rips and riffles along its course are home to Connecticut’s only native trout: the brook trout. These fish are an important “indicator species” because their presence in a stream suggests that the water is sufficiently clean and cool; in short, that the habitat is in good shape. When the brook trout vanish, you can bet that major disturbances to the river ecosystem are to blame.

Oh, and just in case there was any doubt that brook trout still thrive in the Hammonasset, I was more than obliged to pull a fish from the very pool seen here in “Hammonasset Descending” this spring; an exquisite specimen, washed over with some incredible colors and patterning.

Purchase a Fine Art Print or Inquire About Licensing

Click here to visit my landing page for “Hammonasset Descending” to buy a beautiful fine art print or inquire about licensing this image.

Want to See More?

Be sure to check out all of my work from the northern stretches of the Hammonasset River.

Salmon River Wildlands (Salmon River at Salmon River State Forest, Colchester, Connecticut) — “Salmon River Wildlands”
Salmon River at Salmon River State Forest, Colchester, Connecticut
© 2015 J. G. Coleman

My piece, “Salmon River Wildlands”, brings you to the wooded banks of the Salmon River as it meanders through Colchester, Connecticut en route to its confluence with the Connecticut River. Riffles and wisps of whitewater wrinkle the river’s surface, which gleams with reflections of early morning light.

There was a time —back in the earliest colonial era of New England— when the Salmon River’s namesake, Atlantic Salmon, could be seen heading upstream in droves to spawn each year during autumn. It would’ve been a spectacle every bit as impressive as the modern salmon runs of Alaska and Western Canada. But dam-building, among other pressures, delivered a death blow to the species, barricading hundreds of miles of streams and brooks and cutting salmon off from their ancient breeding grounds. Annual migrations that had occurred faithfully for thousands of years in Connecticut came to a grinding halt after barely more than a century of European settlement. The Connecticut River strain of Atlantic Salmon was extinct before 1800, preserved only in the name of a few rivers and brooks where they had once flourished.

Purchase a Fine Art Print or Inquire About Licensing

Click here to visit my landing page for “Salmon River Wildlands” to buy a beautiful fine art print or inquire about licensing this image.

Want to See More?

Be sure to check out all of my work from Connecticut’s Salmon River State Forest.