Waking Up at Sleeping Giant Park

By: Hannah Tyce, Brittany Bynum (Illustrator)

Chapter I: The Squirrel

I scurry along the forest floor of Hamden’s Sleeping Giant Start Park. It is a warm day, and sunbeams light my path. I am looking for food. It has been many days since the snow melted, and fresh foods have been in bloom. I am no longer relying on the reserves I laid before the cold weather.

The forest floor looks different every year. What was once open space is now covered with plants. The trees have plants climbing up them. Different bugs, bugs I had never seen before, climb the trees and scurry along the floor near me. Leaves I never knew in this forest become more widespread. Stalks with thorns shoot out of the ground. These new plants thrive more as each year passes. What I once knew has changed in my short lifetime; I know a different forest now.

My search for food continues. I dart around. I like to go fast, rustling leaves as I move along my route. I stop atop a rock, looking around. Where should I go next? I see some berries.

I rush to the bush. They’re above my reach, so I’ll have to climb. As I grab the stalk, something jabs my palm – a thorn. I try again – another thorn. I really want the berries. I keep reaching.

As my fingers are about to make contact, I feel my body teeter. I try to readjust myself, but it is too late. I tumble and fall into a grouping of thorny stalks. My body is jabbed from many angles, sharp edges poking into my skin all around my body. When I try to move, I am pushed into more thorns. I am stuck.

Chapter II: The Trail Walkers

We are walking the trails at Sleeping Giant today. It’s a warm day, not too hot and not too sunny. We’re taking the Nature Trail. It’ll be 1.5 miles with moderate incline. We’re all excited to be in nature, enjoying the outdoors at a state park in our hometown. The leaves have budded. Nature is awake again!

However, we have noticed that plants have been creeping into the walking paths. Vining plants now cover some of the ground, so we have to watch where we step. We don’t want our ankles to get caught. Along other parts of the trails are thorny shoots, stretching into the walking area. If we’re not careful, we get poked. Sometimes it feels necessary to go off trail to avoid the invading plants, so we do. That’s OK, right?

Even when we go off path, we encounter different plants. Not all are thorny, but they seem out of control. Some climb up the trunks of trees. Walking here will become unenjoyable if the plants continue to grow untamed like this.

Chapter III: The Copperhead

I narrowly avoid being stepped on. This has become more frequent lately. People come to walk, but they’re walking in my space.

My area has been feeling smaller and less safe. I need rocks to hide under, but they’re disappearing. I see people pick them up, revealing my friends underneath. They always jump back and drop the rock to the ground. It’s scary. Sometimes they pick up the rock and bring it out of the forest, taking away parts of my home to have at theirs.

I try to stay out of sight, keep to myself. I don’t want to confront anything that gets too close, but I will if I am threatened. I prefer not to use my venom. I use rocks to stay hidden. I blend in with the rocky environment and fallen brown leaves; they’re the same color as my scales.

I want to be left alone. More and more often, when I retreat away from where I know humans traverse, I see them in my area. They walk into places they hadn't before. That is how I was almost stepped on. They’re not looking closely enough, or maybe I camouflage too well. They sometimes bring their dogs and allow them to wander away from them. I don’t like when this happens.

My habitat is shrinking. My safe area is growing smaller. My rocks are disappearing. Where I used to feel safe, I now feel exposed. There are fewer places to hide. I am now on higher alert; I am more tense. This might cause me to make a quicker decision to use my venom. I just want to be left alone.

Chapter IV: The Park Volunteers

I am a volunteer with the Sleeping Giant Park Association. It is part of my job to survey the park, looking out for changes in the forest and keeping things tidy.

One of the changes we have seen over the years has been an increase in a plant called the Tree of Heaven. It’s an invasive plant. If you look at this plant and compare to the others that are in the forest, it looks very different. This type of plant is not native to the New England area but has grown rapidly. Just looking at a plant is not always enough to know if it is invasive or native, but it can be a start. The landscape tells a story.

Sometimes, invasive species work together in an environment. An insect that loves the Tree of Heaven is the spotted lantern fly. They prefer to lay their eggs on this plant, but that’s not the only place they’ll do so. To eat, the lantern fly will feed on the sap of other trees. This weakens the trees in such a way that may make them unable to defend themselves against diseases or strong weather. Weak trees can be dangerous for humans and animals to be near, and do not promote a strong forest. These plants have been eking out native plants for space in Connecticut for many years. It is important that the ecosystem of Sleeping Giant Park stays healthy if we want to keep using it for years to come.

In some cases, an invasive species will use a native plant to get what it needs to survive. Emerald burrowing beetles use native ash trees to lay their eggs and cultivate their pupae. Once inside, there is no natural predator. Only when the mature beetles emerge are they susceptible to the dangers of the environment.

Native plants need our help. We humans also play a role in their eradication, and much of this relies on us doing our part. Remember to leave nothing and take nothing. Do not leave things like trash or plant debris from other locations; do not take things, even rocks. Rocks are important to an ecosystem, even though they’re not alive. They help with anti-erosion efforts and are part of the homes of many animals and bugs.

It is also important to stay on the paths as best you can. Part of my job is to clean up paths, like clearing branches after storms or taming intruding vines and plants. Dogs should be kept on leash. Through all this, we can be in the woods but not interfere with the animals that live or visit here. Animals like their space, and we humans are just visitors.

We cannot do this alone. The Sleeping Giant Park Association relies on volunteers to keep our park in its best shape. We need you!

Chapter V: The Students

We are students in Hamden. We went to a program at the Hamden Public Library, where we learned about plants and their functions.

We learned about the ongoing ecological problem at our town’s Sleeping Giant Park. We found out that there are monthly cleanups, and our grown-ups took us to one.

While there, we learned how to spot invasive species and native species. We learned how to spot differences in leaves, stalk color, bark type, and root systems.

We learned the importance of how our actions can have big effects on the lives and environments of the animals in a forest. For example, if you walk off the designated trail paths, you may be walking on an animal’s home. This could begin to erode the

soil in spots, shrinking their territory or contributing to erosion. Part of the job that the rangers do is maintaining the trails. We helped them clear vines that had crept over, pull out small plants, and check that stones were still in place.

If you only cut down a plant, the root system may stay intact and grow another plant. Roots must be taken out as fully as possible in order to more effectively remove the plant from the area. With guidance from the rangers, we were able to dig into the soil to extract some root systems. They were very strong, twined into the dirt, grabbing buried rocks and the roots of nearby plants.

The park rangers showed us how to spot invasive eggs. Since there are certain trees or plants that invasive insects are attracted to, the insects and the eggs will often be found on or near those trees. We were shown how to rid the trees of the egg sacks, and how to check vehicles for the adult bugs. We learned how to identify when a tree had damage, such as from a burrowing beetle.

Sleeping Giant Park covers a huge area. There are a lot of plants, animals, and other organisms living there. It seemed like an impossible task to take care of it. Sometimes our work felt impossibly big. The park ranger assured us that, although it seems too big for individuals to fix, we can begin to mitigate it together.

This means that not everything will be resolved, that not everything will be fixed perfectly. That is OK. Making any amount of effort can help an area become a better place. We might not be able to pull out every invasive species, but working toward this goal is better than doing nothing. It is a labor of love and therefore worthwhile.

Meet the creators

Hannah Tyce has worked at the Hamden Public Library for two years. She enjoys reading about horticulture and agriculture. You can hear her on the Hamden Public Library Podcast.

Brittany Bynum is a portrait artist in their free time. They have also been with the Hamden Public Library for two years. Currently, they are experimenting with mixed media.

About the library

The Miller Memorial Library is located in the heart of Hamden, the Land of the Sleeping Giant. The public library system includes two more branches in southern Hamden, nestled in walkable communities, all serving the town’s diverse population. It is a LION Consortium member. The Hamden Public Library was the recipient of the 2025 Excellence in Public Libraries Award for Advancement of Literacy and Education by the Connecticut State Library.

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