IN SPRING 2027, WE’RE WELCOMING NORWALK BACK TO MANRESA FOR THE FIRST TIME IN nearly 75 YEARS WITH 28 ACRES OF Revitalized FORESTS, OPEN GRASSLANDS, AND SAFE NEW trails.
As the first publicly accessible phase of Manresa Wilds, the Northern Forest is designed to allow safe access to the forest while simultaneously advancing the goals of soil remediation and habitat enhancement.
The concept plan organizes the site around three main “forest pockets”—Eco, Gather, and Learn—each offering a distinct experience with flexible spaces for exploration, gathering, and reflection.
These pockets are connected by 1.15 miles of newly planted walking trails, intended to create safe access to important forest resources while preserving and fortifying their natural beauty. Our plan for the Northern Forest prioritizes ecological restoration and public access simultaneously. Careful restoration efforts will address health and safety risks to visitors and wildlife alike, paving the way for future opening phases that will create a vibrant, healthy community park.
The Northern Forest will be accessible through a redesigned entrance off Longshore Avenue, with no more than 50 on-site parking spots, a turn-around loop for visitors, bike racks, bathrooms, and a drinking fountain and water bottle station. A bus stop, serviced by the Norwalk Transit District will sit at the entrance, giving visitors of all ages an easy way to reach the forest without relying on private vehicles.
The vision for the Northern Forest is to restore a healthy, layered forested habitat once common in Connecticut and the Northeast. To ensure the long-term vitality of the forest, and to allow the Norwalk community safe enjoyment of this ecological resource, specific stewardship and remediation activities are required. The restoration plan for the Northern Forest focuses on increasing native biodiversity by removing invasive species and planting multiple strata of adaptive native species. While the existing birch canopy will last only about two more decades, the planned restoration will set the stage for a resilient forest that supports a wide diversity of wildlife well into the future.
Shaped by the site’s industrial past, Manresa’s existing ecology has been resilient throughout the ages, yet native biodiversity has suffered due to harsh environmental constraints: the forest currently lacks an understory layer, and a majority of the site’s groundcover consists of non-native, invasive species which threaten the system’s functions and values. The ‘pockets’ are intentionally sited in areas with high concentrations of invasive species, bundling large-scale remediation and ecological enhancement efforts and establishing new native plant communities atop layers of clean soil, while allowing visitors space to sprawl out and connect with nature.
Eco
The Eco Pocket is a 1-acre diverse meadow pocket at the center of the Northern Forest. Visitors can look forward to sweeping grasses, seasonal wildflowers, and the quiet movement of birds and pollinators that thrive in this mix of wet and dry meadow conditions. Subtle topographical changes create different areas of light and moisture, shaping a landscape that shifts throughout the year.
The Eco Pocket offers a peaceful space to explore, pause, and observe. This is a place to bird watch, walk a path with a friend, or relax under a beautiful shade structure. It invites everyday connection to the natural character of Manresa Wilds and gives visitors a welcoming place to enjoy the simple beauty of the meadow.
Learn
The Learn Pocket is a .2 acre "coastal classroom" offering outdoor educational space and breathtaking views out to the harbor, framed by a diverse mix of maritime plantings. Featuring a picnic area and outdoor classroom, this pocket creates a quiet, open overlook where visitors can engage with the landscape and water in a more intentional way.
This pocket gives school groups, neighbors, and visitors a place to sit, observe, and explore coastal ecology up close. Designed to support education, it brings a thoughtful, purposeful layer to the Northern Forest.
Gather
The Gather Pocket creates a warm, open clearing within the forest where visitors can come together in a simple, natural setting. The northern side features a lifted hammock grove beneath a light canopy of trees, offering a playful place to rest, read, or take in the quiet of the woods. To the south, a flexible meadow space can be mowed for small events, neighborhood activities, or informal gatherings, giving the community room to spend time together outdoors.
Designed as a welcoming, low-key destination, the Gather Pocket supports everyday use by residents and school groups and offers a relaxed place to meet, move, and enjoy the evolving landscape of Northern Forest.
Eco
The Eco Pocket is a 1-acre diverse meadow pocket at the center of the Northern Forest. Visitors can look forward to sweeping grasses, seasonal wildflowers, and the quiet movement of birds and pollinators that thrive in this mix of wet and dry meadow conditions. Subtle topographical changes create different areas of light and moisture, shaping a landscape that shifts throughout the year.
The Eco Pocket offers a peaceful space to explore, pause, and observe. This is a place to bird watch, walk a path with a friend, or relax under a beautiful shade structure. It invites everyday connection to the natural character of Manresa Wilds and gives visitors a welcoming place to enjoy the simple beauty of the meadow.
Learn
The Learn Pocket is a .2 acre "coastal classroom" offering outdoor educational space and breathtaking views out to the harbor, framed by a diverse mix of maritime plantings. Featuring a picnic area and outdoor classroom, this pocket creates a quiet, open overlook where visitors can engage with the landscape and water in a more intentional way.
This pocket gives school groups, neighbors, and visitors a place to sit, observe, and explore coastal ecology up close. Designed to support education, it brings a thoughtful, purposeful layer to the Northern Forest.
Gather
The Gather Pocket creates a warm, open clearing within the forest where visitors can come together in a simple, natural setting. The northern side features a lifted hammock grove beneath a light canopy of trees, offering a playful place to rest, read, or take in the quiet of the woods. To the south, a flexible meadow space can be mowed for small events, neighborhood activities, or informal gatherings, giving the community room to spend time together outdoors.
Designed as a welcoming, low-key destination, the Gather Pocket supports everyday use by residents and school groups and offers a relaxed place to meet, move, and enjoy the evolving landscape of Northern Forest.
Although referred to as a ‘forest’, the existing ecosystem technically functions more so as a fragmented coastal woodland. Non-native and invasive species such as Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), Japanese Stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum), and Phragmites (Phragmites australis) dominate the site’s post-industrial landscape. The team’s design vision is to establish a robust future forest based on regional and historical coastal precedents.
The proposed system of trails will function as a frame for forest restoration, setting the front lines of restoration plantings with a gradient of buffer treatments which adapt specifically to the trail adjacencies. The extent and typologies of the restoration and/or enhancement approach is the product of over two years of ecological site assessments and ground truthing by the design team.
The main design goal is to establish a strong trail buffer between patrons and the woodland interior - employing a more ‘maximal restoration’ approach within the trail corridor zone and then a more ‘targeted’ or ‘surgical’ restoration approach in the forest buffer zones. The restoration approach emphasizes microclimates and habitat diversity while including several keystone hardy species throughout the forest’s restoration plan to establish unity.
Ten novel restoration planting communities were formulated and characterized based on existing conditions, historical and regional habitat priorities, and the foundations of ecology: sunlight, hydrology, and soils. Each of these communities is assembled into a unique amalgamation planting and seeding schedule per restoration zone to address each individual patch throughout the forest and respond specifically to the site's dynamic conditions.
* Pending local and state approvals
We are here
2024
Acquisition by Mcchord’s
Nonprofit Established
2025
Initial Vision revealed
Community outreach began
Partnerships formed:
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Wesleyan University, Sacred Heart University, Maritime Aquarium Norwalk, and the Norwalk Board of Education
Northern Forest Concept Plan reveal
2026
Northern Forest construction begins*
Updated Vision Revealed
2027
Northern Forest Opens*
2028
Landscape, remediation, and building construction work begins*
2032-2035
Manresa Wilds Opens*
