Southern New England is currently in a drought and a lot of our favorite streams and rivers have dried up on us. This is of course not good, but to get a silver lining out of this it does present an opportunity to go walk some of these waterways and clean up trash. A group of kids did a section of the Rumford river that looked like a landfill at one point and now its completely clean. A group of people gathered at the Norton reservoir to clean out all the junk and trash under the dam, normally it would be unsafe going in there. These are just a couple examples. Since its tougher to enjoy nature in these spot right now, why not use the opportunity to go into them and do the environment a solid? Just putting this idea out there.
5 Likes
We had a drought in Minnesota last year and many of the streams were too low to paddle without trashing your boat. So the paddling moved to larger rivers and to lakes both which are generally deeper than the small creeks and rivers that are fun to paddle.
Great idea as long as river bottom is not sticky mud!
The Norton reservoir you mentioned is in what state? I remember a pond in Norton, MA, next to the old Frates Dairy “statue” (a humungous milk bottle). That pond got algae-infested and stinky in late summer every year, though before that kids would swim there.
One year, I found out WHY the algae grew so profusely. It was not merely the effect of a long, hot summer. While my brother and I were swimming in that water, I noticed a large pipe spilling…something…into the pond.
It was raw sewage. That was the last time we went there!
1 Like
Here is a section of the Charles River that is about 15 minutes from me. I’ve launched my canoe and fished from there occaisonally.
I am actually surprised by the lack of junk and debris on the dried up bottom. There are periodic clean-ups sponsored by the Charles River Watershed Association. Clearly (literally and figuratively), they have done a good job in this section.
We just need rain to bring “normal flow” and activities back to the river.
sing
1 Like
Hmmm… Maybe getting an EPA superfund designation would make a dent for this urban creek.
Surprised the inflatable didn’t get puncture by debris on this “exploratory trip.”
sing