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Mill River Greenway Initiative

A community-based steward for the Mill River

River walks

Invasive Plant Management Walk, Lathrop Community, Easthampton,Oct. 28

October 2, 2019 by JW Sinton

Reigster early, folks, and learn how to manage invasive plants on this walk at the Lathrop Community in Easthampton! Learn how and why they are removing invasive plants to protect wildlife in Lathrop’s forests. See what is replacing the invasives in areas where they’ve worked for up to five years.

Registration required. Walks at 1:00 and 3:30.

Check out Lathrop Land’s website.

 

 

Filed Under: Invasive plants, River walks

2017 Winter News

February 25, 2017 by JW Sinton

Mill River at the Oxbow — Photo: Janine Norton www.janinenorton.com

It’s been three months since we last corresponded with you, dear MRGI supporters, and, after a Dam Walk and wonderful winter celebration to cap off a productive 2016, we’ve caught our breath and are ready to head into springtime.

  1. The Leeds-Haydenville Connection: Our happiest news is the completion of the trail dismount (aka the “Goat Path”) in Haydenville, which included grading, guard rails, and native restoration plantings.   Thanks again to the Williamsburg Highway Department for their time and skill in completing the project just before the snow fell! Gaby is now leading the charge to complete the surfacing of the last half-mile of rail trail between Leeds and Haydenville; City of Northampton and Town of Williamsburg have applied for grants together, so keep your fingers crossed! If the grants are awarded the project will occur in Spring 2018.
  2. Dam Disaster Brochure: We are planning our next brochure to tell the story of the Williamsburg Dam Disaster. Unlike our first three, this one will cover several miles of river, from the site of the old Williamsburg Dam to the floodplain at Florence Fields. Elizabeth Sharpe (In the Shadow of the Dam author) and Paul Jahnige (Williamsburg Woodland Trails Committee Chair) will be working with local historians Ralmon Black and Eric Weber to develop the text and images. Gaby will have a Smith intern ready to expedite the work, which John will shepherd through the process of design and printing with Rob and Damia at their Transit Authority Figures design shop. The Woodlands Trails Committee is also planning for interpretive signage along the trail itself. The trail itself was completed last fall and is accessible off Ashfield Road near the intersection of Judd Lane in Williamsburg.
  3. Interpretive Signs for the Hidden Mill: A lot is happening at Smith this term. Reid Bertone-Johnson’s studio will be working on signage for the Hidden Mill River reach of the river. Once we have text and designs for the signs, we will seek grants to work with Wayne Feiden, Northampton’s planner, to establish interpretive signs along the self-guided riverwalk route.
  4. Designs for Florence Fields: Reid’s class will also be scoping out a path from the parking lot at the downstream (southern) end of the recreation fields to the banks of the Mill River, a trail along the rivers edge, and, we hope, a crossing into Look Park. Smith senior Meg Kirsch is creating plans for an outdoor classroom at the river’s edge.
  5. Riverwalks? We look forward to planning at least two walks and a paddle this spring and summer. We will plan a paddle in April from Arcadia up to the South St. barrier if we have sufficient high water. We hope to work with Laurie Sanders and Betty Sharpe to find a date for a combined Historic Northampton/MRGI riverwalk at Florence Fields this summer and with John Clapp on a Roberts Meadow Brook walk this year, as well. Please, dear Mill River lovers, let us know if there are any riverwalks you would like to do again or new riverwalks on your bucket list.

As always, we wish you a joyous time on the river that runs through us!

Gaby, John, and Neal

 

Filed Under: Mill River Greenway, Newsletters, River walks

Florence Riverwalk October 1

September 19, 2016 by JW Sinton

Nonotuck Silk/Littfield Parsons Co. ca. 1865

Nonotuck Silk/Littfield Parsons Co. ca. 1865

Florence Riverwalk Oct. 1

Join us for the inaugural riverwalk celebrating the new Florence Self-Guided Tour Brochure!

Saturday October 1st 10:00 am to 11:30 am

Meet at the Nonotuck Mill parking lot across Nonotuck St. from ChemiPlastica (do not park at ChemiPlastica!)

MRGI’s third Historic Mill River Walk brochure is hot off the press, and we’re pleased that Wendy Sinton, author of the brochure, will be our leader for our inaugural guided tour.  The walk is a mile and a half, but those who are unable to walk that far will be able to do the first half mile and then return to their car.

Long the center of Mill River industry, Florence, originally known as Broughton’s Meadow, was home to factories that produced silk thread, plastics, and brushes.  You’ll explore the unique juxtaposition of industrial activity and the abolitionist movement.  Sojourner Truth and David Ruggles once lived and worked here as part of a utopian community.  This tour ends at the farm of a noted abolitionist and the spot where the sad remains from the 1874 flood came to rest.

As usual, the tour is limited to 20 participants, so let us know of your interest.

Filed Under: Florence, History, Mill River Greenway, River walks

A Stunning Spring and Summer Ahead

April 25, 2016 by JW Sinton

We’re thrilled to announce a series of great initiatives this spring and summer:

LET’S TACKLE INVASIVES ALONG OUR RIVER!

We’re delighted to make available a new guide for land stewards in the Mill River watershed, “Making Room for Native Plants and Wildlife.” The guide, written by the New England Wild Flower Society with support from Smith College, is a plant-by-plant guide to the management and removal of invasive plants species commonly found encroaching on the banks and floodplains of the Mill River. The guide devotes one page per species to repeat offenders such as Japanese knotweed, oriental bittersweet, and multiflora rose, offering pictures and description for identification, a table of when and how best to combat each species, and suggestions for replacement plantings of species native to this region. The guide is available for free on our http://millrivergreenway.org website and will also be available in a printed, bound version at cost, $15 per guide (email us at info@millrivergreenway.org if you’re interested in purchasing print copies). We’re planning to organize educational and stewardship events along the river this summer to distribute the guide and galvanize the community to care for the river. Stay tuned for more info. We hope we’ll see you out there!

THE CONWAY SCHOOL BOOK WILL BE AVAILABLE BY MAY DAY

We’ve gotten an early peek at Armi and Margot’s work at the Conway School and it looks beautiful. The book, entitled “Building a Strategic Plan for the Mill River Greenway” is 68 pages and chock full of photographs, maps, and data. THANK YOU, Mill River Lovers, this is your gift to the river, and the river will be giving back to you. We can’t wait to get this out to you. Watch this space.

A SELF-GUIDED TOUR BROCHURE FOR FLORENCE

Wendy Sinton of the Sojourner Truth Memorial Committee, with the help of Dianne Jester-Wieland (Smith ’16), Julia Franchi Scarselli (Smith ’18), and Florence architect Scott Laidlaw have a draft prepared for a Mill Riverwalk in Florence. Designed once again by the inimitable Rob and Damia of TransitAuthorityFigures.com, we expect to have copies of the brochure early this summer. This is the third brochure in what we hope will someday be a series of ten!

BAY STATE RIVERWALK OPTIONS

Once again, Smith students lived up to their reputation for amazing projects by producing maps and data that summarize parcel data, historical features, and invasive species challenges on the Bay State reach of the river. This work will provide the basis for Bay State residents and the City of Northampton to envision the Greenway from Paradise Pond to the Cutlery Building, as well as gathering the information that will become another self-guided tour brochure. We will post their work on the website in May. Thanks, Julia Graham, Grace Peralta, and Bryn Gingrich for work that will have lasting impact!

ENGINEERING DESIGN FOR THE RAIL TRAIL DISMOUNT TO SOUTH MAIN STREET IN HAYDENVILLE

…speaking of lasting impact, Joanna Kenneally, Sophia Poulos, Jin Rui Yap, and Eliana Perlmutter, Smith seniors working through the Engineering Department’s Design Clinic, have completed an engineering study to link the end of the rail trail in Leeds to South Main Street in Haydenville (Williamsburg). They presented two options, one earthwork and one boardwalk, at a very well attended Community Forum in Williamsburg on April 9. The students’ design and analysis lays the groundwork for Williamsburg to seek the funding that will be required to complete the project. Our deepest gratitude to Smith and the College’s superb students!

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Bay State, Florence, Haydenville, Invasive plants, Leeds, Mill River Greenway, River walks

Florence Riverwalks 8/15 and 9/26

July 30, 2015 by JW Sinton

Get ready for some high summer fun on the two Florence riverwalks and prepare for a fantastic fall!

The Florence I riverwalk from Maines Field to Meadow St. Bridge will be led by Wendy Sinton of the Sojourner Truth Memorial Committee and MRGI’s John Sinton.  It’ll feature the Mill River industries that drove Florence’s prosperity with a focus on the underground railroad and the Northampton Association of Industry and Education.  That’s Sat. August 15.

The Florence II walk on Sat. Sept. 26 walk is one of our most popular, featuring naturalist Laurie Sanders and Elizabeth Sharpe, author of In the Shadow of the Dam.  It will cover the river from Meadow St. Bridge to Crimson & Clover farm across from Look Park.

Room is available on both those tours, a sneak preview of which can be found at this link, which you should simply copy onto your browser: https://player.vimeo.com/external/133577379.source.mp4?s=31561790f19a26cad582699c08cf0c56&profile_id=0&download=1

The video was brought to you by Burgy’s inimitable and invaluable Tom Adams, Director/Owner of Reelife Documentary Productions & Folktography by Tom

And get ready for a fantastic fall.  We’ll be working with new partners and old to create a path from Leeds to Haydenville, to begin some invasive management, to develop a partnership with the Conway School, and add to our Mill River History.

With all our best wishes,  John and Gaby

Filed Under: Florence, History, Invasive plants, Mill River Greenway, River walks

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