Island in the Black River?

Early in the spring, a large pine tree behind the Springfield Shopping Plaza cracked and the top half splashed into the river. It floated downstream just a short ways and lodged into the silty bottom, it’s branches sticking up out of the water. Over the next few months and years, I plan to keep a photographic record of its development as wildlife takes advantage of this new habitat.

RIVERSWEEP SCHEDULED for 8/28/10

Mark your calendars, it’s official! This is the 11th Annual RiverSweep, taking place at all points along the Black River in Windsor County, VT. We share our results with our umbrella organization, the CT River Watershed Council, to combine with their trash tally for the annual Source-to-Sea cleanup they do.

As usual, I’ll have an HQ station at the Springfield Shopping Plaza (in the bank drive-up near the footbridge) and at the gazebo on the Town Green in Veterans’ Park in Ludlow. Come on by anytime between 8am and noon to sign in, pick up your free tee shirt and refreshments, grab a pair of workgloves and a trash bag and see where you’d like to work.

Stay for an hour or all morning! Free lunch is generously donated by local businesses, as a ‘thank you’ for donating your time and elbow-grease.

Can’t make it on the 28th? Show your support by mailing us a check in any amount, and we’ll use it to offset the costs of our projects throughout the year. Send it to the BRAT, 45 Coolidge Road, Springfield VT 05156.

Tax-deductible donations may be mailed (with “BRAT” in the memo section) to the CT River Watershed Council, 15 Bank Row, Greenfield MA 01301.

Join the fun as we clean the river from bed to banks and beyond!

Welcome to 2010!

It’s been ten years since our first ripple! We have grown from a once-a-year cleanup with a handful of folks to a dynamic, organic grassroots team of dozens of wonderful volunteers.

From hunting river bugs to exploring the upper reaches of our watershed, we’ve really begun to have FUN!

There are big plans for lots of great projects and events for 2010, so stay tuned.

Looking ahead

I’m working up a grant proposal to see us through 2010; so many cool projects either continuing or evolving, some new ones, and best of all, some new faces and partners!

http://www.anr.state.vt.us/dec/waterq/lakes/docs/lp_watershed.appl%20guide%202010.pdf

Tanks in the Black River?

Not quite, but we DID discover armored mayfly larvae last Sunday! Of the genus Baetisca, these cute little buggers are uniquely shaped for their kind. Instead of being long and sleek, Baetisca mayfly larvae are like tiny HumVees: round and hump-backed, with “poky bits” that look like thorns sticking out around a hardened shell-like structure. Sure, they have the typical trio of hair-like tail, but they are much shorter in relation to the body than I expected.

There’s a terrific image of these guys at one of my favorite bug Web site, Bug Guide: http://bugguide.net/node/view/53289/bgpage

The kids in Ms. Calcagni’s science class at Riverside Middle School found dozens of these little guys, which are generally considered moderately sensitive to sensitive when it comes to polluted waters. I’d say they are a pretty good indication that the Black River has a wide diversity of critters, many of which will only live in clean, healthy water!