Summer of the BUG HUNTS!
Join us every other Saturday, from 10 till noon, at the
Riverside Middle School in Springfield as we learn what lives at the bottom of the
Black River! This is a pilot project to begin getting a bigger picture of the overall
health of the river. Get in touch with Kelly Stettner for more details, rain dates,
etc.
July 12 & 13th ~ Ag Fair: Come visit the BRAT booth at the Windsor County Ag Fair!
July 15th ~ paddle and basin planning meeting: 2nd Basin Planning Meeting: Interested
in agricultural concerns? Recreation? Fishing, boating, swimming? Own riverfront
or lakefront property? Come join us for a dynamic gathering of your neighbors and
community members, led in discussion by Marie Caduto of the State Watershed Coordinator's
Office. It's time to begin laying out the plan for our Basin, the combined watersheds
of the Black and Ottauquechee Rivers. Location: Echo Lake, Camp
Plymouth State Park -- paddling around the lake at 5:30, followed by a meeting at
6pm with local refreshments).
Knotweed demonstration site, all summer: We won't use herbicides, just good old-fashioned
grit and elbow-grease! It's an experiment in tactics and techniques, right on Route
11 in downtown Springfield. Help needed to monitor for and cut new growth, place
landscape cloth, and even have a healthy stomp around on the new sprouts trying
to push up the cloth.
August 23rd ~ free invasive knotweed workshop: Got weed? Knotweed, that is! Join
us at the North Springfield Dam from 10am till noon for a free workshop on Japanese
knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum or Fallopia japonica). A joint effort between the
BRAT, the Ottauquechee Natural Resources Conservation District, the Army Corps of
Engineers and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, this workshop is open to
all interested parties, from landowners to business owners, gardeners, landscapers,
road crew employees and everyone in-between.
September 6th ~ Please help with the ninth annual RiverSweep: Wrap up the summer
by getting WET & DIRTY! It's the 9th annual RiverSweep, our big, go-for-the-gusto
cleanup of the Black River and as many tributary streams as we can manage. Supplies
and refreshments will be provided, as well as a special 'thank you' for all our
supporters and volunteers. Help a little or a lot, lend us your elbow-grease for
an hour or all morning! Please contact Kelly Stettner for details and more information
about how you can pitch in.
September 20th ~ Festival and cleanup: Help celebrate the Black River by cleaning up
Comtu Falls in downtown Springfield! Combining a cleanup with educational booths
and local entertainment, this "Festival" is the best of all worlds in an effort
to make a difference on the river. Plans include kayakers on the upper falls, musicians
from the surrounding community, and various hands-on FUN for families and kids of
all ages!
Got trees? This fall, help us plant a variety of native shrubs and trees at the
Luzenac/Rio Tinto talc mine in Ludlow! These plants are literally the grassroots
of an ongoing nursery project, to help supply necessary vegetation for upcoming
planting projects in the watershed. Please contact Kelly Stettner for details!
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