SAVE THE DATE: JULY 15th

Paddle: 5:30 – 6:00pm Meeting: 6pm – 8pm

Paddle and 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: Camp Plymouth State Park on Echo Lake in Plymouth -- paddling around the lake at 5:30 followed by the meeting at 6pm with local refreshments.

The BRAT, founded in 2000 by director Kelly Stettner, offers hands-on workshops and projects throughout the year for communities in the Black River basin. For more information about this or any other program, please contact Kelly at blackrivercleanup@yahoo.com or (802) 885-1533, or log onto www.blackriveractionteam.org. To learn about EE Week, log onto www.eeweek.org. The Grafton Nature Museum can be reached at (802) 843-2111 or www.nature-museum.org. Find out more about Springweather and the Mount Ascutney Audubon Society at www.sover.net/~mwalsh/. The ACE's North Springfield Lake project can be reached by logging onto www.nae.usace.army.mil/recreati/nsl/nslhome.htm or by calling (802) 886-2775.

Save your inkjet and laser cartridges for the BRAT -- we'll recycle them and keep them out of landfills, and many of them will be turned in for a small amount of money to Funding Factory. They all add up, like raindrops in a puddle. Get in touch with BRAT for a pick-up at your office, or swing by Radio Shack in the Springfield Shopping Plaza to drop off a handful from home. Thank you!

A word from the Founder/Director:

While I work very hard to build relationships within the communities of the watershed and to obtain in-kind donations as a way to keep costs down, there are some unavoidable expenses that crop up.  We need your help!  Every dollar counts, so please find the BRAT booth at a community event such as the Windsor County Agricultural Fair or the Chester Craft Fair (September 22nd & 23rd, 2007) so I can shake your hand and thank you in person.  If you would like to mail a donation, there are a couple ways to go about it:

~ For tax-deductible donations, make the check payable to our umbrella organization, the Connecticut River Watershed Council ("CRWC" is fine). Write "BRAT" in the memo section and mail it to the CRWC at 15 Bank Row, Greenfield MA 01301.

~ To make your donation directly to the Black River Action Team, make it payable to the "BRAT" and mail it to 45 Coolidge Road, Springfield VT 05156.

Any help you can offer will be heartily appreciated!

Sincerely,