Learning from the Field: Massachusetts
Housatonic River Walk
Great Barrington, Massachusetts: Restoring native plants on the Housatonic River Walk
It started as a cleanup project. Trash and pollution littered the banks of the Housatonic River in western Massachusetts. But almost 400 tons of trash later, supporters of the
Housatonic River Walk (newly designated as a National Recreation Trail) have moved on to other initiatives. With an eclectic array of more than 2100 volunteers helping out over the years -- ranging from farmers to canoeists -- advocates are now focused on riverbank restoration and replacing exotic, invasive plants with what supporter Rachel Fletcher calls "native natives": plants propagated from local seeds.
The work of Fletcher and her colleagues is inspired, in part, by native son W.E.B. Du Bois, who gave a speech about the importance of preserving the Housatonic River back in 1930. "We felt he was speaking to us directly," said Fletcher, when she located the actual text from his 1930 speech. "All that he called for, we were trying to do in our own small way." The River Walk includes
Du Bois River Garden Park, which features a rain garden that helps remove pollution and lets stormwater soak slowly into the earth, rather than channelling it directly into the river. Key to their success in cultivating new volunteers is ensuring that everyone understands the project's context. "We do slideshow lectures and tours for school groups before they volunteer," says Fletcher, "so they have a sense of the big picture and how their activity connects with the whole."
Learning from the Field: National Trails...National TrendsStuart Macdonald of the nonprofit group
American Trails, which is the National Park Service's lead partner in the NRT program, has seen a few major trends evolve over the years. First, he says, "What we're trying to do is make more out of the National Trails System. It's not just about remote, highly seasonal trails -- it's about trails in people's lives, in their communities."
Water trails: The Florida Circumnavigational Trail near Cedar Key (Doug Alderson)Another development is the popularity of
water trails, which include marked routes for canoes and kayaks, maps, facilities, and official management status. Finally, Macdonald notes an increase in trails on federally managed lands owned by the
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the
Bureau of Land Management. "The designation provides a branding boost to trails, and it's a clear way of inviting the general public onto their property, in addition to traditional hunting and fishing folks," he says.
Stuart's PicksSome of Macdonald's favorite recent projects include the
Milwaukee Urban Water Trail, the
Clear Creek Trail in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, and
Horton's Slough Trail, which is located inside Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.