June 2017

President’s MessageWhat a difference a year makes!

Last year we were in a drought situation. The rivers and lakes had very little water, which made canoeing, kayaking and fishing difficult if not impossible.

This Spring we’ve had lots of water – maybe too much! The rivers and lakes are filled to capacity, which actually, may not be a bad thing for our upcom-ing river cruise.

So yes, we are sponsoring our annual Canoe/Kayak cruise in June, as well as the fly fishing clinic and the river clean up in September and October.

Other activities that have taken place this spring were the fish ladder open house and the Trout in the class room program.

The Annual meeting was held in May, wherein we elected our board of directors and officers, and had a

review of last years activities and along with a very interesting speaker. Refreshments were provided by the University. The Waite award was presented to Mark Damon, a long-time, loyal board member.

Just a reminder – all of our members are invited to the Annual meeting and we do appreciate everyone that attends. Members are our most important asset. Please address any board member with any suggestions or concerns you may have about our watershed.

Enjoy the river this summer and send us pictures when you do. We would like to post them on our facebook page!

SEE YOU ON THE RIVER!!!!

Bill Rose WRWA President

Watershed News

In This IssueCanoe & Kayak Cruise Saturday, June 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Storm Drain Labeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Fly Fishing Clinic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Trout in the Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Fish Ladder Open House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

A Shout-Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2017 River Symposium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Officers and Directors for 2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

  Westfield River Watershed Association News  2 

Upcoming events

Canoe & Kayak Cruise Saturday, June 17by Ann Barone

On Saturday, June 17, the Westfield River Watershed Association will sponsor a scenic six-mile paddle from the new Great River Bridge in Westfield to Rob-inson State Park in Agawam. For those used to seeing the river only in glimpses from the road, the family-friendly canoe and kayak cruise offers a new, close-up view of the waterway.

“Travel down the river through Westfield and see only the natural features of the riverscape,” urges Phil Sousa who is coordinating this year’s Canoe Cruise. “People are amazed that the pollution is now gone and the river is really clean. You don’ t see any of the commercial businesses near the river while pad-dling, just birds, wildflowers, even beaver dams and animals native to our area.” Phil, who is a long-time Board member of the river organization, encourages paddlers to “Come and meet new people. You’ll have a great time. This cruise is suitable for people with at least a little paddling experience. The water is mostly flat – we guide folks around any really fast spots.”

Participants need to bring their own canoe or kayak, paddles and personal safety devices, as well as sun-screen and drinking water. Organizers recommend that participants have some experience paddling, given that river conditions may be unpredictable. Children under 18 must be supervised by a parent or guardian. Children under 14 must paddle in the same boat as an adult.

An admission fee of $10.00 per person or $25.00 per family will help cover shuttle service, insurance and light refreshments. Registration is from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in the municipal parking lot off Meadow Street near the Great River Bridge in Westfield. Par-ticipants will register, unload boats and gear, drive their vehicles to Robinson State Park and return by shuttle to the launch area. Staggered departures will begin around 11:00 a.m.

Low or high water conditions or severe weather may require cancellation of the event. If you plan to participate and would like to receive a cancellation notice by email the evening before the event, email annbarone@verizon.net and put the word “Notify” in the Subject line. WRWA will also post the cancella-tion on its website, www.westfieldriver.org the eve-ning before. For more information about the Canoe and Kayak Cruise, visit www.westfieldriver.org or call Phil at 413-568-3982.

Storm Drain Labelingby Mike Young

We’ll be doing one more morn-ing of storm drain labeling in Westfield this year, tentatively scheduled for Saturday, July 21. We’ve got about 150 labels left over from previous years’ work and will be using them to re-label drains in the downtown Westfield area whose original labels have been lost to snowplows. If you’re able to help out, we’ll meet in the park-ing area for Westfield’s Town Hall (off Court Street just west of Washington Street) at 9:00 a.m. Wear older clothing (the adhesive for the labels can be a bit messy), bring sunscreen and water, and expect to be busy til around noon. The streets have to be dry for the adhesive to hold, so recent or ongoing rain will result in rescheduling of the work. Contact Mike Young (myoung721@comcast.net or 413-562-8498) with questions.

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Fly Fishing Clinicby Bill Rose

The fly fishing clinic will be held on September 9th this year. This allows us to avoid a conflict with the opening weekend of the Eastern Sates Exposition.

There will be fly-tying exhibition, aquatic insect iden-tification, and fly casting instruction. Participants are

encourage to bring their fly rods and will be instructed on how to cast it.

You also may be asked to help gather insects from the river. A lot of people stay the whole time, enjoying all the activities. Please join us and learn yet another way to have fun on the river.

Recent events

Trout in the Classroomby Mike Young

The Trout in the Classroom program, successor to the Atlantic Salmon Egg-Rearing Program, provides a couple of hundred local elementary and middle-school students the chance to follow the early stages in the lives of brook trout. WRWA provides each classroom with a 29-30 gallon aquarium tank, a chiller that keeps the tank water at 40-50°F during the winter and early spring, a filtration system, and sup-plies (filters, chemicals), and also helps the MA Divi-sion of Fisheries and Wildlife deliver about 50 brook trout eggs to each classroom in early January. Soon after delivery, the eggs hatch out and the students feed the growing fish throughout the spring before releasing them into the Westfield River (or a tribu-tary) in May or June. Participating schools this year were Westfield’s North Middle School (1 tank) and South Middle School (2 tanks), the Southwick Middle School (2 tanks), Gateway Regional Middle School (1 tank), and the R.H. Conwell Elementary School in Worthington (1 tank).

WRWA has also assisted the North Middle School with three days of field activities (3 different teams of students) at Sanderson Brook in Chester. Each day begins with the students releasing some of their trout into the West Branch of the Westfield River on their way to Sanderson Brook. Arriving at the brook around 9 a.m., the students are divided into two groups, with one half starting the day with a hike up to Sanderson Brook Falls. The remaining students are

broken into smaller groups of 5-8 students, with each group spending 20-30 minutes on each of two or three stream-related activities. One group uses a kick net and scrapers to collect macro-invertebrates from the stream gravels, looking for the stoneflies, caddis flies and other bugs that indicate a healthy stream environ-ment. A second group measures the width and average depth of the stream, then floats an orange downstream to estimate the velocity of the water - with a view to calculating the stream’s discharge (volume of water flowing by each second). They’re usually impressed by the result, often 100 gallons per second or more (which translates to roughly 10 million gallons a day!). Sometimes we include a third activity, where students are asked to use a key to identify some of the trees along the streams banks and to think about ways that the trees affect the fish and other creatures living in the stream. Thanks to Phil Sousa, Bill Rose, for their help with either the egg delivery or the stream activities for 2017.

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Fish Ladder Open Houseby Bill Rose

The fish ladder open house was a big success this year. We held it earlier this year, May 21st, on the suggestion of Mass Wildlife. They felt that it would be the peak time for the various fish to progress up the ladder, and indeed, approximately 250 fish were observed going up the ladder when we opened and it remained busy all morning. There were Shad, Suck-ers, and Small Mouth Bass among others. When we closed at 3:00 p.m. there was another large group of fish ready to come up but that had been intimidated by all the people walking up and down the ladder.

316 people attended that day, a record. Everybody came away with positive comments.

There were a large number of first-time visitors that did not know that the ladder existed so close to them. It was a very happy and educational event.

A Shout-OutLynn Bannon, our friend and long-time publicist recently resigned from her position with the WRWA. Her role was certainly larger than the sum of its part: she managed our contact lists, membership info, kept us organized, staffed our events and provided many insightful comments at board meetings. She will defi-nitely be missed.

Best of everything for you Lynn!

Free apps that help you ID nature – good and not so goodHelp stop the invasion of invasive species (plant or insect) that can crowd out native species and destroy important habitat. The Outsmart Invasive Species Project invites nature lovers to download the free Outsmart Invasive Spe-cies app. Then, when you spot a suspicious plant or insect, snap a photo. If you don’t have a smartphone, upload the photo from your camera through the project’s website. Learn more at www.masswoods.net/outsmart. Thanks to our friends in the Westfield River Watershed Inva-sive Species Partnership (WISP) for all they do to protect the watershed.

Leafsnap, a free app developed by Columbia University, the University of Maryland and the Smithsonian Institution, combines field guides with image recognition software that helps identify species by comparing a photo of a leaf to the app data. This app is available on iPhone and iPad.

Tree lovers might also check out nature.org/iconictrees to learn about iconic American trees and the scientists trying to protect them.

“There is pleasure in the pathless woods. There is rapture on the lonely shore. There is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea and music in its roar. I love not man the less, but Nature more.” –Lord Byron

  Westfield River Watershed Association News  5 

ful selection of photographs of the tremendous work carried out by Italian and other immigrant workers at that time. Billips fielded a number of questions from a very enthusiastic audience after the talk, including questions regarding the status of wells around Barnes Air Force Base, taken off line as a result of pollu-tion form the base. Billips confidence and expertise left more than a few listeners feeling assured that the City would address these issues in the best interest of town residents.

Chris Chamberland of the Berkshire Design Group spoke to his audience about the incredible possibili-ties of water conservation being explored through green building design for the Living Building Chal-lenge. Part of the requirement for this highly ambi-tious certification is attaining ‘Net Zero Water’. Net Zero Water requires that all water used by a build-ing be sourced and disposed of onsite. Chamberland talked about the Berkshire Design Group’s involve-ment in Hampshire College’s R.W. Kern Center, which, in addition to producing it’s own electricity from PV solar panels, also supplies its drinking water through rainwater harvesting and circulates, recycles and disposes of all of its gray water and black water using a complex system that includes indoor and outdoor plant irrigation, constructed wetlands and rain gardens. Chamberland discussed some of the chal-

2017 River Symposiumby Brian Conz and Aaron Reyes

This year’s annual symposium, with roughly 85 attendees, included presentations from a wide range of professionals speaking to our membership and the general public about the ‘Ups and Downs of a River: Floods and Droughts on the Westfield.’ It was an interesting cast of characters including civil engi-neers, a meteorologist, a green building designer and a citizen activist/educator.

Our keynote address was delivered by David Billips, Director of Public Works for the City of Westfield. Billips gave a fascinating talk on his work of over-seeing both the drinking water system and the waste water system for the City. Interestingly, among Billips’ first challenges when he began his work in Westfield several years ago, was dealing with the damage caused by successive flood events and weather catastrophes of 2011: the tornado, Hurricane Irene and the infamous October snowstorm. These events helped spur on a complete updating of Westfield’s wastewater treatment facility. Westfield’s drinking water system, espe-cially its connection to the Granville Reservoir, also received an overhaul, and Billips shared video foot-age of the complex process of retrofitting the existing delivery infrastructure, which had been in place for a hundred years. His presentation included a beauti-

Veronica Bobskill with Friends of Robinson State Park.

  Westfield River Watershed Association News  6 

lenges the building has faced in terms of regulatory hurdles as well as trouble-shooting some of the new territory for the technologies employed.

Matthew Coleman, manager of the Knightville and Littleville Dams for the U.S. Army Corps of Engi-neers, began his presentation by delineating the his-tory of each dam. Construction of Knightville Dam began in 1939 as a response to major flood events in the Pioneer Valley; mainly the floods of 1878, 1927, and 1936. The construc-tion of Knightville Dam was completed in 1941. Seven years later the storms of 1948 filled the Dam to capacity and the dam probably alleviated flooding to downstream cities and towns. However, the flood of 1955 overtopped the flood stage of Knightville by 13 feet. The other branches of the Westfield River were uncontrolled at the time resulting in severe flooding for the city of West-field. This event was the catalyst for the approval for construction of Littleville Dam, which was completed by 1965. While both Dams serve their downstream communities by offering flood protec-tion, the Littleville Dam also serves as a recreational lake and a reservoir of drink-ing water capable of storing 3 billion gal-lons of water. While the combined cost for construction of both dams exceeded the 10 million dollar mark it is estimated that the potential damage that they have prevented is on the order of 500 mil-lion dollars! In addition, it is estimated that the dams have reduced the flooding risk for their downstream communities by about 70%.

During the afternoon, Mr. Coleman also led a group of 12 participants for a tour of the dams and their facilities. The participants braved the cold drizzling

rains of early March and got a view of the “belly of the beast” by getting a rare opportunity to see the inside of the control room that houses the dam gate and its mechanisms. Mr. Coleman discussed many of the daily upkeep chores that are required to keep the dams operational as well as protocols that are followed in case of emergency by the Corps of Engi-neers and his staff.

Karl Leiker, a geographer and meteorologist at West-field State University with an interest in severe and unusual weather. He spoke about the drought of 2016, comparing it with previous droughts suffered in New England, especially the drought of 1965. The talk was peppered with interesting stories of Leiker’s experi-ences in drought-prone Kansas where he grew up listening to survival stories of the dustbowl years.

Hanna Ciepela, Emily Slate and Lillian Bruffee with an exhibit of their WSU Design project to re-imagine the Westfield Riverfront.

  Westfield River Watershed Association News  7 

Officers and Directors for 2017Officers:

President: Bill Rose 39 Sunset Terrace Feeding Hills 01030 786-0195

First Vice President: Brian Conz 999 General Knox Rd., Russell, MA 01071 572-8084

Second Vice President: Allan Ouimet 16 Russell Rd. Westfield 01085 539-0964

Secretary: Mark Damon 297 Western Ave Westfield 01085 977-1577

Treasurer: Mike Young 721 West Rd. Westfield 01085 562-8498

Directors:

Ann Barone 3 Delancey St, Westfield 01085 374-9799

Sheryl Becker 101 Regency Park Dr. Agawam 01001 821-0818

Timblin Judy 37 Mountain Rd. Holyoke 01040 569-9018

Ron Lucassen 39 Rachael Terrace Westfield 01085 568-4252

John A. Pelli 32 Laro Road, Westfield 01085 562-0182

Aaron Reyes 100 Park Drive Westfield 01085 572-8380

Phillip Sousa 29 Yankee Circle Westfield 01085 568-3982

Henry Warchol 2 Sackville Road Westfield 01085 562-3467

Honorary Directors:

Dan Call 777 College Highway Southwick 01077 569-9677

For more information on WRWA’s activities, check our website at www.westfieldriver.org

This plaque will be placed along the stairway at Glendale Falls along the Middle Branch of the Westfield River.

The Westfield River Watershed AssociationNewsletterJune 2017

The Westfield River Watershed Association P.O. Box 1630 Westfield, MA 01086-1630

In This IssueCanoe & Kayak Cruise Saturday, June 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Storm Drain Labeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Fly Fishing Clinic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Trout in the Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Fish Ladder Open House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

A Shout-Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2017 River Symposium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Officers and Directors for 2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7