Bridge Rewards SWEAT'S Hard Work
By PAUL HAYES Tewksbury Town Crier Oct. 13, 1999
TEWKSBURY - There's a reason they call themselves SWEAT.ShawsheenWatershed Environmental  Action  Team (SWEAT) member Bob Rauseo has removed 206 discarded tires from the Shawsheen River this year, and last year he removed a total of 253 tires from the river.
  As high as these totals are, Rauseo said they are actually less than in previous years, before he kept count."In the old days we used to pull dumpsters [of trash and tires] out of the river;" Rauseo said. In recognition of SWEAT's 17 years of dedication to preserving and cleaning the Shawsheen River Watershed, the town formally dedicated the SWEAT Bridge on Tuesday evening. The Board of Selectmen approved a  motion made by Selectman Kevin  Anderson, a SWEAT member himself, to name the bridge in honor of the group.
   The Mill Street bridge, which was destroyed by Shawsheen River floodwaters in June of 1998, was rebuilt during November and December of last year.
   Rauseo appreciated having the bridge named for SWEAT but looks forward to having all bridges over the Shawsheen River fitted with signs indicating to pedestrians and motorists what river they are crossing.
  "I want to get people thinking about the Shawsheen River;" Rauseo said. "Often people don't realize it exists."
   Rauseo said SWEAT's primary goal is to remove all trash and man made waste from the 25 mile-long river. It is a goal Rauseo said the group is achieving slowly but surely.
 

  The riverbed has become deeper, because of the trash removal. Rauseo said the tires and other trash they remove now is "old junk" that had been buried underneath recent junk.
  The river's recovery has led to the return of several native species including otter, deer, beaver, mink, and muskrats that had  all  but  vacated  the Shawsheen River corridor; the narrow strip of land abutting the banks of the Shawsheen River.
  The resurgence  in native wildlife has SWEAT seeking to preserve the river as a refuge area.
  According to Rauseo, SWEAT is currently trying to get the Shawsheen River corridor included as part of the Great Meadows Wildlife Refuge in Sudbury, which includes the Assabet and Concord rivers.
"The Shawsheen River is a wildlife refuge," Rauseo said. "We hope the government will recognize that, and eventually prevent construction on the river corridor."
  The corridor also serves as a migration route for nearly 30 species of birds including herons, kingfishers, cardinals and wood ducks.
   A question mark for the river has been the classification as a fish habitat. Although the river is known to support fish, it is not known if the river remains a "cold water" river; or if environmental factors have converted it to a "warm water" river
   Cold water species include trout and salmon, warm water fish include bass and pickerel.
   The reason the river water temperature has changed is primarily runoff from developed lands, primarily off of parking lots. In the summer; runoff heated to temperatures as high as 100 degrees can spill into the river.
  "One hundred degree water can really shock a fish that requires 60 degree water;" Rauseo said.
SWEAT was started in about 1982 by resident Bob LeBeouf, and is currently an informal, grass-roots group. SWEAT is closely aligned with the approximately 50 member Shawsheen River  Watershed  Association (SRWA).
  According to SWEAT member Rick Barry, Rauseo has been the groups backbone in recent years, particularly through the lean years in the mid-1990's when clean-up volunteers were scarce.
  "It nearly fell apart, but [Rauseo's] love of the river kept it going," Barry said. "Often [SWEAT clean-ups] were a cleanup of one."
  "He's done the work of 50 peopIe a year for the past 10 years,"Barry said of Rauseo. "He's the Troy O'Leary of the Shawsheen River."
  Information on SWEAT can be found through the SRWA website at www.shawsheen.org. .