From 8:50 AM to 1:40 PM, we paddled as much of the river as time would allow. This was our substitute for the planned end-to-end paddle that we aborted on October 4 for lack of water in the river.
Starting at the Great Road Plaza in Bedford, we paddled to Ballardvale — approximately 18 miles of river — in high, fast water under a beautiful blue sky. The participants in this expedition were:
Alex Hicks-Courant
John Hicks-Courant
Frank Perdicaro
Bob Rauseo
At the beginning of the day, Mary Kay Rauseo ferried us back to our boats from where we’d left ours cars at Ballardvale. Sharon and Larry Lapham met us at Great Road Plaza to send us off. Sharon also met us at the K of C in Tewksbury with Power Bars and water. Thank you, Sharon!
The Bedford section of the river looks almost as bad as the Lawrence section did before we started cleaning it up two years ago. The canalized river is clogged with trash blown off the parking lot of Great Road Plaza and dumped from the Route 4 bridge. After those piles of garbage we came across the debris of countless boxed breakfasts and lunches from the crew widening Route 3, as well as discarded lumber everywhere. A little below Route 3, we encountered two guys in a 25-foot dory with a 30-horsepower outboard motor. They were cleaning the river, they said. They did have a lot of lumber in their boat. I told them they’d missed a lot of stuff. They thanked me. (Do you think they were being sarcastic?)
In the Bedford section of the First Meadow, we saw the albino Red Tail Hawk. This was the first time I’d seen it, and it was recognizably — by size, shape, and flight pattern — a Red Tail Hawk. It was a different one from the albino I saw in Lawrence in August. That one was just very light, almost white, all over. The one in the First Meadow is snowy white. We saw at least a dozen normal Red Tail Hawks on this trip, as well as quite a few Great Blue Herons.
We heard quite a lot and managed to catch sight of several Wood Ducks. The Canada Geese and Mallard Ducks were everywhere, as always. Noticeably absent this late in the year were the Kingfishers.
One thing I noticed again this late in the year is how majestically beautiful the White Pine trees are on the borders of the floodplains. They stand so tall and boldly green against the brown and rust of the deciduous trees and the blue of the sky. If you get the chance, you should get out on the river and paddle one of the floodplains before the leaves come out in April. The White Pines truly are magnificent.
Because of the high water, we occasionally shot through rapids created by bridges and culverts. We paddled right over the beaver dams, and we managed to float by the mill island in Tewksbury, on the left side, without hitting anything. (Maybe somebody moved that rock, Ken.)
Even though we did not manage to make the end-to-end trip we had planned, it was still a wonderfully gratifying excursion. In days long gone by, even this simple 18-mile trip would have been extremely difficult. There were just too many impediments in the river throughout those 18 miles just a decade ago. We have definitely made progress.
Paddling the Rest: Just to prove that one could actually paddle end-to-end, on December 13th, Bob Rauseo, Ken Doran, and I paddled from the Riverine Road below the Stevens Street dam in Andover to the confluence with the Merrimack in Lawrence. The water was high, and the trip went extremely quickly. Despite the high water, the channel was always discernible, even in the Bayou. I did see a Kingfisher and a Merganser on this trip.
A week and a half later, when the weather warmed up again after a quick flash freeze — see 2003 Winter Solstice Paddle — I put in at Ballardvale and paddled down to Central Street. This left only the dammed up section of Andover. This section, we’re afraid, will never really be navigable because of the Red Rocks, Stevens Street, and Balmoral dams.
This year, 2004, we will definitely paddle the whole river in one day.
The November 15th River Sweep
The participants in the final river sweep of 2003 on the Shawsheen River were:
Larry & Sharon Lapham
Bob Rauseo
Bob Marsh
Ken Doran
John Hicks-Courant
We met at 8:30 at the Knights of Columbus in Tewksbury. I had already left my canoe at the put-in at Middlesex Turnpike, so we loaded the SRWA’s ugly blue canoe onto Larry and Sharon Lapham’s station wagon and then drove to the put-in. This let all who were paddling leave their cars at the take-out. Sharon and Larry provided logistical support on this trip. After ferrying us back to the put-in, they met us at Route 3A in Billerica, where they offered us snacks and coffee.
The weather reports had been inaccurate in that the wind was, for the most part, unnoticeable. Paddling through the First Meadow, Bob Marsh and I picked up three large rectangular sheets of construction foam, each of which we folded and stuffed under the seat or the thwart. The last one we cut into four pieces using Bob’s pen knife. Aside from the occasional — and remarkably rare — bottle or can, that was all we found in the entire First Meadow. We left it all with Larry and Sharon at 3A.
Halfway through the Second Woods, just upstream from Garside Island, we found an old tire floating in the water. Its rim was thoroughly rusted and full of organic debris. We towed it down to the Garside house, where we left it for later in the day. Bob Rauseo and Ken Doran would do the same thing about half an hour later.
There were, all told, only three tires removed from the river in a four-hour-long, eight-mile river sweep. This is an astonishingly small number. More surprising than that, though, was the condition of the tires.
Each had been in the river for a long time, long enough for the air in the tire to be replaced by silt, and long enough for the metal in the rim to rust so thin that the tire had to be handled with gloves. Each of the tires was shaped like a shallow bowl, completely deflated but for the silt and water in the inner tube. How’s that for progress?
At the end of the river sweep, we had four 40-gallon contractor’s garbage bags full of miscellaneous debris, three very heavy tires, a section of stockade fence, the top to a roof-top baggage compartment, and enough finished lumber in various stages of decay to fill the bed of my pickup and half of Bob Rauseo’s. Clearing our boats at Route 3A, at the Garside house, and at Whipple Road helped us tremendously.
As usual, however, we were so thoroughly exhausted by the time we reached the end of the Fourth Woods — at the intersection of Billerica, Tewksbury, and Wilmington — that we were stopping only to pick up trash that was easily reached from the boat in passing.
There was one rather sad casualty of this river sweep. The fiberglass canoe that was so generously donated to the SRWA three years ago failed to maintain its integrity. It is hard to say at what precise moment it began to give way. I feared we would break its back when we inched over the third beaver dam — we portaged the other two — but it didn’t even complain. Maybe it happened when we scraped by the old Middlesex Canal viaduct.
At any rate, as we left the Fourth Woods, there was a sharp, loud crack, and one of the corner posts of the front seat detached itself from the gunnels — or rather, pulled part of the gunnels away with it.
This happened right at the spot on the gunnels where the canoe caved in under the weight of snow last winter, and Jack Brady did a wonderful job of repairing it. At this point, we’re waiting to see whether Burt at Moor & Mountain in Andover can work his magic with it. I promise not to take it out on any cleanups again.
These year-end river sweeps are really a wonderful thing to do when you get the feeling that winter is near. Doing it in the same section every year makes it feel like a ritual pre-closing cleanup for the winter. I hope we’ll have more participants next November. It’s fun, and it’s worth doing one more time before settling down to hibernate.
2003 Winter Solstice Paddle
Our original plan for the December 21st paddle this year was identical to that of 2002. That is, we were going to put in at the Ballardvale dam and paddle up into the millpond while the sun rose. Thinking that it would be completely iced over, I sent this message out:
May I take the liberty of recommending a paddle from the Knights of Columbus
(K of C) in Tewksbury to the take-out at Strongwater Brook?
........
There is ample parking at the K of C, and the put-in is infinitely easier
than the one at Ballardvale. The shuttle from Strongwater Brook back to the K of C would take very little time, and this section of the river is much more like the rest of the river than the flats behind the Ballardvale dam.
When Bob Rauseo informed everybody that the Ballardvale impoundment was indeed iced over, plans were shifted to those proposed above.
Imagine our surprise when we arrived at Knights of Columbus parking lot at 6:30AM on the 21st to find the put-in completely covered in snow and iced over. The path to it was barred by a plow-drift of snow.
Bob Rauseo and I skittered down toward the water to make sure the river wasn’t frozen. It was hard to tell in the pre-dawn twilight, and I had to stare hard and long to determine that the water was the same color as the ice, but that there was definitely a strong flow.
Driving to the take-out, we discovered a plow-drift of snow blocking the parking area there. We parked across the street from the take-out.
Back at the put-in, we slid our boats over the snow and ice down to the riverside, where Frank had pounded a rough area into the ice beside the tree closest to the water.
Settling our boats on that rough patch between the tree and the uphill slope of ice, we carefully climbed in and then launched into the river, sliding down over the ice and into the current.
The participants on this trip were:
Jack Brady
John Hicks-Courant
Martha Hicks-Courant
Miranda Hicks-Courant
Larry Lapham
Sharon Lapham
Frank Perdicaro
Bob Rauseo
Suzanne Roberts
Because winter had come, and the vegetation had died back, and because of recent precipitation, the floodplains were vast sheets of ice with occasionally emergent sere brown and gray strands.
The channel defined itself very clearly as a ribbon of moving water through the varying shades of gray and white ice. The water was level with the ice, and it sometimes felt as if we were skating across a frozen pond as much as paddling through a flooded meadow.
This was a winter paddle, what with the scudding across ice and snow to get to the water and then with the water freezing on hull of the boat and on the paddles. The water was high enough that we encountered nothing but smooth paddling, even over the old dam and through the culverts at Bridge Street. Finding the take-out iced in did not prove a problem, since we had already solved a similar problem at the put-in.
The only part of this trip that was something of a disappointment was that it had been intended as a sunrise paddle. Although we could clearly see a lightening sky to the east, the water was high enough and moving swiftly enough that we were all out of the water before the sun cleared the trees.
All in all, it was a wonderful little trip to take on the river at the dawn of winter. If you didn’t make it this year, you should really give strong consideration to joining at the 2004 winter solstice.
Wetland Protection Procedures
The SRWA’s monthly meetings, held on the second Wednesday of every month in the Tewksbury Public Library, are open to the public. We have on more than one occasion been visited by people living in the watershed who seek direction on how best to oppose the plans of a real-estate developer.
We have been embarrassed by our lack of any kind of organized response to such a basic, straightforward question. This is quite obviously something that any river-advocacy group should not only have on hand but also distribute freely.
Toward that end, at the Executive Committee meeting in the first week in December, we voted to spend the money to send one of our members to a Tufts University weekend seminar this spring on how to work with Conservation Commissions.
That person will come away from that seminar with a wealth of knowledge as well as documentation. Although all of the volunteers have made it clear in that none accepts this as an obligation to attend Conservation Committee meetings throughout the watershed, the designee will serve as an advisor to homeowners in the watershed who need to go in front of a Conservation Committee to air their concerns.
At the December monthly meeting, we also decided to produce a document that will lay out what resources and recourses a homeowner can use or resort to in the effort to protect threatened land. There are, in fact, quite a number of rather simple things that one can do, such as documenting the presence of endangered species, getting a vernal pool registered with the state, and taking photographs of a developer’s most egregious actions.
The list of things you can do to make a project more difficult — and maybe even untenable — for a developer is endless. So many ideas were flying around the conference room at the library that evening that somebody had to step up and volunteer to correlate it all.
Jack Brady volunteered to document the recommended how-to’s and wherefore’s of staging a campaign against developments on sensitive land. This is intended as a “living document.” That is, we will amend it as necessary when new ideas, techniques, and/or laws come into play. The following is from the first draft of this document. Please feel free to contact Jack Brady with comments and suggestions.
Putting Up a Fight for your Wetlands
Contact:
Conservation Commission and Planning Board
Attend meetings and deliver news to them about your issue. You may have to apply in advance to get yourself on the meeting agenda. Try to have a large turn out of supporters of your ideas at all meetings. Be polite but vocal. You should learn what the “appeals process” is as soon as you can. You should plan on appealing all rulings against you to keep doors open.
Local newspaper for the reporter who covers these issues.
People or groups that would support your position. Set up a mechanism to keep your supporters informed (e-mail list, phone tree, personal web site, web calendar)
Permits:
If a developer is applying for a Permit, contact Wetlands division of DEP and ask for Form WPA Form 3 Notice of Intent on project. Endangered species would probably stop approval of Notice of Intent and the project.
Contact EPA at (617) 918-1111 and ask for Storm Water NPDES section. Contractor needs a General Construction permit to construct. If endangered species are present, permit cannot be granted.
Check all necessary permits for their pertinence to the project affecting you and for the accuracy of their contents. Bring outstanding issues to the attention of the Conservation Commission and Planning Board.
Check for EPA construction permit and MEPA regulations.
Document:
Existing wildlife and wetlands with pictures.
Wetlands are identified by having these plants growing in them, for example purple loosestrife, phragmites, cattails, skunk cabbage, buttonbush, and sedge grass are indicative of wetlands.
Before and After conditions. Document their actions while this is a work-in-process
Existence of endangered wildlife, especially under logs; such as spotted turtles; or anything blue. (Check with Mass Audubon for consultation) Federal Endangered Species at www.state.ma.us/dfwele/
Register endangered species with state at Fish and Games or Environmental Police (508) 366-6537
Other Categories:
Get legal advice
Select an articulate spokesman and have an organized presentation
How to identify or certify a vernal pool:
www.state.ma.us/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/nhcvp.htm
Request a hydrology study at the developer's expense, especially when septic systems are being used.
Historically significant unmarked graves, graves marked by a plain stone, and historical houses should be noted and respected by the developer. The local Historical Society can be of help here. The Historical Commission may have a bylaw that applies. Sometimes a Demolition-Delay bylaw can buy time. Archeological digs can be requested if the area was the site of a native-American settlement. Many of the woodland Indians of Massachusetts camped next to wetlands because of good soil and plentiful water. If the site has been an archeological dig, it is on record as a historic site with the Massachusetts Historical Commission. A dig at the developer’s expense could be required if the site is thought to be a significant historical area.
In an urban area and within 200 feet of a river or wetland call DEP at (978) 661-7600 and ask what your rights are.
Check Mass contingency Plan with DEP. Ask wetlands person for advice
Check whether the site is in a floodplain and contact state for information.
Be aware of:
Phase II Storm Water regulations
River Protection Act
Investigate Wetlands protection Act (both state & local)
MEPA Threshold
Ground Water Recharge
Send changes to: KayakJack@comcast.net
Art Expeditions
Under the guidance of the SRWA’s two resident artists, Sharon Lapham and Suzanne Roberts, we are going to offer trips to specific sections of the river to local artists who would like the opportunity to paint, photograph, and — who knows? — sculpt the flora, fauna, and landscape of the Shawsheen River. Some of the scenes that immediately come to mind as being worthy of reproduction are these:
Yin and Yang. (These are the Loblolly Pine and Black Willow on opposite sides of the river on the Bedford/Billerica line.)
The various backwaters in the meadows with unique characters.
The complex intricacy of the root masses of the various fallen trees in the wooded sections.
The root systems of trees whose roots shoot out over the water before turning back into the earth.
The flowers of the floodplains.
The enchanting vistas of the Shawsheen’s meadows.
The magnificent, giant old trees of the Bayou in Lawrence.
Aside from these, we will point out other interesting sights along the river, and we will make it possible for the artists to stand and work on a surface solid enough to support an artist and an easel. We will also be able to lend out dry bags for these occasions. If you’re interested, please let us know.
The SRWA Presents:
David M. Carroll on Turtles
The secret world of freshwater turtles emerges as artist and naturalist David Carroll presents the fascinating life history of these familiar yet mysterious creatures who shared the earth with the dinosaurs and who have endured to spark the curiosity and awe of humankind. Drawing from 40 years of personal study and observations, Mr. Carroll leads us through their yearly cycle and introduces us to the flora and fauna that inhabit the same areas. (From the back cover blurb of The Year of the Turtle, a Natural History by David M. Carroll.)
David Carroll has been extremely generous with the SRWA, letting us borrow extensively from his writings. He is the author of three books that describe in poetic prose accompanied by stunningly beautiful artwork, the aquatic habitats and their inhabitants near his home in Warner, New Hampshire, a few miles west of Concord. These books, which he himself refers to as his “Wet Sneakers Trilogy,” are The Year of the Turtle: A Natural History; Trout Reflections: A Natural History of the Trout and Its World; and Swampwalker’s Journal: A Wetlands Year. They’re great books.
Mr. Carroll directly contradicts the widely held belief that “a writer writes because he can’t talk, and a painter paints because he can’t describe.” He speaks with the same ease, knowledge, and openness with which he writes, sketches, and paints.
Mr. Carroll seems to spend most of his time either in the field among the creatures and habitats he describes or in his studio, where he describes, sketches, and paints the creatures and habitats he so carefully studies.
We feel fortunate that we were able to engage him. Please come to Billerica Town Hall at 7:00 PM on Thursday, March 4th to learn about the miraculous hard-shelled creatures that live longer than most people and that mark the habitats that we need to protect.
The Eastern Box Turtle
This issue of the Shawsheen Trib does not include a description of any of the river’s vegetative inhabitants. (It’s been months since anything in the wetland exhibited life!) In fact, hardly any of the river’s inhabitants have been making themselves observable. So this issue’s “creature feature” is the Eastern Box Turtle (aka Terrapene carolina carolina), which lives around here but which nobody ever sees outside of a pet store or a terrarium stocked by a pet store. (I have to confess that the library that is the Hicks-Courant home does not contain a useful reference volume about this turtle, which suggests to me that so little is known about it that its survival as a species is in doubt.)
Illustration by Sharon LaphamData from Peterson Field Guides, Reptiles and Amphibians (Eastern/Central North America)
Identification: 4_–6 inches long. A “land turtle” with a high, domelike shell and an extremely variable coloration and pattern. Both upper and lower shells may be yellow, orange, or olive on black or brown; either dark or light colors may predominate. Four toes on each hind foot.
Conduct: Although essentially terrestrial, these turtles sometimes soak themselves by the hour (or day) in mud or water. During hot, dry weather they burrow beneath logs or rotting vegetation, but sharp summer showers usually bring them out of hiding, often in numbers.
Range: Southeast New Hampshire to Georgia, west to Michigan, Illinois, and Tennessee.
Miscellany
Upcoming Events
Thursday, March 4, 2004
Turtles! 7:00PM to 9:00PM.
A presentation by renowned author, artist, and naturalist, David M. Carroll at Billerica Town Hall. This informative talk will interest novice as well as seasoned naturalists from the age of five on up. Sweatshirts, t-shirts, and water-color paintings featuring Mr. Carroll’s artwork will be available. Admission to this event is free and open to the public.
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Monthly meeting at the Tewksbury Public Library 7:00PM – 8:45PM
Saturday, March 20, 2004
Vernal Equinox Canoe Trip
9:00AM to noon. Put-in at Route 3A in Billerica and take-out at the Ballardvale dam in Andover. This will serve as our annual first scouting as well as survey of site candidates for our “Outings for Artists.” Dress in layers. This first trip of the paddling season is always fun. The water is high, and the paddling is easy. Join us!
Saturday, April 3, 2004
Canoe Trip
9:00AM to noon. put-in at the Great Road Plaza in Bedford and take-out at Route 3A in Billerica.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Monthly meeting at the Tewksbury Public Library 7:00PM – 8:45PM
Saturday, May 1, 2004
Canoe Trip
9:00AM to noon. put-in at Route 3A in Billerica and take-out at the Knights of Columbus in Tewksbury.
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Monthly meeting at Tewksbury Public Library 7:00PM – 8:45PM
The Chainsaw Fundraiser
In the last Shawsheen Trib, I wrote that I would note our fundraising progress by filling in the blade of the chainsaw below.
*
Well, as you can see, the blade is completely black. We bought the chainsaw, and we have enough money dedicated to its support and maintenance that it is guaranteed a long and useful life. We, the SRWA, would like to express our profound gratitude and appreciation to the following donors:
Andover Small Engine & Repair
Andover Village Improvement Society (AVIS)
John Atchison
Peter Ayer
Burt Batcheller
Paul & Abbey Brown
Eleanor Denault
Robert Fijal
David & Louise Hunt
Kenneth & Karin Keyser
Robert Marsh
F. J. Perdicaro
Keith Rauseo
