Watershed News. In This Issue. President s Message. September 2018

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1 Watershed News September 2018 President s Message Hi Everybody, The summer season is coming to an end and we are approaching our year end activities. This is the time the WRWA gets ready for the source to sea clean up. We do our section of the Connecticut river where the Westfield River joins. If you are concerned about the health of the river, then please join us for a morning of cleaning up the river on September 29th. It is also the time off the year when the board starts to plan the activities and agenda for the coming year. We welcome any suggestions for new and exciting activities from both our members and non-members. The film festival, symposium, spring cleanup,and the fly fishing clinic were all big successes this year and are planning to have them again next year. We will be meeting in January to finalize our adventures for the coming year. We have to change with the times. The by-laws have to be reviewed and revised. The board also needs to recruit new members as some current ones are retiring and moving out of the area. We need to have at least 12 board members to continue being effective. If you have an interest in the WRWA, then please consider joining us. You can make a difference. The river was low at the start of the summer and then by mid-summer we had too much rain, raising the river above safe levels for canoeing, swimming, and fishing. The level appears to be lowering at this time and hopefully we can resume the activities we enjoy in the fall on the river. SEE YOU ON THE RIVER!!!! Bill Rose WRWA President In This Issue President s Message...1 Fall River Cleanup...2 Fishing on the Westfield River...2 Fly Fishing clinic...3 Wild & Scenic Westfield River Watershed Blitz...3 Rainbow Trout Found in a Refrigerated Aquarium in the Westfield River...4 Wild & Scenic Film Festival Another Chance!. 5 Officers and Directors for

2 Fall River Cleanup This fall s River Cleanup Day is scheduled for Saturday, September 29th. We ll meet at 9:00, starting from two areas. One group will meet at the Meadow Street parking lot (across from Westfield School of Music) and cover areas in Westfield, Russell, Huntington, and West Springfield; the other will meet at Pynchon Point (the mouth of the Westfield River) in Agawam and cover areas near the mouth of the river and along the Connecticut River in the immediate area. We expect to work until about 1:00, although if you can only make it for part of that time, we d still be happy to have your help. As in previous years, we ll supply bags and gloves, and anyone participating should wear clothes that can get dirty and wet. We ve made great strides toward cleaning up our river let s keep it going! For more information, contact Mark Damon at markjdamon@gmail.com or (413) for the Westfield group, or Bill Rose at brose1564@gmail. com or (413) for the Agawam group. Fishing on the Westfield River by Bill Rose Fishing on the river this year was difficult at best. In the spring the water level was very low and by the summer the rain had driven it too high. Hopefully it will recede a bit come fall. Below are some of my favorite places to fish. Coming out of Westfield on route 20 there is a place where the power lines go over the road and the river. Access is a dirt road down to the river s edge. Walking either left or right on the paths will bring you to some slow moving water and then into fast rapids. Another good area is before the turnpike bridge overhead. There is a turn-off on the right side as you are going north on route 20. Fish you might catch at these locations are stocked trout, native smallmouth bass, and silver fish (daze is the local name). If you like to fly fish, everybody has their favorite flys. Some of mine are the woolly bugger, Goldie, prince nymph, pheasant tail, and muddler minnow. GOOD LUCK, SEE YOU ON THE RIVER!!!! Westfield River Watershed Association News 2

3 Fly Fishing clinic by Bill Rose This year the fly fishing clinic was moved to August 18th this year to avoid competing with the Eastern States Exposition in September. The hours were 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., with most people coming at 9:30 and staying until 12:00. Excellent weather helped to make it a big success with a total of 18 people attending, of which 10 were children of various ages. We had fly casting instruction and fly tying demonstrations. Although the river was too high to collect aquatic insects, we were able to collect a few minnows for viewing. People brought their own fly rods and we showed them how to set up and cast and answered any other questions around the use of the equipment. After discussion it was agreed that the August date worked best. Thanks to all the people that helped make it a big success. Wild & Scenic Westfield River Watershed Blitz by Meredyth Babcock The Wild & Scenic Westfield River Watershed Blitz is a yearly event focusing on one of the three branches. This year marks our 25th anniversary as well as the 50th anniversary of the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act!! A good year to celebrate so join us September 22nd from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. as we focus on the unique characteristics of the West Branch from Chester to Huntington. Through this yearly event we educate and enhance our volunteer s riparian knowledge. Many of the landowners have offered to host a specialist along a segment of river that flows through or adjacent to their property and join us adding their personal knowledge of the area. The teams are intentionally small and personal, with six to eight individuals, heading out to a segment with their chosen specialist. We start and end the day in a larger group sharing and enjoying refreshments sponsored by the Westfield River Watershed Association. This year we will base out of the historic Chester Railroad Station. Specialists UPICK 10 to choose from Fish Biologist Dave Christensen River Restoration & Dynamics Carrie Banks Geology Tarin Weiss Insect Tracking Charley Eiseman Plant Biologist Julie Richburg & Amy Pulley (Wing and a Prayer Nursery) History of Littleville Lake Kayak Jeff Penn Frogs & Newts Andrea & Mike Howlett River ecologist Cindy Delpapa History along the West Branch, hike the KAB Trail: Dave Pierce Natural Riparian Communities John Burns We will have 10 amazing specialists exploring, inspiring and answering your questions. The data and observations gathered help us advance our knowledge Westfield River Watershed Association News 3

4 Watershed Blitz event reminds us what is truly unique and worth preserving about the Westfield river. It gives us an opportunity to share the committee s deep admiration of and commitment to the Westfield River with the community. Call Meredyth to register volunteer@wildscenicwestfieldriver.org Each team will walk a mile + along a wild & scenic river segment, gathering data & sharing river wisdom. The chance of getting wet is high, dress for success!! Long pants, long sleeve shirts, sun hat and od to bug of the designated river reach and support the need to expand the designation to include the head water streams and tributaries in the future. The Watershed Blitz is a tremendous amount of fun and an excuse to play on the river for the day!! The Pack a lunch and lots of water, lets celebrate the Westfield!! If you are no longer able to walk the river corridor but want to hear what we discover we need volunteers to help at the station and spreading the word!! 21 Rainbow Trout Found in a Refrigerated Aquarium in the Westfield River By Diane Snyder In the stifling heat of early July, I was snorkeling in the river to get some relief. At the end of my forward progress and energy, I came upon an un-moving 16-inch fish with a light red stripe along its midsection, laying peacefully on its side in a slight depression in the sand. The water was cold there, colder than in any other part of the river that I had been in that week. The stately fish was so fresh and impressively dressed with that red stripe, that it looked like a piece of art. I stared in disbelief. How did it get here? What happened that it was laying peacefully in 2½ foot deep water in a pit that was just a bit lower than the other sand around it. A day later, I visited again and found that the fish had been partially consumed starting from the head end and from the tail end, leaving the meaty center intact. The skin that had no meat behind it, flapped slightly with the movement of the water that flowed by. It was so carefully eaten that the midsection of the fish looked inviting, ready to be consumed by people in an upper crust buffet line of a pricey cruise ship. I imagined trying a piece it looked so good, and I don t even like to eat fish. I continued snorkeling upstream and reached toward the shore when I quickly pulled away because the water felt freezing there, and was uncomfortable on this mid 90 s day. The water in the rest of the river was considerably warmer. Suddenly, several large and smaller rainbow trout sped past me downstream, as I was going up. Then several more scurried by. I had no idea that they were Westfield River Watershed Association News 4

5 there, when even more hastily churned the water and passed by. What was all this commotion about? Then it hit me, I had stumbled upon a 30 foot long by 5 foot wide refrigerated fish aquarium except that it had no sides to it. The invisible aquarium was fed by very cold springs that were pushing through the sand, forcing very cold water upward, enough that it displaced the heated water coming down river. Jets of uncomfortably cold water were able to cool a trough of water near a shaded spot by the shore, to keep it cold enough for the rainbow trout to stay alive in the heat of the summer. I realized that this was a voluntary prison. The rainbows could not leave this cold water or they would die trying to find another cold spot, which was not to be had anywhere that I swam that week. As I could not proceed further upstream, (it was too shallow), I turned around and floated downstream. The rainbows again hurried past me in the opposite direction. This horde of large beautiful rainbow trout looked frantic, and moved fast. They could not run away anywhere else. They had to stay in this frigid oasis. And I felt that they realized that they had no food in there, except for each other. Wild & Scenic Film Festival Another Chance! by Mike Young Last spring WRWA co-sponsored the initial local screening of the South Yuba River Citizen s League (SYRCL) Wild & Scenic Film Festival, with a showing that attracted more than 100 attendees to Dever Auditorium at Westfield State. That was intended to be the first of five screenings in western Massachusetts, but due to weather and technical difficulties two of the other screenings didn t go off as smoothly as planned. As a result, WRWA is sponsoring, along with the Wild & Scenic Westfield River Committee, Greenagers (a teen environmental group from Great Barrington), and Westfield State University, a final showing in commemoration of this 50th anniversary of the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act and 25th anniversary of the designation of portions of the Westfield River as the first wild & scenic river in Massachusetts. This will be an abbreviated screening, focusing on the films from the second half of the original showing so, if you missed out the first time, or weren t able to stay for the entire program, here s a chance to see 7-8 short films (ranging from 4 to about 25 minutes) focused on rivers, adventure, and the environment. The event will again be held in Dever Auditorium (inside Parenzo Hall) on the campus of Westfield State University on Tuesday October 23, starting at 6:30 p.m. and running until about 8:15. The range of subjects is very broad including a documentary focused on Blue Ventures, a group helping local populations in eastern Africa to avoid the perils of overfishing; an adventure video centered on cycling and rafting through regions in northern British Columbia that have been or could be affected by dam failures associated with mining operations; the inspirational tale of dam removals on the Elwha River on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state; a very brief and occasionally hilarious unofficial history of America s national park system; a video letter from a young Canadian, who moved north from Montreal to Baffin Island, to his half-innuit son; and finally a look at wild and scenic rivers in the Northeast featuring, among others, the Farmington River of western Massachusetts and Connecticut. The event is free and open to the public (suggested donation of $5 for adults, $3 for students/seniors). We hope to see you there! Westfield River Watershed Association News 5

6 Officers and Directors for 2018 Officers: President: Bill Rose 39 Sunset Terrace Feeding Hills First Vice President: Brian Conz 999 General Knox Rd., Russell, MA Second Vice President: Allan Ouimet 16 Russell Rd. Westfield Secretary: Mark Damon 297 Western Ave Westfield Treasurer: Mike Young 721 West Rd. Westfield Directors: Ann Barone 3 Delancey St, Westfield Tim Judy 37 Mountain Rd. Holyoke Ron Lucassen 39 Rachael Terrace Westfield John A. Pelli 32 Laro Road, Westfield Aaron Reyes Northampton, MA Phillip Sousa 29 Yankee Circle Westfield Henry Warchol 2 Sackville Road Westfield Honorary Directors: Dan Call 78 Granville Road, Unit 10, Westfield For more information on WRWA s activities, check our website at Westfield River Watershed Association News 6

7 WRWA PO Box 1764 Westfield, MA The Westfield River Watershed Association Newsletter September 2018 In This Issue President s Message...1 Fall River Cleanup...2 Fishing on the Westfield River...2 Fly Fishing clinic...3 Wild & Scenic Westfield River Watershed Blitz...3 Rainbow Trout Found in a Refrigerated Aquarium in the Westfield River...4 Wild & Scenic Film Festival Another Chance!. 5 Officers and Directors for