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| Waite Award | Upcoming Events | |
Dear Westfield River Watershed members and supporters: Spring has traditionally been the busiest time of year for WRWA, and 2003 has been no exception. Our 9th annual River Symposium was held in late March at Westfield State, and attracted about 140 participants. Board members Mark Damon, Carl Grobe and Kathy Meyer did a great job of putting together and advertising the program, which focused on open space issues. The Atlantic Salmon Egg Rearing Program has been in full swing, and salmon fry stocking with the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife occupied several weeks from mid-April through mid-May. Henry Warchol has been organizing volunteers to staff the West Springfield fish ladder this spring, a necessity in this year of state budget deficits. By the time this newsletter reaches your mailbox, the Annual Meeting will likely have passed, and there will be a few new faces on the Board of Directors. The flurry of activity is exhilarating and showcases our organization at its best working to preserve and restore the watershed and to help educate area residents about the region's resources and issues that may impact those resources. One of our top priorities for the next year is to increase our level of activity throughout the other seasons. You'll find some movement in that direction later in this newsletter - in addition to our traditional early June canoe cruise on the Westfield River, we've added a botany walk in Stanley Park with WSC biology professor Dave Lovejoy, and an outing to the Keystone Arch Bridges in Chester led by Dave Pierce (who's been instrumental in organizing the Friends of the Keystone Arches). We're planning to have a couple of informational evening programs in the fall and to continue expanding our offerings of outdoor events as well. As always, your support is essential to the success of these endeavors. Please join us for one or more of these events, let Board members know about the kinds of programs you'd like to see, and tell your friends about events they might be interested in. Between newsletters you can keep up-to-date on upcoming events by checking our web site (www.westfieldriver.org), which has been moved to a commercial host and should now be available 99.9% of the time. Of course, getting out into the watershed on your own is always an option! To help you find good places to visit in the area, Dan Call has recently supervised the publication of an updated version of WRWA's River User's Guide. The Guide lists recreational and cultural sites within the watershed, and an on-line version (not yet updated) is also available at our web site. To get a paper copy, leave me a message at the WRWA office (532-7290) or send an email to myoung@wisdom.wsc.ma.edu. Enjoy the warmer weather! Best, Mike Young President |
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