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| New Members' Meeting | Dinner Meeting | 50th Anniversary | | Help WRWA Grow | Canoe Cruise | Fishway Open House | Mapping Trails | |
Kathy Meyer On June 19 memories of the past and anticipation of the future added to the enjoyment of our 50th Annual dinner Meeting at Willardıs in Chester. In his welcoming comments, WRWA President Mason Maronn recapped highlights of the past year. Seven Past Presidents celebrated this occasion with us including Howard Mason (1959 - 61), Ken Taylor (1964 - 66), Wes Shephard (1970 - 72), Doug James (1974 - 76, 84 - 88, 90 -92), Robert Dewey (1976 -77), Rob Bristow (1992 - 94) and Dan Melien (1999 - 2000). Following a salute to these leaders, we presented a Partnership Award to Westfield State College for its work with us over the years on the annual river symposium and other programs. Dr. William Lopes accepted the award on behalf of the college. A Treasurer's Report by Ken Taylor and a review by the Audit Committee showed WRWA to be solvent. New Board members elected for next year are Rob Bristow, Dan Call, Mark Damon, Carl Grobe, Gabe Khatachadourian, Mark Lavioe, Mason Maronn, Kathy Meyer, Dave Pardoe, Ken Taylor, Henry Warchol, Mike Vorwerk and Mike Young. Our thanks to retiring Board members George Martin and Phil Hotchkiss. We still need two more Board members, so if you are willing to serve, contact Mason Maronn. Michael Parker, Watershed Initiative Team Leader, won the Waite Award for his many contributions to improving the watershed. The evening concluded with a keynote address by Vincent Dowling who read the poetry of others as well as his own works and shared some of his personal reflections with us. Marilyn Bekech The WRWA 50th anniversary celebration took place at Robinson State Park on June 1st. After the canoes were in and everybody had chowed down on hotdogs and other picnic goodies, an intrepid and enthusiastic group of 15 children between the ages of 2 1/2 and 10, accompanied by equally enthusiastic parents, set out into the wilds of nearby paths in Robby Park led by WRWA members Mark Damon and Marilyn Bekech. Down by the Little Westfield river we explored the forest, identifying plants such as skunk cabbage, Jack in the pulpit , Christmas fern, etc., and then let children do their own exploring (carefully monitored by parents and other accompanying adults) The kids did better than the biologists, probably because of the eye level factor. For example, I [Marilyn] was pointing out a shelf fungus growing on a dead tree stump when one of the shorter members of the group exclaimed "Look at this spider!" Sure enough, there was a spider holed up between the fungus and the tree. Later, as Mark scooped up sediment from the river to find organisms to demonstrate, one observant future ecologist reached down into the sediment and extracted a leech, which turned out to be a major highlight of the day. Again, while we were turning over rocks in a nearby stream, many interesting things were found but the highlight occurred when one of the children found a large dragonfly larva. In every instance the overall experience was enhanced for everybody by letting the children have some time to explore for themselves. The discovery of the dragonfly larva led to an impromptu discussion of insect life cycles that fit in perfectly with our last destination - a pond in Robinson Park where adult dragonflies (which may or may not have been the same species) were flying around and even mating. As luck would have it, any further discussion of insects or plants (I personally was prepared to show the difference between sedges and rushes if I needed to fill time!!) was cut short, because: The edges of the pond contained gazillions of tadpoles!!!! At that point our strategy as leaders of the expedition became to stand back, assist wherever possible and let the young explorers find things for themselves. |
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