Riverfest - A Celebration of Our Wild and Scenic Rivers

Now in its 6th year, Riverfest is a venue for attracting people to the rivers for a weekend of fun and educational events. Over 50 local organizations host a wide variety of events on and along the river, and invite the public, free of charge, to participate. Guided boat rides, narrated canoe trips, history walks, slide shows, art exhibits, music, dramatic re-enactments, races, bike rides, birding trips, lectures, picnics, treasure hunts, wildlife exhibits and shows, electric boat rides, wandering poets...The ideas for fun events multiply each year.

Riverfest is the primary public education effort undertaken by the RSC each year. Because it is a series of events on and along the rivers, it invites residents to enjoy the river in their community, and farther afield too. RSC believes that if an individual can have an enjoyable experience on the river, and relate to the river in some way that is of interest to them, then he/she may be more apt to want to protect river resources.

Riverfest has been a great way to build relationships between many local groups from the river communities, to encourage creative thinking about the rivers, to create hands on educational experiences for children.

PICTURES
DATE FOR 2007

Demonstration lawn

http://www.sudbury-assabet-concord.org/Pages/Water/LAWNHISTORY.06_15_04.htm edited slightly

The Sudbury Valley Organic Lawn project was initiated in early 2002 in response to the drought that was plaguing New England at the time. The River Stewardship Council (RSC) recognized that the lawn maintenance issues raised by the drought were an enduring threat to our Wild and Scenic rivers.. Wayland RSC representative Tom Sciacca contacted Wayland Park and Recreation Superintendent Bill Kilcoyne, who is responsible for maintenance of landscaped areas all over Wayland.

Mellen Law Office Common, a piece of land the Town has owned for almost 300 years, made the most sense as the site for this project. It is highly visible, being at the intersection of the major east-west route (Route 20) and north-south routes (126 and 27) in the middle of Wayland. As a result, drivers from other Wild & Scenic River towns, including Sudbury driving east, Framingham driving north, and Lincoln and Concord driving south would see the project. It had not been cared for beyond mowing for many years, because unlike other land maintained by Park & Rec it was neither a playing field nor a park that was actively walked on to any significant extent. Therefore it was full of weeds and bare spots, ripe for renovation.

Tom contacted Organic Soil Solutions in Woburn (www.organicsoilsolutions.com), a specialist in organic lawns. on inspection, the specialist noted the upside of its many years of low maintenance: the soil was fundamentally healthy. There was extensive evidence of worm activity, which indicated that no pesticides had been used to kill soil organisms in many years, if ever. Since healthy soil is the fundamental strategy of organic lawn maintenance, this was very good news. With seed money from the RSC, Organic Solutions agreed to do the job for a discount as a public service, and Work began in May, 2002.

At the end of the growing season in 2002 it was not especially obvious that much had changed. But that was not surprising given that organic lawns normally take five years to become fully established. In the spring of 2003 the results were starting to show and by the fall it was very obvious that the scruffy weed patch was now a quite respectable lawn, after less than two years! That winter plans were made to formally announce the project to the public at Riverfest of 2004. By Riverfest day in June the lawn, while not yet at the point of excellence it should reach in several more years, was clearly one that most of us would be proud to own

Monty - insert here the '2005 Update' and 'Lawn 101'. I cannot seem to get them from the web.

Also the press release....

http://www.sudbury-assabet-concord.org/Pages/Water/PressRel05_11_04.htm

River School Project

The RSC is working in partnership with Drumlin Farm at Mass Audubon to strengthen awareness and appreciation of river resources among youth who reside within the Sudbury, Assabet and Concord watershed. Educators and naturalists at Drumlin Farm partner with classroom teachers to create a program, partly in the classroom, and also in the field to introduce elementary and middle school students to the river and its ecosystem. Over a few years it has developed into a comprehensive river study curriculum that includes classroom pre-visits, hands-on field study at river sites and reflective exercises which help to build appreciation and inspire action to protect our rivers. Presently the River School Project is being offered in Concord, Framingham, Lowell, Chelmsford and Hudson. A new program will begin in Bedford in 2006/2007 school year.

Kiosks

The Old Danforth Street Bridge, gateway to the wild and scenic river, is an old pony trussell bridge which has recently been refurbished. Friends of Saxonville, a local community group in Framingham is working with the Town of Framingham to create a park at the site, including beautiful flower beds, bricked walkways and a gazebo-like educational kiosk. The RSC joined the effort to help design the kiosk and create attractive, interesting panels which highlight the river.

PICTURES - one of gazebo, other of panel

The RSC hopes to work with other local communities to place kiosks in other popular river-side spots.