Editorial: Welcome steps to preserve natural resources

Louisa Kimball, 14, of Windsor, center, prepares to launch a rowing shell with Northampton Community Rowing Oct. 14 during an official opening for the new Connecticut River Greenway Park, 80 Damon Road in Northampton. The 11-acre park was established by the City of Northampton and includes a large parking area, boat apron and an extensive, accessible boat ramp and gangway. The opening celebration, hosted by Northampton Community Rowing and the Northampton Parks and Recreation Department, featured a dragon-boating demonstration, showcasing of a new 60-foot rowing shell and tours of the park. SARAH

 

Two projects in Northampton represent welcome steps to preserve and improve natural resources: the newly opened Connecticut River Greenway Park, and the city’s first professional inventory of public shade trees. Both also illustrate the benefits of financial partnerships between the state and city.

The park at 80 Damon Road, which officially was opened Friday, combines access to the river with an extensive nature trail on 11 acres of land which Northampton acquired from Lane Construction about five years ago. It includes a parking area and boat ramp and gangway intended for “human-powered” crafts. It is also handicap-accessible with ramps leading to the waterfront.

Northampton Community Rowing, a volunteer organization, already has been using the park during the past year for its programs, though its president, Dorrie Brooks, calls it “a gem this community has not found yet.” NCR’s programs include recreational and competitive rowing for youths and adults, with canoe, kayak and rowing instruction. The organization also provides kayak dollies and storage for the public.

The park significantly increases the public’s ability to get on the Connecticut River – demonstrated at the end of Friday’s ceremony with the launching of a dragon boat from which Mayor David Narkewicz marveled: “What an incredible resource, what a beautiful resource.”

The project also adds to the city’s conservation lands with the preservation of open space along the river and its floodplains. For those who want to stay on land, there is a nature trail beginning at the parking lot, passing a vernal pool and offering a vista of the Connecticut River before arriving at the water.

Among the songbirds that may be viewed are northern cardinals, goldfinches, American robins, crows, morning doves and woodpeckers. There are also butterflies, and trees include eastern white pine, pitch pine, white oak, scarlet oak, red maple, red cedar and wild cherry.

The park also offers an industrial history lesson, because it includes the remains of the original river harbor for the Northampton-New Haven canal.

While the land was donated to the city, the park’s development cost more than $700,000, using a $400,000 grant from the Massachusetts Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities program, $267,000 in Northampton Community Preservation Act money and $117,000 in private donations raised by Northampton Community Rowing.

The tree project is in its beginning stages. The city hired Davey Resource group of Kent, Ohio, to provide five arborists who will survey an estimated 11,000 public shade trees along the city’s streets and in its parks and cemeteries.

The intent is to map the trees’ location, species, size and any signs of disease or infestation. The arborists will also identify up to 2,000 sites that are ideal for planting new shade trees. The survey, which will start soon, is expected to be completed in November, with a report submitted to the city in December.

The information will then be used by Tree Warden Richard Parasiliti and the Northampton Public Shade Tree Commission to develop the city’s first urban forestry plan.

As Parasiliti explains, “There’s a lot we don’t know about the composition, distribution and health of our current tree canopy. This inventory will provide answers. Davey Resource Group will also save us enormous time and effort by identifying thousands of new planting sites.”

There are instructions on the commission’s website at www.northamptonma.gov/781/Public-Shade-Tree-Commission for emailing Parasiliti with potential sites for planting a shade tree.

The cost of the contract is split between a $30,000 grant from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation and $44,650 in municipal funds approved earlier this year by the City Council.

Narkewicz said, “Northampton prides itself on being forward thinking and planning for the future – and shade trees really are a critical natural resource for the city, so it’s incumbent upon us to responsibly plan how to maintain that master resource.”

Northampton is doing right for future generations by recognizing the importance of properly managing these resources as part of a healthy city.