Watershed News June 2018
President’s Message
Hi Everybody,
Summer is here, at least I think so, cool days and
nights have me thinking that spring won’t let go.
The river is low, causing cancelation of our annual
canoe cruise. There are obstacles close to the surface
that under higher water conditions would not be a
problem, so everyone should be aware of the dan-
gers kayaking or canoeing on the river when there is
low water.
We will, however, be sponsoring our Fly Fishing
Clinic in August and the river cleanup in September.
Past activities included the Fish Ladder open house,
annual meeting, and the Trout in the Classroom
Program. More details about these events and other
activities will follow.
Remember we do appreciate the help and support that
our members give to our activities. You are our most
important asset. Please address any board member
with any suggestions or concerns. Enjoy the Water-
shed and send us pictures of your activities to post on
our facebook page.
SEE YOU ON THE RIVER!!!!
Bill Rose
WRWA President
Annual Meeting
The annual meeting was held May 16th. There were 16
members and guests present and the Board of Directors
was elected for the coming year. The Treasurer gave his
annual report and the Audit committee reported on him
and gave him a gold star. We reviewed our activities
and business for the past year, including internship and
ongoing data accumulation which is slowly building a
reference for ongoing use and observation/monitoring.
Westfields’ upcoming 350th celebration and our pos-
sible role in it was discussed.
Guest speaker, Cindy Delpapa, spoke about social mar-
keting and how it relates to the problem of advocating
for environmental protection. After discussion on vari-
ous topics the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
In This Issue
Annual Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Fly Fishing Clinic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Save North Pond Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Letter to the MEPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Call For Board Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Teaching with Trout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Westfield River Symposium 2018:
Celebrating 25 Years as
National Wild and Scenic River! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Officers and Directors for 2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Fly Fishing Clinic
The Fly Fishing Clinic will be held August 18th 9:00
a.m. - 1:00 p.m. at the pavilion pull-off on Route 20
in Huntington. Hopefully by having the clinic at this
time we will avoid conflicts with local fairs. There
will be demonstrations in fly-tying, and casting. There
will also be aquatic insects gathered from the river for
people to identify. Bring your own fly rod for set up and
casting instruction.
Save North Pond Update
The deadline for raising the funds needed to purchase
the land has been extended to June 2019. All the
monies donated is being held in a dedicated fund for
the sole purpose of purchasing the land at North Pond.
Letter to the MEPA
The letter we sent, combined with the letters of other
groups has made an impact. An Environmental Impact
Report has to be filed before any further work can be
done on the project. For more information contact
Cindy Delpapa.
Call For Board Members
We are reaching out to our membership for people
interested in being on the Board of Directors. We
will have four members leaving the board at the end
of this fiscal year. PLEASE consider this rewarding
opportunity and call Bill Rose for more information.
  Westfield River Watershed Association News  2  
Teaching with Trout
By Mike Young
Since 2001 WRWA has sponsored a program, in con-
junction with Mass Wildlife, that allows elementary
or middle school kids to grow fish in their classrooms.
During the effort to restore Atlantic Salmon to the
Connecticut River watershed the students were rais-
ing salmon, but for the past five years or so they’ve
been raising brook trout – starting with eggs that are
delivered to the schools in January, and continuing
until the release of the young fish in the late spring.
WRWA provides the necessary equipment, including
a chiller capable of keeping the tank temperature at
around 50°F for several months, a 29- or 30-gallon
aquarium tank, filtration system and filtration media,
and assorted other smaller items.
This year we had four middle schools participating in
the project, with a total of six tanks – the schools were
North Middle and South Middle in Westfield, Powder
Mill Middle in Southwick, and Gateway Regional
in Huntington. WRWA volunteers help with the egg
delivery, then with stream activities for schools that
turn the release of the fish into a field trip. Mr. Geli-
nas, the cooperating teacher at North Middle School
in Westfield, has scheduled full-day field trips to
Sanderson Brook in Chester for all of his students,
amounting to three trips altogether – with groups of
about 30 students attending each trip.
The students generally release the fish in the Westfield
River on the way to Sanderson Brook, then do stream
activities in the morning along with a hike to Sander-
son Brook Falls. Thanks to Phil Sousa, Mark Damon,
Ron Lucassen, and Bill Rose for their help with dif-
ferent phases of the project this year.
Westfield River Symposium 2018:
Celebrating 25 Years as National Wild and Scenic River!
by Brian Conz
This year’s Westfield River Symposium was the 24th
annual meeting of it’s type and we celebrated the
25 Year Anniversary of Westfield’s Wild and Scenic
River designation, the first river in Massachusetts to be
recognized as such. It’s not every day that we get to sit
back and revel in success but this year’s symposium
events were a testimony to more than a quarter century
of successful collaboration between community mem-
bers, public agencies, academic departments (students
and faculty), non-profits and the university itself.
Our keynote speaker was land use planner Chris
Curtis who helped spearhead the Wild and Scenic des-
ignation in the early 80s. Curtis, who worked for the
Pioneer Valley Planning Commission at the time, was
helped by a number of citizen environmental advo-
cates from Westfield and surrounding towns. Many of
these folks were in attendance at the symposium.
Carrie Banks, of the Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife
Division of Ecological Restoration was our second
speaker and she highlighted the restoration activities
  Westfield River Watershed Association News  3  
Panel of Westfield State interns
that have taken place over the past 25 years. Fish and
wildlife are moving more freely in the watershed,
thanks to improvements in infrastructure standards
supported by robust scientific monitoring. Banks
discussed how much of this work is carried out by
dedicated volunteers and by Westfield State faculty
and students from Biology, Environmental Science,
Chemical and Physical Sciences and Geography and
Regional Planning.
The final session was a panel of Wild and Scenic
Westfield interns, discussing their experiences spend-
ing summers gathering data in the watershed. It was
clear from the conversations that they had acquired
amazing professional skills working with enthusias-
tic volunteers and dedicated mentors, including the
panel organizer, Meredyth Babcock, not to mention
a summer exploring the rivers and streams of the
watershed. All but one of the six students was from
Westfield State, and many were on to jobs in the field
or in graduate school.
So, many thanks to the great people and institutions
that come together to make up this community-in-
celebration-and-solidarity with the watershed!
Officers and Directors for 2018
Officers:
President: Bill Rose 39 Sunset Terrace Feeding Hills 01030 786-0195
First Vice President: Brian Conz 999 General Knox Rd., Russell, MA 01071 572-8084
Second Vice President: Allan Ouimet 16 Russell Rd. Westfield 01085 539-0964
Secretary: Mark Damon 297 Western Ave Westfield 01085 977-1577
Treasurer: Mike Young 721 West Rd. Westfield 01085 562-8498
Directors:
Ann Barone 3 Delancey St, Westfield 01085 374-9799
Tim Judy 37 Mountain Rd. Holyoke 01040 569-9018
Ron Lucassen 39 Rachael Terrace Westfield 01085 568-4252
John A. Pelli 32 Laro Road, Westfield 01085 562-0182
Aaron Reyes Northampton, MA 01060 572-8380
Phillip Sousa 29 Yankee Circle Westfield 01085 568-3982
Henry Warchol 2 Sackville Road Westfield 01085 562-3467
Honorary Directors:
Dan Call 78 Granville Road, Unit 10, Westfield 01085 364-0993

For more information on WRWA’s activities, check our website at www.westfieldriver.org

  Westfield River Watershed Association News  4  

WRWA
PO Box 1764
Westfield, MA  01086-1764

The
Westfield River Watershed Association Newsletter
June 2018

In This Issue
Annual Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Fly Fishing Clinic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Save North Pond Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Letter to the MEPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Call For Board Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Teaching with Trout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Westfield River Symposium 2018:
Celebrating 25 Years as
National Wild and Scenic River! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Officers and Directors for 2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4