Down on River Road by the Seekonk River, children’s voices filled the air at Blackstone Parks Conservancy (BPC) Saturday events. Above on weekdays, workmen operating heavy machinery and wielding shovels finished the long-awaited repair and upgrade of trails in record time. BPC volunteers overseeing the events below and the project above worked long hours. And that was just June in the Blackstone Park Conservation District.
In July the ever-popular Trolley Shelter concert series began. Work on the overgrown South Garden at the foot of the Boulevard started with a grant from state Senator Donna Nesselbush. It is the latest of many years of enhancements by the Boulevard Committee led by Gale Aronson.
Stewardship and Children
As co-stewards with the Providence Parks Department of both the semi-wild park overlooking the Seekonk and the groomed Blackstone Boulevard Park, for years the BPC has focused mainly on physical care of these historic places. Maintenance of the two parks is both challenging and absorbing because of their fragile soils and heavy use by thousands of visitors.
Winning major grants from state environmental agencies made it possible this year not only to gain a meaningful foothold in the erosion-prone Conservation District, but also to finally bring education into this volunteer organization’s mission. Unsurprisingly, it turned out to be a natural fit.
The transformation began several years ago with Rhode Island Audubon Society- Providence After School Alliance classes in Blackstone Park with Nathan Bishop Middle School students taught by April Alix. The love these 12-14-year-olds showed for the park and their desire to protect it clearly demonstrated the Conservation District’s suitability as a place for children both to escape city pressures and to learn about nature–a place to play and learn at the same time.
Fortunately for the Conservancy, an early childhood specialist, Rick Richards, stepped forward in 2012 to chair the BPC’s new Education Committee and others experienced in early child development quickly joined him. They spent months mining the rich history and biology of the Park, organizing a trove of information for trail walks and for signs that could be accessed by smart phones, ever mindful of the need to train future stewards of this precious land. They reached out to people in spheres ranging from Indian lore to music to bird banding.
The committee’s months of work led to events last summer and this one that drew numbers of excited children and parents not seen in the Park for many years. The enthusiasm of the committee members is contagious.
Trail Upgrades and a New Entrance
While the Education Committee was establishing the Conservation District as the “GO TO place for kids,” the Park Committee and the Parks Department were shepherding to completion trail improvement plans that had been years in the making. Generous grants from Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management and its Coastal Resources Management Council along with assistance from dedicated staff members in both agencies have now produced safer and more enjoyable center-section trails and a much enhanced entrance at Parkside and Angell streets.
Judging from the comments of many visitors, some of whom had been anxious over the prospect of change, most people have enjoyed the improved trails and the native plants installed in eroded areas to help keep soil in place. It all fits our vision of Healthy Urban Green Space for All.
Jane Peterson
