On a September field trip to Blackstone Park, Moses Brown environmental science students stood beside the meadow at York Pond while Coordinator of the Providence Parks Urban Wildlife Partnership April Alix gave instructions for collecting “bugs” in the water to find clues to its health. She admonished them not to wave the nets over peoples’ heads after scooping mud up…and to take tiny steps in the shallow pond to avoid suddenly dropping into slightly deeper water.
No one ended up with a muddy head but, to laughter and shrieks, one student in waders did step off a ledge. It always happens, says April.
The class teacher, Tara Tsakraklides, thinks having fun is a fine side effect of the school’s partnership with the Blackstone Parks Conservancy (BPC). The goal is to help young people to discover nature up close using the 350-acre watershed bracketed by the school campus at the top and Blackstone Park by the Seekonk River at the bottom as a kind of outdoor laboratory.
In addition to learning the science, these students figure out how they and the larger community can collaborate to stimulate public awareness of the environment, including the impact of storms on the city in runoff and erosion. They are “trying to give back to an organization that has provided so much to the city,” says Tara. The BPC, she adds, is showing students how community and city government and state environmental agencies work together.
While walking down the hill from Moses Brown to Blackstone Park with City Forester Doug Still, the seniors explored trees and aspects of stormwater, noting the impact of runoff on York Pond and the Seekonk River. Once in the Park they explored the recent work on trails upgraded by BPC volunteers using state grants.
Down at York Pond, a former inlet blocked by River Road since the early 1900s, the class saw the results of neglect: bright green duckweed coating the water. The pond has long been a trap for sand spread during the winter and pollutants and debris from yards and streets in the watershed. The result is inadequate oxygen to balance the nitrogen and phosphates that promote algae growth.
Despite little evidence of life in York Pond, the students did find a tiny snapping turtle, and this pleased April, who had seen empty nests earlier in the summer that had been raided by predators. The pond is silting up with street sand, yet flourishing native plants installed at its edge by the BPC nearly10 years ago remain a source of food and shelter for wildlife. Herons, ducks, and other birds are often seen there.
Farther down River Road at spring-fed Hockey Pond below Angell Street, which is not oxygen-starved, there were more signs of life: dragonfly eggs and tiny fish, for example. The class collected more water samples, which they plan with April’s help to use as a baseline for future work in the Blackstone ponds.
On the Boulevard
On the Boulevard, volunteers nursed the gardens through a dry summer, and the BPC paid for extensive watering of saplings. Volunteer leaders now turn their attention to the many trees damaged by winter moths this spring. The Conservancy is now working with the City Forester to figure out whether it is safe—and affordable–to spray the injured trees.
Jane Peterson
