Moses Brown’s AP science class expected their first field trip to Blackstone Park Conservation District in September to be interesting and possibly fun. They didn’t anticipate being doubled over laughing when a boy in waders in water up to his knees in the middle of York Pond casually took one step and was suddenly into water up to his chest–the pond’s full depth.
This slapstick moment was perhaps not the sort of immersion science teacher Tara Tsakraklides had in mind when she decided to let this year’s class directly experience their adoptive park before giving them classroom work. But at the same time it typified the kind of connection with the woodland and ponds beside the Seekonk River she wanted the students to make on that sparkling fall day. Instead of having experts come lecture them at school first, as was done last year, she decided to get them into the Park right away.
“We have a charge that’s been given to us,” says Tsakraklides. Collaborating with the Blackstone Parks Conservancy (BPC) her students are studying the Park ecology with an emphasis on stormwater and the 380-acre watershed that feeds into York Pond and the river. The students will pass their knowledge on to the public in hopes of inspiring more caretakers of the Park.
Early that morning City Forester Doug Still had led the students out of the Moses Brown campus onto Lloyd Avenue and down the long hill of the watershed, stopping now and then to identify and analyze a tree. The skill of observation is one that the teacher hopes the teenagers will develop during this year.
At the Conservation District, BPC board members described the Park’s beginnings in 1866 and some of the highs and lows of its history. Next, the class inspected the trail restoration project in the center section funded by Rhode Island environmental agencies* and managed by the Parks Department and BPC volunteers.
In addition to rebuilding trails that erosion had carved as deeply as two feet in places, the trail project involves planting to keep soil in place when storms come. Unfortunately, this work requires temporary snow fencing to protect tender plants. Board member Margaret Brookner pointed out grasses and wildflowers that have regenerated thanks to protection provided by split rail fences installed by BPC and Appalachian Mountain Club volunteers several years ago and indicated areas scoured clean of plants and topsoil by punishing rains that plants would soon fill in.
In the South section across Angell Street, Still described how Norway maples imported for city streets were pushing out the more valuable native trees out of the woodland, thereby damaging the entire web of life that depends on them. The Parks Department is gradually removing Norway maple saplings in an attempt to give natives a chance to regain their strength. Moving too quickly, Still explained, could simply boost the survival of the faster-spreading, faster-growing invasives.
In afternoon visits to York Pond and Hockey Pond, the class collected samples of water and duckweed, then hiked up the almost dry ravine where the park had begun nearly 150 years ago, a legacy of the Moses Brown family. Discovering an occasional treasure along the way—a locked box, a wallet–they ventured into the tunnel under Butler Avenue for a way before turning back. They decided they had had a full day.
Some children growing up get to spend time in natural settings, to explore, have adventures, and reap the many benefits that spending time outdoors can bring. Increasingly, however, many do not. It is this “nature deficit,” with all its implications for human health and for the future of natural spaces that the BPC is trying to dent.
*Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and Coastal Resource Management Council (CRMC),
The Boulevard
Visit the south garden below Irving Avenue, newly refurbished thanks to a grant from RI Senator Donna Nesselbush and work by BPC volunteers. And enjoy all the gardens recently weeded by volunteers and mulched with donations from BPC supporters.
A Note of Thanks, to Sally Godfrey, a local gardener helping out with the Forest Health Works habitat planting on Angell Street.
Jane Peterson
