WRWA River News - Early Spring Edition

Westport River Watershed Alliance

March 2022

Dear Members and Friends:

We are so happy that the signs of spring are here. The red-winged blackbirds are back, the osprey have been spotted, and the spring peepers are just starting to make their voices heard. Here at WRWA, we have a lot of activities coming up!

We are very grateful to all the artists, gallery visitors and online bidders who helped make our annual winter art show a big success. Special thanks to Dedee Shattuck for hosting us.

Our very popular Electronics Recycling Day will be held on Wednesday, April 20, from 9 to 11 a.m. behind Westport Town Hall. For more information, click here.

Our TerraCorps volunteer Michaelah is organizing monthly beach clean-ups at the Horseneck Beach Reservation. To volunteer, email terracorps@wrwa.com.

The Clean Our Westport (COW) volunteers will be holding their spring town-wide street clean up event on Saturday, April 9. Help keep Westport clean and beautiful by volunteering. COW is an affiliate of WRWA.

WRWA will once again be hosting several special events in June for National Rivers Month. More information for these WOW (Wonders of the Watershed) events will be coming up in our next issue of River News. We are so happy to announce our artist for this year's summer concert at Westport Rivers Vineyard & Winery will be the one and only Livingston Taylor on Saturday, July 9.

Thanks for your continuing support for WRWA and all our programs and initiatives. It's time to renew your yearly membership with WRWA, so expect a letter in your mailbox soon, or donate online. We hope you will continue to follow all our activities, programs and initiatives in our monthly issues of River News.

Sincerely,

Deborah

Update on Hix Bridge Rubble Removal Project

After receiving the Army Corps of Engineers' (ACOE) Hix Bridge Rubble Removal proposal and consulting directly with their team, it became clear that an important underlying analysis that would quantify the project's benefits to the river was not performed. That analysis is a hydrological study of the before and after effects of rubble removal.

WRWA Annual Meeting Coming Up on March 27

WRWA will hold its 2022 Annual Meeting on Sunday, March 27 at 11 a.m. This will be a virtual meeting via Zoom.

Our guest speaker this year is Wenley Ferguson, Save The Bay’s Director of Habitat Restoration. She will be talking on Strategies to restore salt marshes impacted by accelerated sea level rise and legacy human impacts.

After the speaker the Annual Meeting Agenda will include:

Appreciation of outgoing Board, Committee members and volunteers
State of the Organization
Financial overview of 2021
Vote of New Board Members

Members to be voted on:

First three year term

Joanne Leary
Paul Mooney
Gigi Priebe
Ken Short
Don Swift

Second three year term

Sean Mullaney
Joop Nagtegaal
Mike Sullivan

To attend the virtual meeting, please RSVP to outreach@wrwa.com by March 25 with Annual Meeting in the subject line. You will be emailed a link to the zoom meeting.

This year's featured speaker Wenley Ferguson is Save The Bay’s Director of Restoration. Since 1990 she has worked on habitat and water quality restoration projects throughout Narragansett Bay and its watershed including restoring salt marshes, marsh migration corridors and river connectivity. Wenley works with partners at the state and local level on design, implementation and monitoring of tidal hydrology restoration and sediment placement projects. Recent projects include collaboration with Bristol County Mosquito Control Project and Buzzards Bay Coalition on projects in Dartmouth and Fairhaven.

The Westport River Watershed Alliance Annual Report for 2021 can be viewed at this link:

https://www.westportwatershed.org/wrwa2021/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2021_-ARWEB.pdf

This happy group of artists created beautiful sunflower paintings at our recent Brushes and Brews event at the Dedee Shattuck Gallery. Our thanks to Barbara Healy and Pam Clarkson for their art instruction, and thanks to Ten Cousins Pizza for donating delicious pizza, and to Westport Rivers Winery and Buzzards Bay Brewing for their donation of beer and wine.

Summer Internships - Apply Now

The Westport River Watershed Alliance is seeking two qualified candidates to fill our seasonal, summer internship positions. The positions are 30 hrs./week at a rate of $14.50 hr., from late May until the middle of August (exact starting and ending dates flexible). The interns will work under the supervision of the Education Director, assisting with various projects. WRWA received a generous grant from BayCoast Bank to fund this position with understanding that preference be given to applicants that are enrolled as students at BCC or UMass Dartmouth.

Winter Art Show Was A Big Success

Our 9th annual art show at the Dedee Shattuck Gallery was a great success. We met our fundraising goal, thanks to all the artists who contributed extraordinary works of art. This year's theme "Above and Below" - perspectives on the Westport River through a bird's eye and a fish eye, sparked the imaginations of our generous artists, who came through with the most impressive collection of art we have offered to date.

We want to thank all the contributing artists, and to the hundreds of people who came out to view the show at the gallery and who participated in the online auction. If you missed this year's show, you can view the program booklet online here.

A big thanks also to Faith Wilber (pictured above, left) and the other volunteers who helped manage the show and greet guests at the gallery. Pictured above right, WRWA staff Steve Connors and Jennifer Lynch.

Thank

Scholarship Opportunity for

High School Seniors

The Westport River Watershed Alliance is pleased to offer a $1,000 scholarship opportunity for graduating seniors living in the Westport River watershed communities of Fall River, Dartmouth, Freetown, Westport, Little Compton, and Tiverton.

The award was made possible by the generosity of the late Margot C. Boote, and by Bill Heath in memory of his parents Ruth and Bill Heath. The merit award applications are available on the WRWA website www.westportwatershed.org or by calling the WRWA office at 508-636-3016 ext. 1006. Guidance departments in local high schools also have applications on file. All applications are due into WRWA office no later than April 1, 2022.

The merit awards offer WRWA an opportunity to honor students who have demonstrated their interest in protecting the Westport River. WRWA’s mission is to restore, protect, celebrate, and sustain the natural resources of the Westport River and its watershed. WRWA accomplishes its mission through education, advocacy, and community outreach.

Speaker Series continues March 30 and April 28 -

Videos of previous speakers online now

WRWA has been presenting a series of informative presentations by expert speakers this winter. The talks are Zoom events, allowing those interested to view online.

The two previous programs were recorded and can be viewed by visiting our video archive on our web page.

Upcoming this spring (See details below):

March 30 - Dr. Robert Gegear is a Professor at UMASS Dartmouth who will be speaking about his specialty - Native Pollinators and why they are important.

April 28 - Renee Montanaro is a Doctoral student from UMASS Dartmouth and will speak about her field of study, Asian Shore Crabs.

Contact WRWA at outreach@wrwa.com to sign up or for more information.

Livingston Taylor to perform at WRWA Summer Concert July 9

Mark your calendars! Our 6th Annual Summer Concert at Westport Rivers Vineyard and Winery will be happening on Saturday, July 9, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. We are so pleased to be hosting singer/songwriter Livingston Taylor to entertain us all with songs and stories. This will be a must-see concert with one of New England's premiere musicians.

More information and ticket sales coming up soon. For more info contact outreach@wrwa.com.