AMHERST — With the town considering acquiring a portion of the former Hickory Ridge Golf Club through which a 1.4-mile stretch of the Fort River runs, a group of area residents is coming together to bring more attention to the Connecticut River tributary.
The Fort River Watershed Association is holding its initial meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment at 845 West St. to begin identifying ways people can advocate for the 15-mile long river, promote access to its habitat and participate in community science projects to monitor its health.
Brian Yellen, a research assistant professor in the geosciences department at the University of Massachusetts, said that the Fort River is considered a medium-sized watershed, which means that it is big enough to have several swimming holes, and a canoe could be paddled its entire length in the spring,
As the longest tributary of the Connecticut River in Massachusetts without a dam, the Fort River passes through parts of five towns including Shutesbury, Pelham, Belchertown, Amherst, and Hadley. It also offers an unparalleled migratory fish run, according to Yellen.
“There’s a rich run of fish that comes up from the Atlantic,” Yellen said. “Fish can migrate up the Fort River, and it’s a really exciting connection to the ocean.”
The Fort River’s headwaters also feed into the Atkins Reservoir in Shutesbury and the Lawrence Swamp aquifer in South Amherst, which supply drinking water for Amherst and UMass.
Johanna Neumann of Amherst, who has worked professionally on projects to protect air, water and open space, is helping Yellen organize the effort.
Even though the Fort River has a major presence in town, Neumann said it often can be forgotten. She hopes residents don’t take clean water for granted.
“We should live our lives in ways that don’t degrade our environment,” Neumann said.
The group’s formation comes in advance of the Town Council deciding whether to use $200,000 from the Community Preservation Act account to pursue the purchase of the land.
Yellen said that any deal likely could be revenue neutral. Even though the golf course has been a tax-paying business, a private solar panel array planned for the site will bring ongoing revenue to the town.
Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek, who made the application to the CPA Committee, said he appreciates the enthusiasm and activity centered around promoting the river and protecting the habitat.
In addition to not having dams, with the last removed from the Amethyst Brook in Pelham in 2015, Ziomek said there are a number of rare and endangered species that call the Fort River home, including the Dwarf wedgemussel.
If the town is able to secure the property, it could offer an opportunity to bring people closer to the habitat, advocates said. Neumann observes that the golf course is adjacent to Southpoint Apartments and, if town-owned, new connections to the site could be created.
Yellen said new paths could be built to encourage children to walk to the nearby Crocker Farm Elementary School through a portion of the golf course, rather than along busy roads.
Many of the most popular conservation areas already are in the Fort River watershed. These include Buffam Falls in Pelham, Amethyst Brook Conservation Area and the Emily Dickinson Trail in Amherst and the Fort River Trail at the Silvio Conte National Wildlife Refuge’s Fort River Division in Hadley.
Community science projects are another aspect that the group could focus on. Neumann said there are often college students and other classes examining the river, which might be better coordinated and get involvement from local schoolchildren.
Yellen said it is a good time to create the new watershed association.
“We want to get people excited about pressing issues and learn what people would like to see in terms of protection and access,” Yellen said. “The first step is to improve the ecology and to enjoy it for what it is, and not just an afterthought.”
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
