The Pawcatuck River: Charlestown’s Emerald and Sapphire Crown
The following letter was submitted to local newspapers and is shared with us here by the author Ruth Platner. Ruth Platner is Chair of the Charlestown Planning Commission.
At the May 23rd Charlestown Planning Commission meeting, the Commission voted unanimously to endorse the Wood-Pawcatuck Wild and Scenic Rivers Stewardship Plan and to support the recommendation to seek Wild and Scenic Rivers designation through an act of the United States Congress.
Charlestown’s beautiful ocean beaches and coastal ponds form our town’s southern border, while the Pawcatuck River creates the entire northern border of Charlestown. If our sparkling beaches and coastal ponds are Charlestown’s diamond necklace, then the cool blue water and deep green forest of the Pawcatuck River are our town’s emerald and sapphire crown.
For eight years the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association, in partnership with other groups has worked to gain national recognition for the Pawcatuck and other rivers in the Wood-Pawcatuck watershed. The rivers offer exceptional recreational opportunities and protect wildlife habitat. More rare and endangered species are associated with these rivers than anywhere else in the region.
To learn more about the effort to gain national recognition for the Pawcatuck you can visit the Wood-Pawcatuck Wild and Scenic Rivers website at http://wpwildrivers.org/ and read the Stewardship Plan or watch the beautiful videos. But to really understand what Wild and Scenic means, you’ll need to launch a canoe.
A canoe or kayak trip down the Pawcatuck is to travel through time. The villages of Kenyon, Shannock, and Carolina retain most of their historic buildings. The grist and textile mills were powered by the Pawcatuck and to see the villages and old mill works from the water brings you back to that early industrial age. Paddle a bit further into the forest and vast wetlands and you can imagine a time before European contact, or even before people. Alone on the river it can feel like you are in a wilderness, 1000 miles from anywhere, just you and a startled beaver and the splash of sun bathing turtles diving into the water.
The Pawcatuck is Wild and Scenic. It’s now time for Congress to act and provide the recognition and protection that our emerald and sapphire crown deserves.
May 29, 2018 @ 8:54 am
I agree that these rivers are a treasure and a delight to canoe or kayak along.
There are a number of places that are canoe or kayak put-ins. The WPWA (Wood Pawcatuck Watershed Association) has maps and routes information, for example: http://www.wpwa.org/paddling_maps.htm.
At a number of the put-ins one can paddle upstream for 30 to 45 minutes against a very gentle current, then turn and paddle back to your car, in this way you do not need to have 2 cars, one for in and one for out.
May 28, 2018 @ 9:18 am
It is good to know that we have people watching out for nature and protecting the trees and waterways, not just today but for many, many years into the futures. So many Lorax-types out there, it is refreshing to see such commitment.