French River Connection

Projects

BEAVER DAMAGE CONTROL:

Beavers are rightly admired for their engineering skills, their persistence, and family life. They create wetland habitat at a time when wetlands are disappearing. In recent years their numbers have skyrocketed to the point where they may pose and health hazard, and their habit of "ringing" mature trees has become very noticable. They can destroy a specimen sized tree overnight, leaving the riverbank lined with dead snags, and depriving the river of shade needed by fish and other aquatic life. There are now hundreds of such trees along the French and thousands threatened.

One solution is to place a 3-4' woven wire fence around selected trees, a few inches from the truck. We have started a  project for this using wire donated by Home Depot. In 2010, we received a $500 donation from Wal-Mart to support the program.  Ultimately, a partnership with riverside landowners and more volunteers can make a big difference.

Through 2011 , we have protected approximately  400 trees in Webster, Dudley, Oxford, and Thompson.

The culprit

The results

The solution

PADDLING ACCESS:

Until 2010, there were no legal cartop access points between Agutteback Pond below the Hodges Village flood control project in Oxford and the Connecticut line.There were informal access points known to a few, but this is one reason why the French River is so underappreciated. In 2007, the French River Connection, the Oxford Open Space Committee, and the University of Massachusetts conducted a study to identify and rank potential access points. One site in Oxford was chosen for implementation and is awaiting funding from the Massachusetts Office of Fishing and Boating Access. 

Not wishing to wait for funding that might never come, in 2010 we completed implementation of the Leovich Landing launch site on Dudley Road in Oxford, on land purchased in 2009 by the Dudley Conservation Land Trust. French River Park in downtown Webster will also includes a launch site which became operational in August 2011.

The French River Blueway Study is presented as produced by the University of Massachusetts. Readers should note that:

It is an academic study by students, which, while valuable, misses some practical considerations which may have had a bearing on the recommendations.

All maps and "paddling guides" in the study are notional; they show what could be, not what exists today, and they should not be used as guidance by paddlers.

FRENCH RIVER REVITALIZATION CONCEPTS STUDY:

In 2006, the French River Connection and the University of Connecticut completed a study identifying opportunities to improve the riverfront in Dudley and Webster, through the development of trails (the French River Greenway), viewpoints, parks, and paddling access points. This would add to the quality of life for residents and serve as a catalyst to downtown revitalization, as it has for many other deteriorating mill towns. The process began and ended with public meetings, and the concepts were converted to a report with current ("before") and "after" depictions of each site. The implementation of French River Park in downtown Webster is a legacy of this study.

In this example from the study, a small park includes a viewpoint on the 1868 stone arch bridge between Webster and Dudley, where now there is only a tangle of invasive plants. 

This  access point was created in Greenbrier Park in 2008 by the French River Connection in partnership with the USACE

The Leovich Landing launch site completed in 2010. The site also includes a new parking lot and picnic table, and improved erosion and sedimentation control.

SHORELINE SURVEY:

The French River Connection has completed a Shoreline Survey of the river between Greenbrier Park in Oxford and the Connecticut line. The Survey results are implemented in Google Maps. Click on any section of the map to see a Narrative Description, Recommended Actions, and the Survey Data