Nashua River - Hospital Road

We went kayaking on Memorial Day from the Still River Depot at The Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge, down past the new bridge at hospital road. During construction, which appears to be nearly complete, they had a barrier strung across the river to catch debris. I had feared that when they removed the barrier, a huge pile of rubbish would be set free downstream.
I was very pleasantly surprised! I looks like when they pulled it out, they must have taken the time to clean up the trash first. Kudos to those involved with that! So for all the stuff that's newly acumulated in the Oxbow, there's very little from Rt. 2 down to Shirley.
We did pull another tire and a basket full out of the Oxbow, and there's still probably 5 or 6 more trips needed to get that back into shape, but you know, one basket at a time...

Duck Races

OK, so duck races are kind of cute, but is this really necessary? I was at the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge on May 10 for a paddle. On the bridge was a huge box of rubber ducks they were going to pour into the river.
http://www.harvardpress.com/CurrentEvents/tabid/146/Default.aspx
Thankfully they were conscientious and (We think) collected all the ducks they threw in the river (We checked). This behavior does explain why I do find so many ducks - or trash, one might say.
Now, after looking for the organizers, I found the next batch to be introduced to the river: http://www.fitchburgpride.com/news/2007/0608/Front_Page/003.html.
Somehow I doubt the city of Fitchburg is going to be that conscientious and will continue to demonstrate to their citizens that it's OK to throw trash in the river. Nice job, Lisa Wong, Mayor of Fitchburg - the "City by the River" Why not just have your citizens bring their old propane tanks and tires down to the river? Oh yeah, they do that already.

Nashua River - Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge

Today was the first day of the new year I'd paddled downstream from the Still River Depot in Harvard, MA. The weather was kind of cool and damp, but otherwise a good day for a paddle.
Each spring the first trip on any stretch of river is full of surprises. I'm no rookie, I know there is going to be new trash all the time, and the high waters of spring make it easy for debris to wash in, or move downstream.
I was paddling down river, picking up a few pieces here and there, nothing too bad, but all the while, in the back of my head, I was thinking "where's the mess?" Then I found it. I really couldn't believe it. There were several very large logjams just on the south side of Rt. 2. One has 3 (more) tires, and loads of trash, another had another tire and a propane tank. I loaded up a tire and one of the tanks, along with an empty 5gal. pail of hydraulic fluid and headed back.
I know it's not that bad, certainly not compared to what it was, but finding all that new debris is discouraging at some level. Ah well, work for another day...