Nearly 50 volunteers came out on a brisk November morning to clear trails at the newly expanded Riverbend campus of the Ipswich River Watershed Association. We uncovered the remains of the rockery, which was once part of the renowned landscape gardens at George Barnard’s estate, added a new trail to connect to the canoe launch accessible parking area and expanded an existing trail near the IRWA driveway. Earlier in the week, Mayer Tree was brought in to do the “heavy lifting” needed to clear several huge trees that had fallen in the sever storms a few years ago. This cleared the way for our volunteers to come in on Saturday with hand tools to finish uncovering and building the trails. The transformation was staggering! The bones of the original garden are now visible, and we can’t wait to see what will emerge in the spring now that so much debris has been removed!
Volunteers were invited back to the IRWA headquarters for hot soup and bread from Coastal Green Grocer.
ECTA Would like to thank REI for the Stewardship Grant which made this volunteer work day possible! We look forward to hosting another work day at the Greenbelt property across County Road in the spring to continue to expand this neighborhood trail network!
