Westerly Land Trust nurtures Mastuxet Brook through WP Rivers grant
By Hugh Markey, October 2023
The parking lot at Rotary Park in Westerly is buzzing as harried parents and grandparents bring children to tennis lessons. Others watch over kids who prefer to enjoy the elaborate playground equipment. Overhead, small planes buzz by as they land and take off at the Westerly Airport, just across the street. A half dozen people from Westerly Land Trust (WLT) and Wood-Pawcatuck Wild and Scenic Rivers (WP Wild Rivers) gather under a tree at one corner of the property. They’re here to tour the nearby Mastuxet Brook and see one of the signs funded by a WP Wild Rivers grant. The sign is a partial fulfillment of a Memorandum of Agreement between WP Wild Rivers and WLT signed in March 2023. Part of the agreement promises that the Trust will be responsible for activities such as water quality testing, streamflow measurement, and “…educating the public about the importance of monitoring and enhancing water quality in our waterbodies.” That’s where the sign comes in.
The group’s guide is Marc Doherty, land stewardship manager for WLT. He says that they’re into their second season of water quality monitoring with Watershed Watch. Three volunteers do the important work of water sampling. The area is part of a 6.3 acre preserve that runs along and partially through the brook. This generally flat trail is about a half mile long, passing through a forest canopy. Doherty says he got a surprise when he first looked at a 2006 report that the tiny waterway had brook trout in it. “I thought, ‘That? There’s brook trout in that?’ ” Normally, trout prefer cold, well-oxygenated water, not tiny brooks gently flowing through the rocks of a moraine. Doherty decided to take a closer look and assess the habitat and water quality. Sure enough, he found trout. Some time afterward, WLT applied for a grant from WP Wild Rivers.
The group received a $1900 grant, which included administrative fees for water quality sampling, as well as flow monitors to keep track of the amount and speed of the water. Other tasks include “…identifying point-sources of pollution along the Mastuxet Brook, which will help enhance water quality downstream
in the Lower Pawcatuck River. Besides filling water quality data gaps, identifying point – sources of pollution, and monitoring critical native fish habitat in the lower Pawcatuck, Westerly Land Trust’s water quality program will educate the public about the importance of monitoring and enhancing water quality in our waterbodies. This will enhance education and ecosystem health in the Pawcatuck River as a National Wild and Scenic River.” In addition to leading children’s programs, Doherty is continuing to explore and monitor the brook by requesting stream access from nearby property owners. A narrow path winds through the forest, often accompanied by the sound of the gently flowing brook. Dappled sunlight shines through maple and viburnum leaves. At one point, the group finds a skull and bones from what may have been an opossum, now returning to the earth.
Ahead is the new sign, which relates information about the brook as well as the geographical and biological surroundings. The location invites visitors to pause and learn beside the brook as it wanders
around and beneath great flat boulders. WP Wild Rivers’ interim coordinator Casey Merkle is pleased with WLT’s efforts: “The sign helps people enjoy the incredible work they have going on.”
