Park Serve Day at Robinson State Park
Agawam, Massachusetts
May 12, 2007
 
It was a beautiful day to be out giving back to the parks
.
The Park Serve Day at Robinson State Park was attended by approximately 20 people. Some from the “Friends of Robinson State Park” group, some from a local bird club, some from the community, and a five were NEMBA volunteers. State Representative Rosemary Sandlin was also on hand to kick off the day’s activities. Many supplies, food, drinks, flowers and tools were donated by local and statewide businesses, as well as some supplies being provided by the DCR.
Some of the projects that took place were painting fences and retaining walls at the main entrance, planting flowers by the dozens, cleaning up picnic areas and erosion control on the trails.
The NEMBA group had applied, in advance, to work on the erosion problem, and that is what we undertook. The problem trail is older and has a long, straight, gradual slope. The water (obviously) gathers and picks up mass and momentum along the trail. The result is many years of erosion and “trough-ing”. The volunteers strategically placed three water breaks at high points (non-trough-ed), where the water could more easily be diverted off the trail. Once the water bars were in place, we also used a wheelbarrow to retrieve eroded soil and fill in areas, in hopes that those areas will now not erode with future rains.
Subsequent to this project, we scouted another erosion problem area for a trail reroute. This was also well received and will hopefully be approved for construction soon.
This is the first time that NEMBA has “officially” worked in RSP. It was great to get our foot in the door and we have already agreed to take on two more bridge projects, that the Park Supervisor asked us to do. Many thanks to all involved in helping improve our parks!
|
