News and Insights

The mission of the Coastal Trails Coalition (CTC) is to assist in developing pathways that connect Amesbury, Salisbury, Newburyport and Newbury. Part of the CTC’s 30-mile network of rail trails, shared-use paths and bike lanes make up the local section of the East Coast Greenway, a 3,000-mile trail from Key West, Florida, to Calais, Maine. In Massachusetts, the North Shore section of the Greenway is known as “Border to Boston.”

Formed in 2004 with the support of the Essex National Heritage Commission, National Park Service Rivers & Trails Program and Merrimack Valley Planning Commission, CTC continues to be a tax-exempt, all-volunteer organization. The coalition invests 100 percent of donations, grants and membership contributions in the trail networks. The four cities and towns build and maintain the trails, but the advocacy of the coalition helps attract federal and state funds for construction projects.

Last fall, the cities of Amesbury and Newburyport celebrated the opening of the William Lloyd Garrison Trail Shared-Use Path on the Interstate 95 Whittier Bridge.

The trail provides pedestrian and bicycle travel across the Merrimack River extending from the Route 113 Park and Ride in Newburyport to Route 110 near the Amesbury-Salisbury line.

A southern link between the Park and Ride and Hale Street now exists, courtesy of the Parker River Clean Water Association. That group’s 1.2-mile Gloria Braunhardt Bike Path, part of the Little River Trail system, has been welcomed into the CTC network.

Additional construction will begin this year to join trails between Salisbury and Amesbury.

The Carriagetown Connector will run under I-95 and complete a loop from the Garrison Trail to Salisbury’s Ghost Trail and Amesbury’s Riverwalk. To connect to Amesbury, the CTC is working with the city to link the Riverwalk to Elm Street. Also in Amesbury, the Riverwalk plans to extend into the new Heritage Park along the Powow River.

The City of Newburyport is working to complete Phase II of the Clipper City Rail Trail. The 1.4-mile completed section extends from the harbor along Water Street through the South End, passing under High Street at March’s Hill and continues to Parker Street in Newbury. The city is seeking funding to clean up a contaminated portion of the trail on Water Street, behind the city’s wastewater treatment plant, and for a safe connection from Parker Street to the commuter rail station.

Now that two-thirds of CTC’s trail map is complete, the coalition is looking to complete the northern end of the Border to Boston Trail in Salisbury. Later this year, construction begins on a path that will connect the Old Eastern Marsh Trail to the Seabrook town line.

This 2.3-mile trail will give users access to the New Hampshire Seacoast. On CTC’s southern boundary in Newbury, design of the Border to Boston Trail from Newbury through Georgetown and Boxford is fully funded and underway.

The coalition also sponsors trail cleanups and community events, such as Salisbury’s Art Stroll. Held on the Old Eastern Marsh Trail in May, the Art Stroll celebrates art and nature and offers food, music and family activities.

In Newburyport, the CTC hosts the Slow Bike Race fundraiser on the Wednesday of Yankee Homecoming. The “race,” held on Pleasant Street at Brown Square, awards prizes to the last rider across the finish line.

The Coastal Trails Coalition is grateful to our volunteers and citizens in our communities for their support. Please visit us on Facebook or check out www.CoastalTrails.org. for more information.

See you on the trails!

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He looked at me in astonishment. “How come no one posted anything about that?”

He whistled his dogs out of the water.

Why didn’t he know? It’s not his fault.

The upriver sewage plants in Haverhill, North Andover, Lowell and Manchester aren’t required to alert the general public when they dump untreated waste into the river, so they don’t.

What’s the impact? There have been no comprehensive studies done, but there are many anecdotal stories of how this practice is harming people and animals — dogs getting nasty rashes and stomach disorders, and people sent to emergency rooms with intestinal problems or suffering serious infections after coming in contact with sewage-laden water.

That needs to change, and it’s one of the key missions of the Merrimack River Watershed Council, a nonprofit that since 1976 has been working to make the Merrimack cleaner and healthier.

The only reason I knew that the sewage dumping occurred is because I work with the council, gathering data and reporting the information through our social media and our website. The data is frustratingly skimpy. Most of the plants aren’t equipped to give timely reports on how much sewage they dump. And one of them — Manchester, the biggest polluter on the river — doesn’t release any data at all until the following year.

That’s outrageous. Consider the thousands of boats and boaters on the river in the summer, and the beachgoers, the fishermen and swimmers. Newburyport, Amesbury and Salisbury have built a thriving waterfront economy on the river, based in part on a belief that the Merrimack is clean.

The river’s far cleaner than it was a generation ago, but on some days it’s as bad as the bad old days. Over 650 million gallons of untreated waste was released into the river in 2018.

That’s a 60 percent increase from 2017 due to increased rainfall. NOAA predicts that in the years to come, climate change will cause even heavier rainfall in our region, which will lead to more sewage overflows.

What are the solutions? For one, lawmakers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire need to require that sewage plants alert the general public quickly whenever sewage is released. A bill to do this has been filed on Beacon Hill. We are building a coalition to get a similar bill filed in the Granite State.

In the long term, the plants need to speed up their efforts to comply with the Clean Water Act, and eliminate the release of sewage into the river. This will take years and hundreds of millions of dollars, thus our federal lawmakers have to be more focused on finding the money needed. We also have to be smarter about how we develop land. It’s crucial to limit the flow of stormwater into the river and sewage systems.

The Merrimack’s water quality also needs to be more closely monitored.

As it is now, we have an incomplete picture drawn from a hodgepodge of testing sites. And we need to look more closely at the link between sewage releases and the impact on human and animal health.

The MRWC’s goal is to make the Merrimack a cleaner river for future generations to enjoy. It’s a goal that many people share, but it will only happen if Merrimack Valley citizens demand that action be taken.

Public pressure makes a difference — talk to your local, state and federal representatives, keep up to date on the news, and make your voice known through letters to the editor and social media. Lastly, I’d encourage you to become a member of the Merrimack River Watershed Council. Help us lead the charge for a cleaner river.

John Macone is the outreach coordinator for the Merrimack River Watershed Council. He lives in Amesbury. Please visit the MRWC website for more information: https://www.merrimack.org/web/.

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In December, I organized and helped lead a birding trip to the Connecticut Valley of Massachusetts for Mass Audubon’s Joppa Flats Education Center.

We found some uncommon gulls that show up frequently in Turners Falls, but are not common here in the Great Marsh, so we thought things were going fairly well. Later, though, we were driving through a random patch of forest in the hills above the river valley when a participant spotted three black vultures.

This remarkable Southern species has been showing up more frequently along the Connecticut River in past years, but very rarely in winter, so that was a surprising discovery.

Black vulture soaring over Rockport

The first time I saw a black vulture was in Everglades National Park in 1978, and one had to go at least as far south as South Carolina to expect to see one. The week after our trip out west, we discovered a black vulture soaring over Rockport, and there were three turkey vultures in Amesbury over the Christmas weekend. The increasing appearance of black vultures, and persistence of turkey vultures, is a clear sign of climate change. Fifty years ago, turkey vultures would have been rare and black vultures unimaginable in New England in summer – let alone winter.

Mass Audubon’s Joppa Flats Education Center is one of 20 staffed centers across our state dedicated to protecting nature for people and wildlife. Mass Audubon was founded in 1886 by two women who were indignant at the increasing slaughter of birds for fashion accessories in the late 1800s as birds and many other wild icons of North American natural history were being exterminated, or nearly so.

Joppa Flats was created to teach people to see the amazing bird life of the Great Marsh and other environments near Plum Island and the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge.

The effects of climate change right here and now

Joppa Flats birders are watching the birds that have recovered from near extermination by the hat trade, until Mass Audubon lobbied to stop it. We watch eagles and other birds that have recovered from near extinction due to the use of the pesticide DDT until it was banned through the efforts of Mass Audubon and others. We are watching birds that are becoming less common as they react to the warming climate and ones that are becoming more common for the same reason, but we are seeing the effects of climate change right here and now.

Mass Audubon’s 2017 State of the Birds Report gives details of how climate change is expected to impact Massachusetts’ birds. The vast majority of data for these reports comes from skilled amateur observers, so learning to identify birds can be a great way to contribute to the effort to respond to climate change. Joppa Flats is here to help you learn how. We also help people find ways to reduce carbon emissions and other harmful environmental impacts, so together, the over 125,000 members of Mass Audubon can have a big positive impact.

We want our children’s children to see the same beautiful bounty of migrating, breeding and wintering birds that make Plum Island the best birding destination in New England. We want them to be able to join us in discovering the rich sea life that now teems on our coast.

Healthy natural ecosystems are our best defense from the effects of climate change

We know it is imperative that we work together to halt and reverse the causes of climate change. At Joppa Flats Education Center, we partner with other organizations that are bringing a wide array of experience to face our challenges. We know that healthy natural ecosystems are our best defense from the effects of climate change, so our birders and other nature watchers have a role to play along with our experts in science and land conservation as we partner with organizations with different skills and expertise that are needed.

David Moon is the sanctuary director for the Joppa Flats Education Center and invites everyone to come by Joppa Flats to explore and celebrate the natural world and to help work for a healthy future by protecting nature. For more information, see www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/wildlife-sanctuaries/joppa-flats.

It's a fact that modern childhood has moved indoors. Neighborhood kids no longer adventure outside to play until called home for dinner. On average, American children spend between four and seven minutes a day engaged in unstructured outdoor play (not including organized sports) and as many as nine hours a day in front of an electronic screen. This national trend has paralleled an alarming growth in childhood obesity and prescribed pharmaceuticals for children. Did you know that preschoolers are the fastest growing market for antidepressants? I can’t help but think of this when I see so many adults handing over small screens to youngsters in restaurants, stores and even public parks.

Many of our youth are tuned out, stressed out and over-scheduled. Last Child in the Woods author Richard Louv calls this Nature-Deficit Disorder. And this is not just limited to kids, as it also strikes adults, families, and whole communities.

However, youth and adults who regularly spend time outdoors enjoy priceless benefits to mind, body and spirit. These include improved physical health as well as professional or academic success through greater capacity for leadership, self-awareness, self-confidence, communication, critical thinking and creativity. Further, every generation decides what to protect. If we raise a generation of youth who are disconnected from nature, how can we ensure both their good health and the health of the natural world that sustains us all?

At Merrohawke Nature School we are working to rebuild a culture of nature connection in our community. While spending time in nature is an important habit, rebuilding a lasting culture of nature connection in ourselves, our families and our neighborhoods requires a longer view and deeper commitment. We think seven generations ahead. We ask: What can we do today for the benefit of future generations?

My husband, Capt. Rob Yeomans, and I co-founded Merrohawke in 2007. Originally known as Boat Camp, Merrohawke is no longer a summer-only program aboard a charter boat. As a year-round nature school, Merrohawke is one of at least 75 nature connection organizations nationally -- and 150 internationally -- that emerged out of the 1970s environmental movement and self-identify as an 8 Shields school. Developed by Jon Young in 1983, the founding belief of 8 Shields was that if we can return children to the same intimate relationship to the natural world as was held by our indigenous ancestors, then these children will grow up to consciously appreciate, connect with, and protect the natural world and their community. This ethic is fostered through active mentoring, ancestor awareness, the arts of tracking and survival, and the surrounding culture of elders and adults who value this deep immersion to place. Nationwide, the nature connection movement now serves upwards of 50,000 youth annually. Merrohawke annually serves 2,500 youth living within a 50-mile radius of Newburyport and beyond.

All of our programs provide time to explore the natural world, because this is where the taproot of deep connection to the earth -- land or sea -- takes hold. We intentionally create time for youth to follow their curiosity. They catch mackerel, flounder or striped bass. Watch whales and seabirds. Haul a beach seine net for sandeels. Get muddy. Run wild. Build forts or fancy sandcastles. Race handmade driftwood boats by the shoreline. Dig for seaworms or dig for lost pirate treasure. Climb trees. Catch frogs and fireflies. Carve and coal burn wooden spoons. Weave cordage from milkweed fibers. Tend a fire through from sunset to sunrise. While youth believe they are "just playing outside," recent studies have proven that childhood experiences such as these, and not the more traditional forms of environmental education, directly lead to adults who are active stewards of the earth.

At Merrohawke, we are committed to guiding learning in nature that fosters empathy, resilience, grit, and a deep connection to the earth for the benefit of raising a strong generation of youth, healthy families, a thriving greater Newburyport community, and a flourishing planet.

Kate Yeomans is the co-founder and executive director of Merrohawke Nature School. Learn more at www.merrohawke.org.

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This column was coordinated by ACES Intern and NHS Senior, Eleni Protopapas, who can be reached at eleniprotopapas@gmail.com to share any comments or questions. To learn more about ACES and our Youth Leadership Initiative, please view our WEBSITE –  https://www.aces-alliance.org

The Alliance of Climate and Environmental Stewards Inc. (ACES) is a 501(c)(3) with roots in the Newburyport Cleantech Center that existed to support entrepreneurs developing their businesses in the innovative clean technology sector of the economy.

It is now a not-for-profit corporation devoted to building an alliance of collaborating stewardship-oriented organizations, businesses, nongovernmental organizations, governmental bodies, educational institutions and individuals (ALLIES). We are committed to our stated purpose: “To positively impact our environment’s health and our planet’s climate.” This is why we exist.

Collectively, as an alliance, we nurture and assist initiatives promoting stewardship of our climate and environment. We believe that collaboration is critical for success in today’s dynamic world to leverage the great work of many independent entities, all working for a better future.

Our focus is on fostering collaboration directed at building a resilient, sustainable, healthy and prosperous future for Greater Newburyport and then beyond. We honor the axiom: “Think globally, work locally, and act personally.”

The values we embrace include collaboration, communication, integrity, leadership, respect and sustainability.

Our vision for 2021 is that ACES becomes a vibrant network of ALLIES collaborating to address climate change, environmental and economic health. To that end, ACES provides networking opportunities, helps identify shared interests/initiatives, and offers organizational development, marketing, communications, best practices and securing finances support.

The leadership team is a multiaged group of inspired stewards – individuals committed to improving the legacy of the planet.

Our overarching goal for the next three years is to build this organization of inspired stewards with the capability to gather, organize and share resources needed to enhance the health of our environment. Guided by a leadership team supported by an engaged board, the organization employs best practices to:

Work “in-service” to a network of ever-growing allies in support of their purpose.

Serve as a facilitator, catalyst, convener, connector, promoter, communicator, amplifier, organizer, etc. — with stewards and others responsible for execution via specific project teams.

Define, monitor and promote relevant assets (programs, products and services) that contribute to the area’s overall foundation for climate and environmental stewardship initiatives.

Build community resiliency in the face of climate change (medium-term adaptation and mitigation).

Contribute to slowing the rate of global warming/climate change and lowering our carbon footprint (long-term mitigation effect).

We believe that long-term success will be measured by our contribution to enhancing our quality of life and the achievement of the above goals. Ultimately, we hope to serve as a model for establishing collaborative approaches to develop and implement initiatives beyond the Greater Newburyport base.

Current initiatives that ACES is supporting include: spring and fall cleanup campaigns that promoted events organized and conducted by over 10 Allies; the Healthy Merrimack River initiative, a project of a broad number of concerned stakeholder groups; nurturing environmental stewardship and mindfulness among youths in collaboration with the education business coalition and the Newburyport public school system; and fostering environmental stewardship.”

As a step toward bringing the above vision to reality, we are pleased to be working with The Daily News to provide readers with an opportunity to gain more insight into the purpose, work, and positive impacts of the many folks working in our community for change. It is their efforts that contribute to collective success and inspire us all to keep working for the health of our planet. You’ll be reading more about them in these pages.

Art Currier is a founder and the CEO of ACES. Anyone interested in learning more about the opportunity to support this organization or any of its current or potential initiatives/projects can reach him at artcurrier40@gmail.com.

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This column was coordinated by ACES Intern and NHS Senior, Eleni Protopapas, who can be reached at eleniprotopapas@gmail.com to share any comments or questions. To learn more about ACES and our Youth Leadership Initiative, please view our WEBSITE –  https://www.aces-alliance.org

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Storm Surge formed in spring 2013 following the devastation that took place along Plum Island the previous winter. Its members represent a diverse cross-section of society, including businesspeople, writers, scientists, educators, retirees and concerned citizens who share a common bond as stewards of this planet.

We believe local communities need to start throttling back their impacts on our climate while concurrently preparing for the immediate effects of climate-enhanced storm activity and sea level rise. The group embraces the motto, “Think Globally, Work Locally and Act Personally.”

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Storm Surge has focused its core strategy on community education and awareness to help motivate social change. Thus, efforts have been not only aimed at the general public, but also at elected officials, specifically in Newburyport.

The group managed to secure some funding from the Institution for Savings and the New England Grassroots Environment Fund, but much of its success has come from the efforts and donations of its volunteers.

Understanding that elected officials read newspapers, Storm Surge has focused on publishing editorials, articles and notices of their educational speaker series in The Daily News of Newburyport and The Current. This has kept the issue at the forefront of the community’s consciousness.

Since 2013, cumulatively, over 3,600 people have attended nearly 60 Storm Surge programs, while some 650 people subscribe to the group's mailing list, and over 1,600 people engage and follow on Facebook.

Beyond community education, Storm Surge is active in efforts aimed at making communities more resilient to climate impacts and sea level rise.

Storm Surge members have served on community task forces for Newburyport, Newbury and Salisbury under the National Wildlife Federation’s Sandy Grant, Newburyport’s EPA-sponsored Flood Resilience for Riverine and Coastal Communities assessment, as well as the state’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness  programs.

To move the city’s adaptation planning and implementation process along, Mayor Donna Holaday has convened the Newburyport Resiliency Committee. The group includes city councilors, the Conservation Commission, city engineering representatives, resiliency and Planning Department staff, as well as individuals from NOAA, a former U.S. Army Corps of Engineers specialist in riverine environments, and also a member from Storm Surge.

The committee is tasked with not only considering the impacts of sea level rise and storms, but also the other consequences of climate change, such as drought, heat waves and insect disease vectors.

Storm Surge’s purpose is to support and encourage its communities in this adaptation and mitigation effort. The organization isn’t anti-development; rather it understands that communities need economies to thrive.

Members would like to see development take place with the most resilient technology and sustainable methods available such that they do not create problems for the municipality, the environment and public resources, including area beaches and the waterfront, which are at the core of local economic engines.

Storm Surge informs communities about certain exposures to risk and the need to start developing and executing strategies to address those vulnerabilities now. The nonprofit is making that information available through its programs and its involvement in local resiliency planning and sustainability efforts.

Storm Surge is also a member of ACES — the Alliance of Climate and Environmental Stewards, which serves to organize, support and coordinate efforts of local environmental organizations.

Mike Morris is the chairperson and one of the founding members of Storm Surge. For more information, go to https://storm-surge.org/ or join the group’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/StormSurgeMerrimack.

The Gulf of Maine Institute (GOMI) accepts the above statement from Antonio Guterres, secretary general of the United Nations, and believes it is based on sound science. Here in Newburyport, a GOMI team has been operating for 16 years, quietly employing our unique community-based stewardship model to engage youths and their adult mentors in the preservation of the Gulf of Maine Watershed.

Guided by ongoing formative evaluation and years of experience with our constituents around the Gulf of Maine (extending from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia), we have produced some remarkable results. What follows is a brief history and a vision into the future of our community-based stewardship model journey.

Act locally but think bioregionally

GOMI began as a collection of youth teams and their mentors recruited throughout the watershed and funded by a Canadian Millennium Grant in 2000. Based on the mantra “Act locally but think bioregionally,” the original design of GOMI was simple: Work locally in teams on place-based environmental projects throughout the school year; then, bring teams together in the summer for a weeklong residential conference to share their work and to connect to the bioregion. The GOMI team leadership approach, with its academic component and summer workshop, continued successfully until 2015.

While the summer workshop was a peak experience, producing life-changing results for many participants, our resources could not support more than 60 youths a year. Before transitioning to a new phase likely to attract more significant funding, we built two intentional strategies into the design: Incorporating and emphasizing formative evaluation and formation of educational partnerships with local and national agencies, such as the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge and the Plum Island Long-Term Environmental Research study, funded by the National Science Foundation and managed by the Marine Biological Lab at Woods Hole. Throughout this time, we established strong partnerships with Nock Middle School and Newburyport High School.

By 2015, the realities of climate change demanded a change in our approach. The GOMI board resolved to shift the annual summer workshop emphasis from an all-volunteer, youth-centered model to one of professional development for educators. A three-year NOAA award provided impetus for our teacher development model, “Learning to Steward the Gulf,” which significantly expanded our capacity to reach more students. Our 24 teachers ranged from elementary school to community college levels.

Teacher input informed design and content, and by Year 2, teachers were co-leading sessions, which emphasized field studies and civic engagement. This shift placed the emphasis on teaching processes and skills, anchored by the school and community support needed to enhance positive effects on student learning.

Community-based stewardship cannot be successfully implemented without in-school administrative support nor can it be fully realized without the support of out-of-school partners, such as the wildlife refuge and the scientists at the Plum Island Long-Term Environmental Research program. It is this collaboration that enhances the richness of the experience.

Collaboration that enhances the richness of the experience

Students have found that by practicing face-to-face conversations with others, they can tell their stories and share their environmental concerns across generations and disciplines. These conversations started as climate cafes but have broadened to stewardship roles in the Great Marsh, controlling invasive species, discovering creature movement with trail cams, and investigating endangered species threatened by rising waters.

We encourage you to attend one such community café and share our world of experiential fieldwork by joining us to discuss the natural systems that govern our planet.

John Halloran is the science director for the Gulf of Maine Institute, overseeing the science curriculum and the development of all projects and training. More information is available at www.gulfofmaineinstitute.org/.

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