The Park River watershed is full of ever changing stream of environmental adventures, scientific research, art, myths, events and learning activities. Whether a Park or a Hog River, management of natural resources is increasingly dependent upon the civic culture that approves planning policies, which conserve, revitalize or negatively neglect the value of local natural resources. Here is an incomplete list of other local projects –
Writing the Land – A partnership between the environmental and creative communities. With support from partner environmental organizations, Writing the Land coordinates poets to adopt landscapes for a year. Poets visit sites to create poems inspired by the land, with an anthology published within a year. NatureCulture coordinates an annual Authors and Artists Festival as well as poetry readings, book launches and other events at the intersection of the environmental and creative communities.
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The Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge – Located within parts of four New England states: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge is the only refuge of its kind to encompass an entire watershed. The Park River regional watershed is within the Conte Refuge watershed, which is the Connecticut River Watershed.
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Real Hartford – multi-platform social media about the Hartford environs developed by Kerri Ana Provost, RealHartford.org includes a variety of observations about urban rivers and nature in the city. See her recent “Camp Real Hartford: Water, Water”
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Connecticut Herpetology – A photographic atlas for the identification of Connecticut’s amphibians and reptiles developed by Dennis P. Quinn. Dennis is a helpful consultant.
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City as Living Laboratory — in 2011, Park Watershed partnered with artist Mary Miss to evolve an inclusive initiative, “City as Living Laboratory” which involved an orchestrated walk along the North Branch Park River at the University of Hartford campus, and exhibit at the Joseloff Gallery. CaLL City as Living Lab, “Sustainability Made Tangible through Arts,” has continued to grow, in collaboration with a wide range of supportive cultural contexts.
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From Source to Sea – A 1956 Connecticut River journey from the Canadian border to Long Island Sound increased public awareness of its degraded conditions. Dr. Joseph Davidson and his wife donned gas masks at various locations, met Governors and local officials along the way, and compared a bottle of water from the source to water along the way. This Connecticut River Watershed Council (now Connecticut River Conservancy) archival footage helped raise public awareness, and thus improved water quality.
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Estuary magazine – “. . . a publication that takes in the entire Connecticut River Watershed: source to sea, tributary to main stem—11,260 square miles; home to 2.4 million people in four states: Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The Connecticut River provides 70% of the fresh water that flows into Long Island Sound and thus the sound where it meets the river, i.e., the estuary, is how we got our name.”
Connecticut Explored – formerly the Hog River Journal
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others once upon a time, . . .
Nomad/9 – An interdisciplinary Masters of Fine Art degree program of the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford, “dedicated to regenerative culture and radical creativity” through systems thinking.
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Save Our Water CT – A citizen action group that formed in opposition to development of a private bottled water facility, by the Niagara Water Bottling Company of California, in Bloomfield. Niagara is seeking discounts on large volume usage of our public water supply. Save Our Water is actively raising awareness about the privatization of public water supplies by hosting educational programs and protests.
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Hartford River Dreams
“NO ONE WANTS TO BE THE RIVER” – a short microfilm (less than a minute)
will be shown along with two other short films on Friday, Nov. 1, at 7:30 p.m. at The Carriage House Theatre, 360 Farmington Ave. in Hartford. A summary of the project, by Susan Dunne, Oct 23, 2013: The Hartford Courant
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Sonia Plumb Dance Company
“Water Wars” – for a beautifully aware performance
Sonia Plumb Dance Company performed “Water Wars” Sep 21-22, 2012 at The Carol Autorino Center at University of St. Joseph – A panel discussion regarding state and local water quality issues followed the dance performance on Saturday evening.
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“Songs Along the Way: Music, Songs and Images from Migratory Bird Species of the Park River Watershed” – A Micro-Exhibit
Connecticut Historical Society
One Elizabeth Street, Hartford, CT
Songs Along the Way is the second installation in the “micro-gallery” at the CHS, created by students in the New Media Collaborative at the University of Hartford, under the direction of Ken Steen, Professor of Composition and Theory at the Hartt School of Music. This “crowd-sourced” sound and image installation features music and sound composed from birdsongs and other sounds and noises collected from the Park River Watershed along with video, photographic images, migration maps, and text. The opening reception will feature live “bird music” in a variety of genres performed at 5:30 by students from the Hartt School of Music. Works by Robert Carl, Claude Debussy, Olivier Messiaen, and Joe Zawinul are planned.
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for updates on the wide range of issues and activities happening throughout the watershed
just for the record, this all began with
Seymour watching the North Park flow by