Revitalization of Lowell’s forgotten river
South campus, North campus and East campus all lie along the Merrimack River. The Inn and Conference Center also lies next to a river, however, it is not on the Merrimack. The Merrimack is widely known as an immensely powerful river, which powered the once great Lowell mills. Lowell’s second river has lived in the Merrimack’s shadow long enough and is tired of it.
But the Merrimack isn’t Massachusetts’s only important river. Students around campus were asked where they could find the Concord River. Many would ask if it was in Concord, NH or Concord, MA. The answer is Lowell, but very few knew that.
There is hope, however, that more people will begin to hear of the Concord River. There have been attempts to revitalize the river and the area surrounding it. A large component of the renewal process is a thirty-year dream that has already been in progress for ten years.
The Concord River Greenway is at this point only a few short years from completion. The north end of the greenway is roughly 99% complete and the south end is at 95% completion. The only work that is really left is the middle portion, which will connect the two ends.
After the Concord River Greenway is complete it will be a part of the Bay Circuit Trail, of which Lowell is one of the few missing links at the moment.
The Bay Circuit Trail in its entirety is about 200 miles in length and connects 50 different communities. The circuit roughly navigates Route 495.
At the moment a quote by Henry David Thoreau from 1873 adorns a portion of the north end of the greenway.
“There are earth, air, fire and water, - Very well, this is water, and down it comes. Falling all the way, and yet not discouraged by the lowest fall. By the low of its birth never to become stagnant, for it has come out of the clouds, and down the sides of precipices worn in the flood, through beaver-dams broke loose, not splitting but splicing and mending itself, until it found a breathing-place in this lowland. There is no danger now that the sun will steal it back to heaven again before it reached the sea, for it has a warrant even to recover its own dews into its bosom again with interest at every eve.”
Henry David Thoreau was one of the few that had known about the Concord. He had even canoed down the Concord as an effort to commune with nature, endeavoring to see the beauty of nature in every drop of water, every leaf and numerous animals.
The goal of the work on the greenway is to “improve the quality of life for the people of Lowell, through the creation, conservation and preservation of parks, open spaces and special places,” said Jane Calvin, executive director of Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust.
The Concord River Greenway is not the only part of Lowell experiencing the re-beautification process. The Lowell Canalwaters Cleaners regularly holds canal cleanups. Volunteers come to these cleanups and see first-hand what people are doing for the canals. Canal cleanups offer a new perspective on what pollution really means.
Ten large trash bags were filled with refuse from a mere 50 square foot area. What the volunteers expected to be a 10 minute job before moving onto another area was actually a two hour process. The other fact not yet mentioned about this area was that it had been cleaned a mere ten days before during another cleanup.
Protecting the environment is one of the city’s many goals, a goal embraced by the UMass Lowell (UML) community. Present at the cleanup were members of the UML community. Students and a professor stood alongside other volunteers cleaning the canal.
The UML’s Graduate School of Education’s Tsongas Industrial History Center has been working closely with the Lowell National Historical Park (LNHP) to turn the Concord River Greenway into an outdoor classroom for local schools. The LNHP has also worked closely with other UML faculty and students to create a documentary entitled, “The River Cycle, Concord in Lowell.”
The revitalization of the green-space in the city is opening up new spaces for students to go and spend some time outside. There is white-water rafting, great walking paths and biking trails. The University community has already been taking an interest in the Concord River and as time passes and the word spreads, students will find a peaceful place where they can relax after finals.
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