Smoke on the water
Tim Abbott
January, 08, 2009
I drove along the Housatonic in the piercing cold of the New Year. The steam rising from the river glazed the trees on either bank in glistening sheaths of ice. They call this phenomenon “sea smoke” in the Gulf of Maine, and it arises when water that is cold enough to kill an unprotected swimmer is still warm by comparison to the arctic January air.
The cold streams and rivers of the Berkshires and Litchfield Hills can look like the Valley of 10,000 Smokes. At such times they reveal their kinship both to the urban vapors that rise from sidewalk grates when it’s Christmastime in the city, and to the midsummer wisps that settle in cool fens and seepage wetlands.
The Housatonic certainly seemed to be smoking as I drove past the paper mills on my way north. Not so many years ago, you could tell what color paper they were making by the stain of the water below the discharge from the mill. Massachusetts has some of the most progressive wetlands and river protection laws in the Northeast, but for most of our history we have treated the waters as sewers for the excretions of industry and as convenient dumping grounds for the effluvia of human enterprise.
The Housatonic rises in several branches above Pittsfield, Mass., and by the time it passes through this small city of less than 50,000 souls it has become so contaminated that the rest of the river through Berkshire and Litchfield counties and down to Long Island Sound is unfit for drinking, swimming or fish consumption. The Housatonic Watershed has the dubious distinction of being home to the most PCB-laden duck ever sampled in America, with grim implications for consumers of migratory waterfowl all along the Atlantic flyway. Though citizen activism and the EPA may yet turn the tide in its favor, the river is not likely to return to fit condition in my lifetime.
For all the insults it has endured, the Housatonic has a rich heritage; in fact, the Upper Housatonic Valley is now federally recognized as a National Heritage Area. The first naval vessel sunk by a submarine was the sloop of war “USS Housatonic,” rammed with a torpedo-tipped spar by the “CSS Hunley” during the Civil War. Crane Paper on the East Branch of the Housatonic in Dalton is the sole purveyor of currency-grade paper to the United States Department of the Treasury, making Sacagawea dollars even scarcer in Berkshire County than elsewhere in the nation. The oxbows of the Housatonic in Sheffield and Salisbury support remnants of a major river floodplain forest, a natural community that has been virtually eliminated from the rest of its historic range.
The Great Falls of the Housatonic in Falls Village is a regional treasure and historically it represented the limit of upstream migration for eels and anadromous fish. Since the power generators went to run of river rather than pond and release along the Connecticut stretch of the Housatonic, a more natural flow offers hope for better survival of cool season species in summer and a more diverse aquatic environment.
Reclaiming the river might seem a mad dream, but if so there are an increasing number of lunatics in the Berkshire and Litchfield Hills who are willing to take on the challenge. The Great Barrington River Walk, and canoe trips lead by groups like my employer the Housatonic Valley Association, have reintroduced many residents to the forgotten beauty of the river without having to resort to trespass. There are numerous watershed and river advocacy groups all along the Housatonic who together have held polluters’ feet to the fire and demanded accountability. For some it has become their life’s work. For others it has forged a regional connection that extends from Pittsfield far down the river in Connecticut.
There is so much still to do, but more and more of us love that dirty water. We hope to be able to say of the Housatonic what Pete Seeger sings of the Hudson, another river with PCBs: “the river may be dirty now, but she’s getting cleaner every day.”
Tim Abbott is program director of Housatonic Valley Association’s Litchfield Hills Greenprint. His blog is at greensleeves.typepad.com. He and Fred Baumgarten write Nature’s Notebook on alternating weeks.
© Copyright 2009 by TCExtra.com
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