Keystone Cooperator Profile
Upstream and Downstream, Making Connections for Future Generations
Springfield Water Supply Education.
Coverts Cooperator:
Rosemary Arnold
"Coverts brings people of diverse interests together for common cause."
Rosemary Arnold
Each day Rosemary Arnold drives 25 miles from the quiet wooded hills of Blandford, Massachusetts where she makes her home, to the crowded city streets of Springfield. Her daily route mirrors the path of the municipal water supply of Springfield. This water trickles and gushes its way from the Cobble Mountain reservoir in Blandford, down to the homes and businesses of the 250,000 people of the Springfield area. As chair of the Blandford Conservation Commission Rosemary helps safeguard the health of the forests of Blandford, which in turn protect the quality of the Springfield's water.
The communities of Springfield and Blandford share a common history and ongoing environmental legacy. Attending the Coverts workshop created an opportunity for Rosemary to share information about this interwoven relationship with young people from both communities. Her initiative helped create a pilot educational program that spread ripples of environmental awareness to the next generation.
Conklin Furniture in Springfield
Road to Blandford
Rosemary Arnold's life reflects her commitment to education and the environment. She has taught students from pre-school on up through the graduate level, and was supervisor of student teachers at Westfield State College. Rosemary is also Vice President of Conklin Office Furniture of Springfield. Due to her efforts, Conklin produces environmentally sustainable furniture through recycling and refurbishment. She has volunteered her time on the Blandford Conservation commission since 1983 and she became the chair of the commission in 1993, the same year she attended the Coverts Workshop.
The Coverts Workshop gave her valuable information about forest management, endangered species and wetlands protection that were useful for her duties in the Conservation Commission and also brought her into contact with other conservation volunteers and forest landowners. According to Rosemary, Coverts brings people of diverse talents and interests together for common cause. Her experience in Coverts brought her in to contact with Marsha Alibrandi, which made the Westfield Rivershed educational project become a reality.
Marsha Alibrandi, another Coverts Cooperator in 1993, was project director of the Connecticut River Watershed Council at that time. She was seeking to create a pilot educational program for the young people of Springfield. The focus of the program would be on the water supply of Springfield, where the water came from and what was needed to protect it. The fact that Rosemary Arnold lived in Blandford and had an educational background made her the perfect contact. Rosemary had even started an environmental program for 2nd and 3rd graders in Agawam. Following their time in the Coverts Workshop, the two women collaborated on the project. It took the form of a field trip for students from both Springfield and Blandford, a trip upstream and downstream. For people from both sides of the water supply to have a chance to see where the water came from, to understand more about how it was used and what was necessary to make it available.
Blandford horse farm.
Hayden Pond, part of the
Cobble Mountain Reservoir system.
Open land in Blandford.
Beaver Dam at Hayden Pond.
In May of 1994, two fifth grade classes from Springfield's Glenwood School traveled those same 25 miles that Rosemary crosses each day. They ascended over 1000 feet in elevation, to meet with the fourth grade class from Blandford Elementary. Together the students explored the flow of Springfield's water from source to final destination. Their trip began at Maple Corner Farm, a local farm and maple sugar operation in Blandford that overlooks the reservoir. Over a tasty treat of maple sugar ice cream, the students were told how important the viability of farms is to the health of the reservoir. Various agricultural uses of the land are compatible with water quality preservation, and keeping much of the town as open space and agricultural land limits development of the land around the reservoir. The 48 ½ square miles of the Cobble Mountain reservoir must have zero population density per square mile in order to provide water to the 125 square miles with 1,000 population density of the Springfield area. The small population of the town of Blandford is a necessary balance to create the conditions necessary for the large population of Springfield to get the water it needs.
Fifty-five percent of Blandford is watershed land: Springfield, Blandford and Russell's water supplies all are held within this town of less than a 1,000 people. The Cobble Mountain Reservoir was created in 1931, at which time people were asked to leave their homes and part of the town was vacated. The city would have been much larger than it is now if not for the decision to hold Springfield's water there. And this commitment to preservation of water quality continues to have effect on the town--maintaining open space is critical to protecting the water quality of the reservoirs.
The students stopped at a beaver dam, to show the connection between the reservoir and wildlife that also live in the protected lands. Beavers themselves have inspired the creation of such dams. Next, the students visited the West Parish Filter plant, which cleans the water and prepares it for use in Springfield. The following day, the students once again piled in to buses, but this time their destination was the city of Springfield. They met at Glenwood School and traveled on to the Springfield Waste Water Treatment Facility where the utilized water is treated and cleaned before being returned to the Connecticut River. The students also visited Bondi's Island, where trash and refuse are processed and used as fuel for electrical turbines that power the Springfield Resource Recovery Plant. Through this field trip, children from both Springfield and Blandford learned where their water comes from, where it goes, and how it is protected and purified, while getting to meet young people from the other community. The students were given a chance to acknowledge the connections between their two communities and perhaps create some new ones.
In the years since this field trip took place, Rosemary has continued to chair the Blandford Conservation Commission, and to put her efforts into conservation. She participated in the creation of the Blandford Open Space plan as well as the town's Community Development plan. And her involvement in the Valley Land Fund and the Winding River Land Conservancy allows her to support statewide conservation initiatives. Recently, programs reminiscent of the field trip Rosemary pioneered with Marsha Alibrandi have been created. The city of Springfield has begun a water education program in partnership with United Water, which oversees the reservoirs and city water supply. Students from all over the city are brought to a classroom at Bondi's Island where they learn about water, recycling and environmental impacts. Last year a pilot summer camp program was created that brought Springfield students once more to land around the Cobble Mountain Reservoir, continuing to make connections for the next generation.
