BUCKLIN BROOK
BY DON DOUCETTE
One media rep suggested, “this is one of the most disgusting assignments I’ve had during the last six years.”
One volunteer retreated up wind upon feeling nauseous from the stench.
One portion of our modern society lament that we are disturbing a proper environment for spontaneous homeless camps to generate; another segment of society complains about the proliferation of the rat population.
The Friends of the Ten Mile and Bucklin Brook discovered several years ago that Bucklin Brook actually existed and that its tiny watershed mostly located in eastern Pawtucket had been conveniently swept under the rug for years and ignored and not officially delegated publicly as a legitimate Rhode Island (Massachusetts also) watershed.
The Bucklin Brook Watershed still functions as such, but has been relegated to concrete conduits and culverts for years – debris from Pawtucket’s city streets washes directly to Narragansett Bay without a natural filtering system – result, rapid storm water runoff, flash flooding, stinks-smells and a mucky delta in the Pawtucket River portion of the overall Seekonk River where seagulls often feast on accumulated wastes.
Only several surface wetland manifestations remain of Bucklin Brook. One such feature is Greenhalgh Pond found off the Industrial Highway in Pawtucket located behind a large well-known supermarket and beside a well-known coffee shop franchise.
Friends of the Ten Mile and Bucklin Brook have studied the mega-trashed Geenhalgh Pond site for the past several years and this past Saturday began what is expected to be a series of volunteer cleanups to help address years of environmental abuse and neglect.
In an irony of situation, the polluted Greenhalgh Pond was once associated with the former Greenhalgh Mill which burned several decades ago. Contrastingly so, the Greenhalgh name is also linked with one of the most pristine open space properties within the nearby Ten Mile River Watershed known as the Caratunk Nature Preserve located along Cole Brook in Seekonk, Massachusetts.
The Friends of the Ten Mile and Bucklin Brook will press on to help protect our two watersheds of choice and urge ongoing support from willing volunteers with similar interests.
Don Doucette
“Ten Mile River Rambles”
Friends of the Ten Mile and Bucklin Brook
Citizens of the Narragansett Basin