Fish don’t walk, but you can!

 

Join the folks from the Blackstone River Watershed Council and Friends of the Blackstone for a walk on May 3^rd, 2008 that will help benefit the Blackstone River.

The Blackstone River Valley Bike Path at the Visitor’s Center just off Route 295 in Lincoln, RI is the site for what is being billed as a” Wellness Walk-a-Thon” for individuals, groups and families. “This is a chance to get outside, enjoy the river and the spring-time scenery and help those who help the river.” So says Sandra Belliveau, coordinator of the event for the Blackstone River Watershed Council and Friends of the Blackstone.  

The event is sponsored by Blackstone Valley CorridorKeepers, a group dedicated to enhancing the capacity of the Blackstone Valley’s growing non-profit organizations that work to promote healthy communities, environmental revitalization, and historic preservation in an area known as the birthplace of America’s Industrial Revolution. 

The Wellness Walk-a-Thon is the first of what organizers hope to be an annual event.  

Senator Jack Reed is the Honorary Chairman of the Walkathon.  Whole Foods Market will be there along with AARP and other sponsors to help support the many organizations that help the Blackstone River. Proceeds from the event will be used for on-going projects, such as water quality monitoring along the Blackstone River and the creation of fish ladders along the Blackstone River that will bring fish back to the Blackstone River.  

Nearly 200 years ago before the river was damned for water wheels that powered the textile mills, the Blackstone River was breeding grounds for shad, herring, and even Atlantic salmon. These andromous fish hatch in freshwater, migrate to the ocean, and return to their native river to breed. 

“Walking for water can help make our dream of returning fish to the Blackstone River sooner,” says Belliveau.

 To register for the Wellness Walk-a-Thon and for more information contact the Blackstone River Watershed Council – Friends of the Blackstone at 333-4574, or email Sandra Belliveau at sandrabelliveau@blackstoneriver.org or you can check out the websites at www.blackstoneriver.org or www.corridorkeepers.org. 

The Blackstone River Watershed Council – Friends of the Blackstone is a non-profit all volunteer organization that helps improve water quality along the Blackstone. The Blackstone River Watershed extends all the way from Paxton to Boylston, towns in mid-state Massachusetts, to the southern portion of Narragansett Bay.

 

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