OAR sets out to label tributaries along Assabet River
By Angela Greiner Contributing Writer

OAR Office Manager Debbie Crooke shows off a newly installed sign. PHOTO/SUBMITTED

Region - This winter, as part of the group's mission to protect and preserve the river's watershed, the Organization for the Assabet River (OAR) has begun a new sign project. The project, which began Dec. 11, 2007, with the placement of the first sign, is part of an eff ort to install stream identification signs labeling the tributaries along the watershed.

OAR, a nonprofit organization, began the project after receiving a grant from the Environmental Trust. OAR Staff Scientist Sue Flint explained that the Environmental Trust disperses grant money to environmental conservation organizations from the fees they receive from conservation related license plate sales.

The first 40 signs have already been placed along the roadside, Flint said, but the project is temporarily on hold because of the weather, with plans to resume as soon as conditions permit.

OAR is still in conversation with some towns and cities, including Marlborough, about the placement of the signs but as of now there are 25 different tributary sites marked for labeling before the summer.

"Some of the streams are pretty small and most people do not even realize where they are," Flint said.

The selected tributaries are small streams that run into the Assabet River.

"They are an important part of the watershed," Flint said. "It is the tributary streams that provide the summertime flow of cooler, cleaner water to the river."

The signs, which will be posted in communities including Hudson, Northborough and Westborough, will label tributaries like Danforth Brook, Fort Meadow Brook and Elisabeth Brook.

Flint said that although "the winter months are often spent planning for the summer months," the river, which runs for 31 miles through local communities, is a great place to participate in a variety of winter activities including snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and hiking.

To celebrate winter along the river, OAR is hosting a winter tracking expedition. The event will be led by Lydia Rogers, an expert tracker from "Keeping Tracks," and is scheduled for Sunday Feb. 10. Anyone in the community is invited to attend.

Flint encouraged people to join the trek and said that sightings of mink, fisher, birds, coyotes and deer were possible.

"Winter tracking is fun," Flint said. "Going out looking for footprints is so interesting in a snow base because you get to see so many more tracks then you getting to see in the summer."

For more information about OAR and the upcoming tracking event, visit the website at www.assabetriver. org.