Blackstone River Kayak Journey Raises Awareness About River's Needs

WORCESTER, MA — In 1990, the Environmental Protection Agency called the Blackstone River "the most polluted river in the country with respect to toxic sediments."

Ten years later, more than 30 people took to the water in canoes and kayaks to paddle the entire length of the Blackstone from Worcester to Providence. They wanted to prove that the shallow, mucky river could be revitalized and turned from a health hazard to a public resource.

On Thursday morning, a group of kayakers returned to the Blackstone to commemorate that September 2000 trip. Over the next four days, the team will travel the length of the river, from the start in Worcester to the brackish end in Providence.

That first expedition in September 2000 set a high goal of having a swimmable, fishable Blackstone River by 2015. The river isn't quite there yet, but the expedition aims to show the Blackstone can be a "public commons," paddler and Rhode Island School of Design professor Emily Vogler said during a news conference Thursday.

The commemorative paddle is also part of an ongoing celebration of the 50th anniversary of the ZAP the Blackstone cleanup — where about 10,000 people lined the banks of the river in 1972 to remove trash, kick-starting a movement to revitalize the river.

Bruce Curliss, a member of the Nipmuc tribe, spoke before the paddle about a dream he had of seeing future generations swimming and fishing in the river, just like how it was used when only native people inhabited the region. He said the river likely won't return to a pristine state, so the focus should be on making it useable in the future.

"We need to think about how beneficial it can be, not how beautiful it was," he said.

Pollution or not, the Blackstone has long been tough to navigate.

The river begins in Worcester off McKeon Road behind the Blackstone Heritage Corridor Visitor Center. This summer's drought has lowered the river so much you can see the remnants of large paving stones placed in 19th century during construction of the Blackstone Canal. It stays shallow for miles, and in some places resembles a gentle stream rather than a river draining hundreds of square miles.

To actually get in the water, the four kayakers taking part in this week's expedition had to drive about 1-1/2 miles south of the visitor center to a parking lot near the Millbury line. From there, they wheeled their kayaks down a bike path to a Route 146 overpass that has river access.

One big thing missing from the river, especially in Massachusetts: public access points.

Under the shade of the overpass, the kayakers — including Frank Cortesa, president of the Rhode Island Canoe and Kayak Association, and Blackstone Watershed Collaborative Program Manager Stefanie Covino — launched their boats into ankle-deep water. Cortesa and Vogler said the crew would be doing a fair amount of walking during the paddle to detour around shallow water, dams, downed trees and any other obstacles that might pop up. If not for the obstacles, the distance between Worcester and Providence could be covered in a kayak in a day, Cortesa said.

From Worcester, the team will stop for the night in Grafton, then River Bend Farm in Uxbridge, then Woonsocket. They will end the trip on Sunday in Narragansett Bay at the namesake brewery.

The paddlers will stop at a series of events planned over the next few days along the way to talk about how far the Blackstone has come from its "most-polluted" past — and what it could be like in the future.