Attleboro Land Trust Shares Vision for Ten Mile River Conservation

The Attleboro Land Trust shared ambitious plans to preserve area land and the Ten Mile River, a water body that runs through East Providence, during a meeting at the  Wednesday night.

The trust's President Ted Leach reminded the audience of more than 100 people that individually people can not do much to offset the world’s burgeoning population of seven billion people, but that together people need to preserve and protect open spaces and wildlife habitats. 

Other goals for the coming year include extending public awareness of the trust, its properties and educational benefits especially among public school children, strengthening financial management, creating an endowment, hiring an executive director and increasing membership to 400. Recognizing the value of the Ten Mile River emphasizes the importance of the Land Trust’s plan calling for doubling the land under the Land Trust’s protection from it approximately 400 acres to 800 acres.

In his presentation, “The Ten Mile River Watershed: A Walk Through Time,” Doucette echoed the need to preserve not only open spaces but also our river shed areas. Rivershed areas which are important for many reasons including flood control, wildlife habitat and passive recreation.

Attleboro resident and history buff, Dan Doucette took the audience on a meandering trip down the Ten Mile River. Doucette explained that the Ten Mile River has been, “drastically strip mined for sand and gravel altering its original geography. The river has been greatly altered by industry [mills] which impounded water to create power and also polluted the river, highway construction, two railroad corridors, increased population and people filling in watershed areas for development.”

Doucette showed slides of historic mills and recreational activities along the river from its headwaters located at Savage Pond in Plainville all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. From Plainville this low volume river meanders 22 miles south through a series of ponds in North Attleboro, Attleboro, Seekonk, Pawtucket, East Providence where it joins the Seekonk River then the Providence River all the way to Narragansett Bay and finally out into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Bungay and Seven Mile Rivers are tributaries of the Ten Mile River.

Recognizing the value of the Ten Mile River emphasizes the importance of the Land Trust’s plan calling for doubling the land under the Land Trust’s protection from it approximately 400 acres to 800 acres.