The TRWA Bruce Spooner Education Center was named for Bruce Spooner, a longtime member, donor and volunteer.
The Center held its first program in February 2022.
The year included learning about native and pollinator gardening, mosquito control, the High Street Dam removal on the Town River in Bridgewater, advocacy actions for individuals, and catching macro-invertebrates to identify them. The Middleborough-Lakeville herring commissioners conducted a three-hour tour of the Wareham Street herring run and Assawompset Pond Complex, providing participation in a herring count. Also, guided walks were held in various locations throughout the watershed to connect the public to our natural resources. A presentation on accessing the environment for those with mobility concerns started an important conversation the Center hopes to expand on in future years.
The Center ended its first year with the completion of Phase 1 of the demonstration pollinator and native plant gardens at the entrance to the TRWA Watershed Center at Sweets Knoll State Park in Dighton, MA. Planting these gardens and maintaining could not have been possible without our incredible volunteers. To be added to the garden volunteer list email director@savethetaunton.org.
We are excited about 2024 programming! There will be the wildlife presentations, a dam restoration field trip, guided walks, a climate change panel discussion, and more! Children’s activities will be expanded. Watch the TRWA Facebook page and our website calendar for event details.
The Center, which is integral to the goals of TRWA, depends on volunteers, donors, program leaders, members and the support of the whole TRWA organization for success. The Center appreciates and thanks each and every one, without which the Center could not continue.
The programs are inspired by TRWA’s mission, part of which is to be an integral resource for environmental education that is so crucial to the continued health and enjoyment of the Watershed’s waterways, woodlands, meadows, marshes, wildlife and open spaces.
Bruce Spooner was born in 1939 and grew up enjoying all of them. He fished on the Assonet and Taunton Rivers in his wooden boat starting early in the morning, sometimes returning at almost dark. Without knowing it, he had become a student of the river, learning its tides, current, wildlife, and most of all the good, but always secret, fishing spots. He carried his love of rivers into adulthood and shared it with his two sons, who insisted that hitting at least one sandbar in the pursuit of fish was a requirement of each fishing trip. Helping people on the water who needed it was a requirement as well.
His TRWA summer of guiding his boat in search of terrapins for the population study was one of his favorites.
His family established the fund for this Center in Bruce’s memory on the advice of his son and son-in-law who said, “Give it to the one that meant the most to him”. The Center was officially created in 2021 by the unanimous vote of the TRWA Board of Directors.
Continuing donations come in from family, friends and associates. To thank these donors and all of the education center’s supporters, the Spooner family matched every individual donation received through 12/31/2023.
To donate: https://savethetaunton.org/donations/donate/
“Give it to the one that meant the most to him”