Announcing the Winners of our 2024 Tide Calendar

 

Thank you to all the photographers who entered TRWA’s 2024 Tide Calendar Contest! 

With so many extraordinary entries, the judging was quite difficult.

We are pleased to share the following winners:

Cover:

“Pollinators – Zabulon Skipper,” Sweets Knoll State Park, Dighton, MA – David Ennis

January:

“Finding Water,” Norton, MA – Alison Kidder

February:

“Carver’s Pond in Winter,” Bridgewater, MA – Mike McLaughlin

March:

“Great Blue Heron Handoff,” Lakeville, MA – Mohamad Ojjeh

April:

“Sandhill Crane,” Burrage Pond Wildlife Management Area, Halifax/Hanson, MA – Bart Devine

May:
“Banding Six Week Old Bald Eagles,” Dighton, MA – David Ennis

June:

“Turtle Yoga,” Burrage Pond Wildlife Management Area, Halifax/Hanson, MA – Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett

July:

“Battleship Cove,” Fall River, MA – William Gibson

August:

“Teach Children to Inhale the World’s Beauty,” Fall River, MA – Kat Tasca

September:

“Autumn Beauty,” Lakeville, MA – Jonathan Huggon

October:

“Harbor Seal,” Berkley, MA – Jenn & Elyse Shallow

November:

“Looking for the Ladies,” Lakeville, MA – Mohamad Ojjeh

December:

“Male Cardinal in Tree,” Berkley, MA – Barbara Tomawski

 

 

Reserve your calendar today by emailing director@savethetaunton.org.

Starting November 1st, calendars will be available for $20 at TRWA’s Watershed Center at Sweets Knoll State Park.  Please call ahead at 508-828-1101 for times when the Center will be open.  A limited number of calendars will be available for a discounted price of $15 at the TRWA’s Annual Meeting on November 4th at Bristol County Agricultural High School from 4PM-7PM.

Calendars are always available print-on-demand. The TRWA is excited to use all the options of this new technology. The print-on-demand calendars can be printed from any month of the year with the tide data from the Taunton River or any other of the 3,500 NOAA tide stations. Or, if you like to write appointments onto your calendar, you can order a calendar printed without the tide data. People purchasing the calendar can even customize their calendar with their own photographs. Half the proceeds from the online $19.95 purchase price goes directly to the TRWA to support its ongoing mission protecting and restoring the Taunton River watershed, its tributaries, wetlands, floodplains, river corridors and wildlife.

To order our TIDE calendar, follow this link: http://www.calendarlink.org/trwa/home.html.

For a step by step guide on navigating the customizations of the order form, click on this link.  how_to_order_online_flier

Since 1988 TRWA has been a voice for the river as an advocate for environmental protection, sustainable development and responsible stewardship of our precious natural resources.  

Your purchase of our calendar helps to support our work.  Thank you!

                          

Communications Internship

 

Exciting opportunity for a college student.

Are you a budding social media manager or event planner? Do you want to use these skills to help an
organization communicate and plan effectively with its audience and partners? Then apply today!

We are seeking an energetic student (undergraduate or graduate) to assist with our 2024 educational programs and other events from 1/15/2024 – 6/30/2024.  Flexible hours. Partially remote work with some event attendance required.

For details visit https://savethetaunton.org/communications-internship-opportunity-1-15-24-6-30-24/

Successful Taunton River Festival

  

Thank you everyone for helping to make our festival a great success! We couldn’t have done it without the tremendous support of our volunteers, sponsors, vendors and fellow non-profit organizations who joined us for a fun-filled day. Complete list of photos can be found here.

New Calendar Photo Contest

WE NEED YOUR PHOTOS!

We’re Back!

Announcing the TRWA’s 12th Annual Photography Contest

13 winners will have their photographs featured in the TRWA’s 2024 Annual Tide Calendar. Contest is open to all ages- professional and amateur alike! Photos must be taken within the last five years and taken within the Taunton River Watershed.

Photos must be submitted by September 1, 2023. Winners will be notified in October. 

For questions, email TRWACalendarContest@savethetaunton.org

 

First Herring Spotted!

The first herring have been spotted by the Middleborough-Lakeville Herring Fishery Commission. The first herring to arrive are known as scouts. The rest won’t be far behind! The peak is unpredictable. Late March through mid-April is a good time to check. To learn more about herring, click here.

Also, mark your calendars for an informative TRWA program at the Middleboro Herring Run at 47 Wareham Street on Tuesday, April 18th at 10:00 am. Herring commissioners will lead a talk about the fish, its migration, its place in the food chain and more.  Great school vacation week activity where kids can participate in a live herring count! 

The Middleboro Herring Run is also known as the Thomas Memorial Park and the Wareham Street Fish Ladder. This small park on the Nemasket River is a perfect spot for viewing the annual alewife herring run, the largest in Massachusetts with more than half a million river herring migrating upriver each spring. Stop by in mid-to late March and early April to see thousands of herring make their way upstream toward their spawning grounds at Assawompsett Pond.

               

 

 

World Wetlands Day – Feb 2nd

Move over Phil,  February 2nd is World Wetlands Day!

Once treated as dumping grounds, wetlands today are recognized for the critical role they serve in our environment. Did you know that 7000 plant species live in U.S. wetlands or that between 60% to 90% of U.S. commercial fisheries depend on wetlands? Also, they help to curb destruction caused by major storms in coastal areas by reducing erosion, flooding and property damage. This year’s themeIt’s Time for Wetlands Restoration”,  highlights the urgent need to prioritize wetland restoration. To learn more about the importance of wetlands, visit https://www.nps.gov/subjects/wetlands/why.htm.

 

Volunteers Bob & Barbara Hunt, Retire After Years of Service

 
Thank you to Bob and Barbara Hunt for their years of water quality testing. They are long-time valued volunteers for TRWA’s Water Quality Monitoring Program and are retiring from testing as of this spring.
 
Steve Silva, program coordinator, says, “the Hunts were dedicated and reliable water quality monitoring volunteers long before I started with the program. Thanks to them, we have a long and complete data set on water quality conditions in the lower Taunton River main stem and the lower Three Mile River, both crucial areas. This data has been important to our efforts to lobby for treatment plant and stormwater management upgrades to improve water quality in the Taunton River.”
 
 
 

 
Bob is shown here at one of the 3 sites he and his wife Barbara sampled monthly from April -October for many years. The Hunts sampled at the Berkley Bridge (TNT-01), Plain St. (TNT-02, near Riverfront Park at the Weirs), and Three Mile River 01 (TMR-01,  the most downstream and tidal site on the Three Mile River).  The locations they sampled provided important data to access the lower Taunton River and upper Mount Hope Bay Estuary.
 
To understand the importance of their work, go to:
 
 

If you are interested in becoming a water testing volunteer, go here: https://savethetaunton.org/get…/volunteer-opportunities/

New volunteers attend a training seminar before the testing season begins and, as often as possible, are paired with experienced teams when they begin. The Hunts and our volunteers are at the forefront of learning about the conditions of our Watershed’s water quality.
 

Board of Directors Welcome Brad Gonyer

 
 
 
TRWA welcomes Brad Gonyer as the newest member of our Board of Directors.
 
A seasoned TRWA volunteer, Brad has been a water sampler in the Water Quality Monitoring program for the past twelve years. He has also volunteered at various events, and will be joining the garden committee when it resumes work this spring.
 
His belief in the increasing need for environmental stewardship matches TRWA’s mission to protect and restore the Watershed’s natural resources for current and future generations, as well as building and supporting responsible stewardship of our fragile ecosystems, water quality, forests, farmland and wetlands.
 
About himself he says, “I was born and raised in Massachusetts and have lived in Taunton since 1989. I am a retired Museum Preparator whose career encompassed exhibit installation and organization, collections care and management as well as installation and maintenance of outdoor sculpture. I consider environmental remediation to be among the most significant challenges we are facing. True quality in our lives has always been dependent upon the healthy natural world. Humanity has become so powerfully disruptive that it is necessary for us to assume a greater stewardship role than we have been accustomed to. This is why I became involved with the TRWA and  look forward to spring planting.”
 
Thank you for joining us!