CHARLES  RIVER  PARKLANDS  UPDATE
August 2003
Archives—Table of Contents

Advocacy

Graffiti News
For years rowers have been tagging the bridges along the Charles River Basin with colorful graffiti. A recent Boston Globe article highlighted the efforts of CRC benefactor Robert Canterbury to draw attention to this problem. The Conservancy is working with Mr. Canterbury and others to find ways of reducing the graffiti and replacing it with a more fitting and complementary tribute to the Charles River's rowing tradition. Visit Robert Canterbury's graffiti web site at www.rbcant.us/graffiti.

Conservancy Volunteers

This fall is full of opportunities for you to get out on the parklands and make a difference while enjoying the crisp autumn air and fall foliage! Upcoming events include brush and invasive species removal. For a list of dates and ways to get involved, click here.

Program Spotlights

CRC-Summerbridge Service Learning Project
This summer, the Charles River Conservancy partnered with Summerbridge Cambridge to create an innovative and exciting service-learning project for a select group of Cambridge teenagers. Eighth and ninth graders enrolled in the Summerbridge "River Activism" class this summer spent a great deal of time on the Charles River Parklands performing educational and service projects. Students learned about river and parkland ecology while completing important stewardship projects along parklands such as trash clean ups and invasive plant removal. To learn more about this program, click here.

Skatepark
Over seventy skatepark advocates gathered at the Boston Public Library on July 30 to discuss skatepark safety and maintenance issues. The meeting was moderated by Fox 25's Butch Stearns and was featured on Fox's 10 o'clock news. For more information on the meeting, skatepark safety and maintenance and how you can join the advocacy effort, click here. The next skatepark public meeting will be on September 23rd.

Inventing the Charles River
Lecture audio and video recordings now available! View Karl Haglund's popular talk on the history of the Charles River. Audio and video of Karl's May 20th lecture at the Boston Athenaeum is now available for free download through the WGBH Forum Network. The recording includes a presentation by Renata von Tscharner on the current activities of the Charles River Conservancy.

Calendar

From participating in a Conservancy volunteer event, to tangoing under a full moon on the Weeks Bridge, to kayaking down the river, there are plenty of ways to enjoy the coming of fall on the Charles. For a list of upcoming events, visit the CRC Calendar.

Picture of the Month

Fox25 sports reporter Butch Stearns speaks at one of two proposed sites for a New Basin Skatepark in the vicinity of the Zakim-Bunker Hill Bridge.

If you have a picture you'd like to submit for a future picture of the month, please contact us at crc@thecharles.org.

To see previous pictures of the month, see the archives page.

CRC Membership

Thank you to all of you who have already sent in your membership dues! In case it has slipped your attention, please do it today. Your financial support is crucial to our work! You can join by check, credit card or on line. Our mailing address is:

[See new contact information.]

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The Charles River Conservancy takes as its mission the renewal and stewardship of the Charles River Parklands and their surroundings, particularly parks, parkways and bridges. The Conservancy engages in numerous Parklands restoration and improvement initiatives, including access and safety, education and outreach, and planning and maintenance programs, and relies heavily on individual contributions. To support the Charles River Conservancy, click here. Thank you!