The Housatonic is a 150 mile long river in Massachusettes that eventually flows into CT and out to the sea. It has suffered an even more than many industrial rivers suffer, with PCB’s and Mercury leading the charge. In parts has been restored, with flyfishing and outfitters that will rent you a boat, in other parts it is deeply scarred. And that’s what Denny Alsop wants to draw attention to.
It was nearly 30 years ago that Denny first made this journey to demonstrate the need for clean waterways. Companies like GE that were pouring waste into the water have mostly been regulated into submission now. But the entirety of the work remains undone, so he decided to repeat the paddle.
Actually looking at that long pole and the short canoe it’s more of a punt than a paddle. But I’m sure the water is too shallow in places. He’s stopping to meet with student field trips along the way and headed towards meeting at the capital in Boston. The river has new obstacles since he visited it last. But he’s using those to his advantage too.
Environmentalist, canoeist Denny Alsop makes a local stop
For the past week, he has been paddling along the lower Housatonic, the area dubbed “Rest of River” in a cleanup plan south of Pittsfield that has been mandated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA is requiring industrial giant General Electric to rid the river of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a man-made compound believed to cause cancer in humans and wildlife.
General Electric used PCBs in parts of its machinery for decades until the substance was banned in 1979. The company disposed of the substance into the Housatonic. The EPA has ordered GE to undertake a $613 million cl
eanup of the river by dredging portions of the riverbed and shoreline. GE is presently fighting this action on various legal, logistical and technical grounds
Alsop had an enjoyable, if exhausting, day at Muddy Brook Elementary School in Great Barrington on Friday, where he spoke to students there about conservation.
“That was fun,” he said. But when he began paddling again, Alsop discovered there had been some changes in the course of the river since he had been there last.
“The river had changed a little since the last time I’d been there,” he said. “The beavers had built a dam, and rerouted the river, and I ended up dragging my canoe across the grass to another part of the river. I’m still sort of recovering from that.”
Alsop’s journey takes him, he said, to vistas the experts don’t always see.”
One thing he’s seen is proof that one of the potential solutions forwarded by General Electric is unlikely to work. GE has advocated for a shallow dredging and capping on that stretch of the Housatonic.
But Alsop said he saw evidence of intense beaver activity along the lower Housatonic shoreline. Beavers, he noted, dig several feet into the riverbed and riverside and bring up silt and sludge to crea
te their dams.
“You can see the beavers have excavated several feet into the silt,” Alsop said.
Alsop said he believes that GE’s scientists are aware of what he calls “the beaver problem.’
So GE dumped chemicals in the river and is now proposing they will repair it by dredging the top 3-5 inches of contaminated soil. Denny noticed that there are some residents on the river that dig deeper than that. And I’m sure you can guess who I’m referring to. Maybe GE will helpfully say, that’s okay we can just kill them but I’m hoping Denny has other ideas.
I hope Denny makes a point of objecting, and explains how beaver work can help clean their damaged river – even if the ungrateful beavers do make him portage now and then. Beavers do assist river restoration, but after decades of pollution no one is usually eager for the help. Because beaver digging exposes evidence of their damage they would prefer remained buried forever.
