Last year's Leadership Blackstone Valley class

Leadership Blackstone Valley Completes Another Successful Year
LBV is currently accepting applications for the 2006/2007 Class. Please take this opportunity to connect someone to this great resource. Graduates report professional, community and personal success as a result of their experience in the class.  Please join us for the kick off session on Thursday, October 19. Breakfast starts at 8:00 am at the Father Tucci Manor in Whitinsville. 

The LBV Alumni Association sponsored an event at the Woonsocket Neighborhood Development Corporation’s new mixed use development on Front Street in Woonsocket on Thursday, September 7. Alumni and other invited guests toured the facility and reconnected to their LBV classmates. 

LBV continues to be a hub of information for the Blackstone Valley, handling approximately 10 information and referral contacts a day. For more information, please visit their website:
www.blackstonevalley.org/leadership/

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Executive Director Larry Gall and Ranger Suzanne Buchanan with "Twister".

Heritage Corridor Celebrates National Parks Day and VIPs at Tornadoes Game
On August 22, 2006 under clear blue skies and seasonal temperatures at Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field on the campus of the College of Holy Cross, Corridor Commissioners, staff, volunteers, partners, friends, family and nearly 4,000 baseball fans marked National Parks Day as the Worcester Tornadoes battled division rivals Sussex Skyhawks. The event, organized by the Corridor Commission in partnership with the Corridor Keepers, was meant not only to celebrate National Parks Day, but also the Heritage Corridor and the contributions of our hard-working and dedicated Volunteers in Parks (VIPs). 

The evening kicked off with a pre-game picnic of hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken and other favorites. Just before game time, Executive Director Larry Gall led uniformed staff, commissioners, and VIPs out onto the field as he threw out the celebratory first pitch and followed up with a stirring rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. This was certainly a record-breaking performance at a Worcester Tornadoes Game and can certainly be considered a rare occurrence nationally. Staff, VIPs and partners also greeted arriving Tornadoes fans by passing out Junior Ranger badges and Junior Ranger Gazettes, National Park Posters, Blackstone Valley. information, as well as showcasing the soon to be completed Worcester Projects Poster. The Worcester Tornadoes beat the Sussex Skyhawks 10-5, proving to be an all around great night for promoting the National Park Service’s presence in the Blackstone Valley!

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Worcester Projects Poster Design Underway
The Corridor Commission in partnership with the Worcester Historical Museum and numerous other partners, including the City of Worcester, has been working for several months to develop a Worcester Projects Poster that helps to connect the more than $1.3B in investment planned or underway along the “Northern Gateway to the Blackstone Valley” (a geographic corridor in Worcester beginning at the terminus of the historic Blackstone Canal on the north side of the DCU Center in downtown, south along the new Route 146 to its intersection with Route 20). 

The publication, called Worcester Connections: Northern Gateway to the Blackstone River Valley, will help the public, business, investors and lawmakers connect and visualize the numerous exciting and dynamic projects that are transforming Worcester. Some of these projects include the Blackstone River bikeway, Worcester Common Bikeway Pavilion and Skating Oval, City Square project, Washington Square and Union Station development, Blackstone ‘canalway’, Blackstone Gateway Visitor Center and Park and Greenwood Street Park and trail connections to the Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuary. The Worcester Connections poster is being designed by Gates-Leighton and Associates of East Providence, RI and is anticipated to be completed in Fall 2006. For more information, contact Thomas Ross at (401) 762-0250 or e-mail us.

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Paddlers enjoy the scenic Blackstone River

Blackstone Valley Paddle Club Sets Course Under New Management
The Blackstone Valley Paddle Club finished a new season of paddling the waterways of the Blackstone River Valley.  For the first time the club operated as an independent organization.  For seven years programs were offered by the Heritage Corridor Park Rangers, with the assistance of a dedicated corps of Volunteer Team Leaders.  This year, the Team Leaders accepted the task of operating the Paddle Club on their own, with the financial assistance of the Heritage Corridor Commission. 

"2006 was a great season,” said Paddle Club co-chair Cheryl Thompson Cameron. “We had fun meeting new members and sharing our interests and experiences on the waterways of the Blackstone.  Discovering the many paddling locations the valley has to offer was a pleasant surprise for many of the paddle club members.  In addition, we tested water samples to help determine the quality of the water at the many sites we paddled, educating paddlers on the importance of working to restore our rivers.”

The Paddle Club was established in 1999 by the National Park Service as a way to highlight the recreational opportunities of the Blackstone River watershed.  “There were only a handful of people paddling the Blackstone back then,” said Ranger Kevin Klyberg, “and we wanted to let the public know that the river was safe for recreation.  We also had a hidden agenda.  We knew that once people got out on the river, they would realize what a wonderful resource it is, and help us in our goal to preserve and protect it.  That has probably been our greatest success in this project, as now some of our strongest river stewards and advocates are people who first experienced the Blackstone through the Paddle Club.”

To see more about this year's trips and for information about joining the club, please visit the Paddle Club website.

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