My Paradise, but … what for the River?
Map
Map
Story & Experience
As I was meditating on how wonderful this spot is for me—how much I get out of being there—and sending appreciation to River for all she offers, I realized my enjoyment of this oh so beautiful spot is “made possible by” the fact that there are dams upstream and downstream from where I swim. Those dams create reservoirs, or slack water, for powering the turbines at two small hydro plants. They also control River’s flow and depth, which varies greatly depending on the decisions humans make for the needs of … well, humans. How much water for power? How much water for recreational sports such as tubing and fishing? There are no fish ladders at either dam, so the aquatic life in this stretch of the river is also controlled, or limited, by decisions made by humans. Such a range of emotions! Joy for the beauty of the light upon the water; gratitude for the refreshment of sinking, or floating in the water; sadness for the sacrifice River is forced to make by the humans who control her fate.
As I was meditating on how wonderful this spot is for me—how much I get out of being there—and sending appreciation to River for all she offers, I realized my enjoyment of this oh so beautiful spot is “made possible by” the fact that there are dams upstream and downstream from where I swim. Those dams create reservoirs, or slack water, for powering the turbines at two small hydro plants. They also control River’s flow and depth, which varies greatly depending on the decisions humans make for the needs of … well, humans. How much water for power? How much water for recreational sports such as tubing and fishing? There are no fish ladders at either dam, so the aquatic life in this stretch of the river is also controlled, or limited, by decisions made by humans. Such a range of emotions! Joy for the beauty of the light upon the water; gratitude for the refreshment of sinking, or floating in the water; sadness for the sacrifice River is forced to make by the humans who control her fate.
Why this Place?
Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts
This is a close-by place, and also an aha moment for me. One the things I like most in the world is to live by, walk next to, gaze at, and swim in natural bodies of water. I now live just a few minutes walk from the Deerfield River, part of the Connecticut River watershed. The path to the river leads me past a ballfield, into tall white pines, next to a brook, and finally to the banks of the river herself. There is access to step into the river, and to swim. I often go at the end of the day of work, a day too often spent in front of a computer screen, where the outdoors is outside the window; once I am by, or in, the river, I am no longer separate from the living breathing world of the elements and more-than-human.
Act of Beauty
I used a branch of knotweed (itself an invasive presence in the watershed) to sketch the radical joy bird on a little stretch of muddy sand at the edge of River. This spot is a known to everyone as an indicator of the height/depth of River—when more is exposed, River is low, but there’s more space for people to use as a sort of beach; when River is high, there is no sand visible, and people tend not to swim. This is also where I take water samples every 2 weeks which are sent to a lab to test for e-coli, so the spot feels to be to be a place where humans discern the “health,” i.e. “usefulness” of River to us. But it doesn’t do much to indicate how healthy River is for herself, or more-than-human beings.
Additional Photos
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