If you have driven by The South River Park on Route 139 in Marshfield throughout the past 3 years you might have noticed volunteers hard at work performing all kinds of landscaping tasks. Flowerbeds have been undergoing restoration, lawns improved, and trees and shrubs getting much needed pruning and feeding. The park is improving but much remains to be done.
North and South Rivers Watershed Association is a founding member and the fiscal agent for the Friends of the South River Park and Greenway. The Friends have been working with the Department of Public Works since 2015 to manage and maintain the park so that it remains a pleasant and welcoming respite in the center of town. Easily accessible from Route 139, it has plenty of parking, all person accessible walking paths, a shaded picnic area, benches throughout and views of the river from the walking paths or closer views from a serene boardwalk in the lower park. Visitors may also visit the Veteran ‘s Honor Roll, a granite wall containing over 1,200 names of Marshfield Veterans that have served in Korea, Vietnam and the current conflicts.
There are plans underway for many more improvements in 2018 and with the help of a $1,250.00 grant from The New England Grassroots Environment Fund and $750.00 donated by the Good Will Hunters they will be able to begin the first stage of a major restoration of a large wildflower meadow adjacent to the Veteran’s Honor Roll. Plans are to replace the meadow with a more formal garden containing similar drought tolerant and native pollinator plants providing food sources for birds and other wildlife. The addition of a walking path through the meadow and several shrubs will create a more varied and interesting design for visitors to the Park and Honor Roll to enjoy.
The Friends would like to acknowledge and thank both The Goodwill Hunters of Marshfield for their continued support and The New England Grassroots Environment Fund for partnering with us for this community project.
About the New England Grassroots Environment Fund
The New England Grassroots Environment Fund energizes and nurtures long-term civic engagement in local initiatives that create and maintain healthy, just, safe and sustainable communities using stories, tools and dollars to fuel local activism and social change. Since 1996, the Grassroots Fund’s core grant making program continues to fund nearly 150 grants annually, giving more that $4million in 20 years to more than 2,000 community groups and initiatives covering more than 60 percent of New England’s cities and towns. For more information, please visit grassrootsfund.org or call 603-905-9915.
If you would like to learn more about the Friends of the South River Park and Greenway the Park visit friendsofsrpg.org. There are many ways to help!