Lower Westfield River Trails User Guide
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Lower Westfield River Trails User Guide View of Noble View Trail System Prepared by Department of Geography & Regional Planning Westfield State College Westfield, MA 01086 Prepared for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management with funding from The Massachusetts Watershed Initiative This guide is designed to provide information about Trails in the Lower Westfield River Watershed, and has been prepared for general planning and informational purposes only. It is not necessarily accurate to engineering or surveying standards. Every effort has been made to make the data/maps as complete and as accurate as possible; however, no warranty or fitness is implied. 2 Westfield State College (WSC) entered into an agreement with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management (DEM), with funding from the Massachusetts Watershed Initiative, to inventory recreational trails for the Lower Westfield River Watershed and prepare a user guide. Communities included in the watershed are Agawam, Blandford, Granville, Montgomery, Russell, Southwick, Westfield, and West Springfield. This user guide includes land- based trails as well as water-based trails and access points. This trail guide summarizes the trail resources in the communities graphically as well as in narrative form. The contents of the guide and additional maps and information about the Westfield River Watershed are also found on the Westfield River Watershed Interactive Atlas at <http://river.wsc.ma.edu>. This guide is organized alphabetically by community and within a community by associated existing and proposed trail opportunities. Each community and associated trails are briefly described and the contact information is provided where available. Simple trail maps are provided for each of the park areas. The scale varies for each map and is shown in miles and kilometers. We are indebted to a host of organizations for data and technical support. Existing trail data were obtained from the City of Westfield GIS Department, Town of Southwick Conservation Commission, Town of West Springfield GIS Department, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, and Massachusetts’ Department of Environmental Management. The remaining trail data were collected by Westfield State College interns in 2002. Matthew Kitoski (Regional Planning 2002), Matthew DelMonte (Environmental Science 2001) and Nathan Pelletier (Environmental Science 2003) were the principal interns involved with the GPS field data collection. Mr. Pelletier is the cartographer for the maps in this document. All digital map data in this study are registered to the NAD83 datum, Massachusetts State Plane Mainland Zone coordinate system. Units are in meters. The source of all base data is MassGIS, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. Acronyms used in this document and on the Maps WRWA Westfield River Watershed Association WSC Westfield State College DEM Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management EOEA Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs The contact for information about this document and the project is: Robert S. Bristow, Ph.D. Department of Geography & Regional Planning Westfield State College Westfield, MA 01086 (413) 572-5595 [email protected] <http://river.wsc.ma.edu> 3 The Westfield River Watershed Interactive Atlas Figure 1. Regional Context of Westfield River Watershed as viewed in <http://river.wsc.ma.edu>. When visiting the WRWIA website <http://river.wsc.ma.edu> users will have the opportunity to create maps. Most of the commands for the Maps are intuitive, although users may want to browse the list: Toggle between Layers List and Legend: Changes legend view. Zoom In: To view more detail of the position clicked or a box dragged on the map. Zoom Out: To view the broader area of the position clicked or a box dragged on the map. Zoom to Full Extent: Zooms to the full extent of the map (the most encompassing view). Zoom to Active Layer: Zooms to the full extent of the active layer. Previous Extent: Zooms to the last previous extent. Inactive until user changes extents (zooms in or out). Pan: Moves the map view as user drags the pointer across the map (changes location without zooming). Pan in One Direction: Moves the view only in the direction of the arrow clicked. Hot Link: Links point on map with source table and allows updating of data. Identify: Lists the attributes of the features by clicking them on the map (desired layer must be active). Query: Allows user to query data. Find: Searches map feature data for user-specified text. Measure: Measures distance between two or more points clicked on map. Set Units: Changes units of measure on map (miles, meters, etc). Buffer: Draws and queries circular buffer of specified distance around selected features. Select by Rectangle: Selects map features by dragging rectangle on map using pointer. Select by Line or Polygon: Selects map features by clicking and dragging polygon on map using pointer. Clear Selection: Clears selected map features. Print: Prints map page shown. 4 Agawam Agawam is in the southeastern part of the study area and is characterized by farm land and newer development. The proximity to Springfield and the Greater Hartford Connecticut urban landscapes is contrasted by public open space lands. Automobile access is made possible from the nearby Interstate 91 and State Routes 5 (north/south) and 57 (east/west). Robinson State Park is the largest open space property in the town and provides a variety of trail opportunities. An Adobe File of the Town trails is found at <http://river.wsc.ma.edu/map_pdf/map_pdf.htm> Connecticut RiverWalk and Bikeway A planned pedestrian and bicycling corridor connecting the communities of Agawam northward to Chicopee is proposed along the Connecticut River. In Agawam, a bikeway is along River Road between Main Street (just north of Six Flags Amusement Park) and the rotary at the South End Bridge (Routes 5 & 57). This 1.7 mile bike route has a scenic view of the Connecticut River. Information can be obtained from the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Website. <http://www.pvpc.org/docs/landuse/ConnRWalk.pdf> M&M Trail The M&M Trail traverses the western boundary of this community and is described on pages 12 and 15 and shown graphically on page 14. Pinchon Point Trail North of the Connecticut RiverWalk and Bikeway in Agawam, one will find the Pinchon Point Trail; a small river access trail favored by anglers. This river access trail is 0.25 miles long (1337 feet). The dike following the Westfield River provides other “unofficial” hiking opportunities. The community may wish to improve access along this dike for additional hiking opportunities. Robinson State Park North St., Agawam, MA 01001 (413) 786-2877 <http://www.state.ma.us/dem/parks/robn.htm> Robinson State Park has over 14 miles of trails (76,000 +/- feet) within the park boundaries. Some follow the Westfield River and others meander through the woods linking the neighborhoods with the state park. Mittineague Park is found across the river from the state park and is described on page 17. For a trail map, either visit the Westfield River Watershed Interactive Atlas or Robinson State Park Trail Map found at <http://www.state.ma.us/dem/parks/trails/robinson01.gif> Directions to Robinson State Park: From east or west: Mass Pike (Route I-90) to exit 4, Route 91 south, Route 57 west, Route 187 north, to North Street. Follow signs. 5 6 Blandford Blandford is on the eastern slopes of the Berkshires and has a rural character. Considering a population of only slightly more than a 1,000 (Census 2000), public lands make up a surprisingly large percentage of land use. Access to this community is via US Route 20 and State Route 23 (both east/west). Blandford’s Trail map in Adobe Acrobat format is found at <http://river.wsc.ma.edu/map_pdf/map_pdf.htm> Chester-Blandford State Forest Rte. 20, Chester, MA 01011 (413) 354-6347 <http://www.state.ma.us/dem/parks/chbl.htm> Chester-Blandford State Forest has over 0.6 miles (3500 feet) of foot trails but if gravel roads are included, and the hiker will have 3.4 miles (17,800 +/- feet) of trail opportunities. Sanderson Brook Falls is a short walk up the gravel road from US Route 20. From this road, more adventurous hikers can tackle the H. Newman Marsh Memorial Trail on Observation Hill (0.4 mile or 2100 +/- feet). A map and trail guide is available from the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission <http://www.pvpc.com>. Chester-Blandford State Park Trail Map <http://www.state.ma.us/dem/parks/trails/chester01.gif> Directions to Chester-Blandford State Forest: From east or west: Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) to exit 3, Route 10/202 south, turn right on Route 20 west, follow signs. Granville Granville has a slightly larger population than Blandford and is located in the southwestern portion of the inventory area. Wooded mountains intermingle with a variety of orchards to make this bedroom community a pleasant New England town. One can visit Granville by traveling west on State Route 57 from Southwick. For the community trail map in Adobe Acrobat Format, see <http://river.wsc.ma.edu/map_pdf/map_pdf.htm> Granville State Forest 323 West Hartland Rd., Granville, MA 01034 (413) 357-6611 <http://www.state.ma.us/dem/parks/gran.htm> Nearly 18 miles of foot trails are found in this state forest (95,000 +/- feet). If the hiker wishes to loop back to a parked car, gravel roads bring the total to 45 miles (238,000 +/- feet)! This state forest is worth the extra drive. Granville State Park Trail Map <http://www.state.ma.us/dem/parks/trails/granville600.gif> Directions to Granville State Forest: From the east: Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) to exit 3 (Westfield). Turn right onto Route 10/202 south to Route 57 west to Granville, MA.