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by Northern Woodlands Winter 2020

Woven Sculpture and Meadow Restoration Go Hand in Hand

Woven Sculpture and Meadow Restoration Go Hand in Hand
Executive Director Colin Novick carries a Norway maple away from Cascades West. Photos courtesy of the Greater Worcester Land Trust.

Community engagement in nature and art takes many forms. A two-decade effort to restore a healthy meadow to an urban forest in Worcester, Massachusetts, also brought a college campus and a world-renowned sculptor together with volunteers from the Greater Worcester Land Trust (GWLT). In 2016, GWLT director Colin Novick received a request from the College of Holy Cross to furnish visiting artist Patrick Dougherty with birch and Norway saplings removed from the Cascades West restoration site. The land trust happily complied, and here we show GWLT and Holy Cross volunteers working together to supply the saplings while enhancing meadow habitat.

You can read the full story about the woven sculpture and view more images of its creation here.

Sculpture and Meadow Restoration Gallery

Woven Sculpture and Meadow Restoration Go Hand in Hand Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
Holy Cross staff volunteers harvesting birch saplings from Crow Hill. | Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
Woven Sculpture and Meadow Restoration Go Hand in Hand Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
Crow Hill Project Basecamp with Holy Cross Biological Sciences Professor Robert Bertin retooling his chainsaw. | Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
Woven Sculpture and Meadow Restoration Go Hand in Hand Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
Holy Cross v volunteer bundling birch saplings for transport off Crow Hill. | Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
Woven Sculpture and Meadow Restoration Go Hand in Hand Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
Bundles of birch saplings ready for transport off the summit of Crow Hill. | Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
Woven Sculpture and Meadow Restoration Go Hand in Hand Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
GWLT Volunteers Paula and Gordon moving birch saplings as Professor Bertin cuts more at Crow Hill. | Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
Woven Sculpture and Meadow Restoration Go Hand in Hand Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
Professor Bertin and GWLT Executive Director Colin Novick cut birch saplings as GWLT volunteers Paula and Gordon stack saplings at Crow Hill. | Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
Woven Sculpture and Meadow Restoration Go Hand in Hand Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
Holy Cross and GWLT volunteers stacking and bundling birch saplings at Crow Hill. | Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
Woven Sculpture and Meadow Restoration Go Hand in Hand Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
Professor Bertin trimming Norway maple trunks to length for transport from Cascades West. | Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
Woven Sculpture and Meadow Restoration Go Hand in Hand Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
One of the sculptors atop scaffolding at Holy Cross creating the woven sculpture. | Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
Woven Sculpture and Meadow Restoration Go Hand in Hand Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust
Holy Cross volunteers made up of students and staff assisting the sculptors by selecting specific materials. | Photo: Greater Worcester Land Trust

by Northern Woodlands

© 2020 by the author; this article may not be copied or reproduced without the author's consent.

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