Reader Asheley Cole sent us a photograph of a January scene on the Green River near her home. Intrigued, we asked her for more images, and she shared this series, showing the river in different seasons and at different flow levels. Below are excerpts from an accompanying description:
My fondest childhood memories include those made at our family camp on the Green River. “The Green,” as it’s affectionately known, has run through my family for nearly 60 years. My father’s parents lived in Greenfield, a town located along the southern end of the Green on its way from Vermont to the Deerfield River. My grandparents’ seven children proved too many for road trips or long-distance vacations, so they purchased a small cabin on the Green only ten miles north of home. Here, the family could enjoy swimming, hiking, camping, fishing, and so much more. These family vacations have endured for four generations, and the family “camp” remains a place of respite for all to enjoy. In the summer, family reunions and weekend barbecues find the camp busy with activity; [in autumn] family hunters [return] for winter deer camp. These shared memories and traditions have helped to shape and maintain strong family bonds while instilling in all of us a deep sense of place on this river.
For me, the Green River is now my home. Seven years ago, my husband and I settled with our two daughters in a house on one of the river’s high banks. Being daily witness to the interplay between seasons, weather, landscape, flora, and fauna has deepened my reverence for the diversity of life and natural beauty that intact watersheds support. With its headwaters in the foothills of the Green Mountains of Vermont, and its terminus in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, the river provides an amazing array of habitats for terrestrial and aquatic life. The watershed provides habitat for migratory waterfowl, bald eagles, native fish, wild plant species, song birds, and a variety of other wildlife that enriches my life in so many ways. The barred owl is one of my favorites, when during their courtship season of late winter, I am content to hear the exchange of cackles, hoots, and caws between pairs. Though I live along a wooded river in rural hills where people are few and far between, I am kept in abundant company with all these many happenings through the seasons.
As for the river itself, my newfound connections with the Green have deepened my understanding and appreciation for its resiliency and life-giving qualities. My husband and I enjoy fly fishing the river, spending spring evenings and summer mornings throwing feathered imitations of the local mayflies and caddisflies to stocked rainbow trout, and if we’re lucky, an occasional native brook trout. As an aquatic ecologist, my husband has spent plenty of time looking at the myriad underwater life the river supports. He says the Green and its watershed support one of the highest diversities of mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies in the region, a true testament to the ecological integrity of the river and its surrounding landscape.
My roots took hold here at an early age, and the river’s clear, cold, and clean waters have continued to nurture me and my family to this day.