Deerfield River Watershed Association

Deerfield River Watershed Association Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Deerfield River Watershed Association, Nonprofit Organization, 15 Bank Row, Greenfield, MA.

The Deerfield River Watershed Association is a non-profit organization with the mission to preserve, protect, and enhance the natural resources of the Deerfield River watershed in south-eastern Vermont and north-western Massachusetts.

06/16/2026

Wild parsnip is beginning to flower now and this is the moment to act.

This invasive plant spreads fast AND its sap can cause serious burns on skin exposed to sunlight. Removal before it seeds helps to stop hundreds of future plants in their tracks.

Invasive wild parsnip — tall (4–5 ft), flat-topped yellow flower clusters, large toothed leaflets, thick grooved stem. Treat with caution.

Native golden alexanders — shorter (1–2 ft), slightly domed flower clusters, narrow lance-shaped leaflets, blooms earlier. A native pollinator plant not to cut.

When in doubt, don't pull it out.

How to remove wild parsnip safely:
🌱 Long sleeves, gloves, eye protection
🌱 Work in evening or low light to avoid UV reaction
🌱 Cut the taproot a few inches below the soil
🌱 Bag and dispose — don't compost
Wash clothes and tools after

Spot a large patch on public land? Consider letting your town know.

06/11/2026

The fireflies are back and where you see them, you're seeing something worth protecting.

Lightning bugs spend one to two years as larvae in dark, moist soil before they ever make a single flash.

What calls them up is a confluence of things we're losing: undisturbed earth, leaf litter left to lie with no pesticides, tall grass at field edges, slow water nearby, and genuine darkness. Light pollution is now one of the leading drivers of their decline as they simply cannot find each other through the glow.

A meadow or wetland full of fireflies is a meadow with living soil, clean watershed edges, and a night sky still dark enough to read a flash by.

The Deerfield watershed still has all of that in some places. That's rarer than it sounds. The fireflies know it.

Where are you seeing them this year?



Did you know... Each species has its own flash pattern, like a species-specific Morse code of love

06/09/2026

Mushrooms are watershed allies. Fungal mycelium binds soil particles together, reducing erosion along stream banks and hillsides. They break down leaf litter and woody debris, slowly releasing nutrients that feed riparian vegetation, the very plants that shade and stabilize waterways.

Some fungi actively filter heavy metals and pollutants, a process called mycoremediation. Others form mycorrhizal partnerships with trees, extending their root systems and improving water uptake, which means less runoff, more infiltration, healthier groundwater recharge.

A forest with thriving fungi is a forest that holds water well. And a forest that holds water well is the best protection for a watershed. .

🍄

06/04/2026

Here is your encouragement to get out and enjoy a moment within your watershed.

06/02/2026

Gorgeous wetland in Mohawk State Forest.

05/28/2026

Hope you get a chance to hang out by the water soon, like this American Toad.

Excerpt: Frog and Toad Are Friends By Arnold Lobel

05/27/2026

What's your water?

Author Wallace J. Nichols asks this question in his book, Blue Mind. He is referencing how bodies of water are good for our health as shown by research. He refers to this calm state as "blue mind," as an antidote to the "red mind," or the over-stimulated, anxious state most live in within the modern world.

When asked again, what's your water, what is the first type of water you think about and long for? What does it look like? Smell like?

Is it time for a visit?



Blue Mind: The surprising science that shows how being near, in, on, or under water can make you happier, healthier, more connected, and better at what you do, by marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols

05/19/2026

Not fully leafed out up in the headwaters of Black Brook, but looking green and hearing lots of warblers in the tree tops.

*black and white
*black-throated green
*magnolia
*Northern yellow
*yellow-rumped
*chestnut-sided
*common yellowthroat
*American redstart
*palm
*pine

It is a great time to hear the sounds of the watershed. Just bring a headnet!

05/14/2026

Just a few of the species that depend on healthy waters and share the Deerfield River watershed with us.

05/12/2026

Wind, Water, Stone

Water hollows stone,
wind scatters water,
stone stops the wind.
Water, wind, stone.

Wind carves stone,
stone's a cup of water,
water escapes and is wind.
Stone, wind, water.

Wind sings in its whirling,
water murmurs going by,
unmoving stone keeps still.
Wind, water, stone.

One is another and no other:
crossing and vanishing
through their empty names:
water, stone, wind.

-Octavio Paz, from The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz.

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15 Bank Row
Greenfield, MA
01301

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