AIPC

Blue Trail-blazers launch bay path

August 23, 2008

Blue Trail-blazers launch bay path

August 23, 2008

By Sean Flynn
Newport Dailyt News

Signs at the Weaver Cover boat launch in
Portsmouth point the way to the Blue Trail
(David Hansen/Daily News photo)

PORTSMOUTH - Joe Mellor of Providence has been kayaking the Wood and Pawcatuck rivers for years, but until Friday he had never kayaked Narragansett Bay.

Mellor was one of about 40 people who put their kayaks into the bay Friday morning and inaugurated the new Blue Trail, the first project to come out of the Aquidneck Island West Side Master Plan that was released in November 2005. The “trail” out on the bay runs close to the island’s west shore from Portsmouth to Newport, with a stop at Dyer Island.

“This is a great opportunity to get out on the bay and enjoy it from a whole new perspective,” Mellor said. “I hope it gets utilized. It’s a great thing for the state.”

News of the Blue Trail already has spread outside the state.

“We’re taking calls every day from people around the country,” said Tina Dolen, executive director of the Aquidneck Island Planning Commission. “It has really caught on. People are looking for fun ways to exercise. This is something you don’t need a lot of money to enjoy, just a little boat.”

The 10-mile Blue Trail eventually will have nine launch sites, according to the planners. The northernmost stops are Willow Lane and the ramp at the end of Cory’s Lane, just past Green Animals Topiary Garden. The trail extends south to Perrotti Park in Newport.

Friday’s inaugural kayak run started at the Weaver Cove ramp, a public launch site just off Burma Road, south of Stringham Road. Other launch sites and stops, besides Dyer Island, include the Midway Fishing Pier in Middletown at the foot of Greene Lane, and Rose Island and the Elm Street Pier in Newport. The planners hope to add the pier at the former Naval Hospital in Newport, if the Navy releases the land for public and private development.

About 100 people, including local, state and federal officials, gathered under an awning set up at the Weaver Cove ramp.

Many of the officials boarded kayaks after the speeches, including novices such as Senate Majority Leader Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport. She took a quick lesson from Michael Sullivan, the state’s director of environmental management. The water was calm and she had no problems, although she said she was not ready for the whole trail tour.

Sullivan, who is trying to develop, improve or expand one public pier a year, said the Midway Fishing Pier is his next target. He plans to make it more accessible for fishermen and users of the Blue Trail. Last year, the state Department of Environmental Management restored and expanded the Van Zandt Pier in Newport.

Among the kayakers were both of Rhode Island’s U.S. senators, Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy and Capt. Michel T. Poirier, base commander of Naval Station Newport. Poirier was in the “command kayak” at the front, which had a small U.S. flag flying off the stern.

The Rhode Island Canoe and Kayak Association, the Appalachian Mountain Club and Eastern Mountain Sports provided kayaks. Besides the officials, club members and others joined the kayak caravan on the bay.

Robert Quigley, chairman of the West Side Task Force, said Reed secured a $600,000 grant in 2003 to help develop the master plan.

“The Blue Trail is the first of many recreational opportunities the West Side Master Plan can provide, and we are really looking forward to helping develop opportunities for fishing, bicycle trails, jogging and pedestrian paths and increased public access to the bay,” he said.

The master plan covers 5,000 acres on the west side of the island, including land owned by the Navy. The Navy is planning to release about 400 acres of its property for public and private development. Besides recreational projects, master plan recommendations include economic development, transportation and utilities planning.

“There was no structure in place to carefully plan for the release of the Navy surplus lands,” Reed said, discussing the 2003 grant. “Today is the first celebration of what will be many celebrations. The kayak trail is the right way to begin.”

Kennedy said the Blue Trail initiative is “just the beginning of a new cooperation between Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth and the Navy.” He encouraged the communities to work together to control sewer and stormwater overflows that pollute bay waters and sometimes force the closing of beaches.

Sullivan said the federal government funded 75 percent of the costs of sewer treatment facilities in the 1970s. Now, he said, the federal government pays only 6 percent.

.

By Sean Flynn
Newport Dailyt News

Signs at the Weaver Cover boat launch in
Portsmouth point the way to the Blue Trail
(David Hansen/Daily News photo)

PORTSMOUTH - Joe Mellor of Providence has been kayaking the Wood and Pawcatuck rivers for years, but until Friday he had never kayaked Narragansett Bay.

Mellor was one of about 40 people who put their kayaks into the bay Friday morning and inaugurated the new Blue Trail, the first project to come out of the Aquidneck Island West Side Master Plan that was released in November 2005. The “trail” out on the bay runs close to the island’s west shore from Portsmouth to Newport, with a stop at Dyer Island.

“This is a great opportunity to get out on the bay and enjoy it from a whole new perspective,” Mellor said. “I hope it gets utilized. It’s a great thing for the state.”

News of the Blue Trail already has spread outside the state.

“We’re taking calls every day from people around the country,” said Tina Dolen, executive director of the Aquidneck Island Planning Commission. “It has really caught on. People are looking for fun ways to exercise. This is something you don’t need a lot of money to enjoy, just a little boat.”

The 10-mile Blue Trail eventually will have nine launch sites, according to the planners. The northernmost stops are Willow Lane and the ramp at the end of Cory’s Lane, just past Green Animals Topiary Garden. The trail extends south to Perrotti Park in Newport.

Friday’s inaugural kayak run started at the Weaver Cove ramp, a public launch site just off Burma Road, south of Stringham Road. Other launch sites and stops, besides Dyer Island, include the Midway Fishing Pier in Middletown at the foot of Greene Lane, and Rose Island and the Elm Street Pier in Newport. The planners hope to add the pier at the former Naval Hospital in Newport, if the Navy releases the land for public and private development.

About 100 people, including local, state and federal officials, gathered under an awning set up at the Weaver Cove ramp.

Many of the officials boarded kayaks after the speeches, including novices such as Senate Majority Leader Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport. She took a quick lesson from Michael Sullivan, the state’s director of environmental management. The water was calm and she had no problems, although she said she was not ready for the whole trail tour.

Sullivan, who is trying to develop, improve or expand one public pier a year, said the Midway Fishing Pier is his next target. He plans to make it more accessible for fishermen and users of the Blue Trail. Last year, the state Department of Environmental Management restored and expanded the Van Zandt Pier in Newport.

Among the kayakers were both of Rhode Island’s U.S. senators, Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy and Capt. Michel T. Poirier, base commander of Naval Station Newport. Poirier was in the “command kayak” at the front, which had a small U.S. flag flying off the stern.

The Rhode Island Canoe and Kayak Association, the Appalachian Mountain Club and Eastern Mountain Sports provided kayaks. Besides the officials, club members and others joined the kayak caravan on the bay.

Robert Quigley, chairman of the West Side Task Force, said Reed secured a $600,000 grant in 2003 to help develop the master plan.

“The Blue Trail is the first of many recreational opportunities the West Side Master Plan can provide, and we are really looking forward to helping develop opportunities for fishing, bicycle trails, jogging and pedestrian paths and increased public access to the bay,” he said.

The master plan covers 5,000 acres on the west side of the island, including land owned by the Navy. The Navy is planning to release about 400 acres of its property for public and private development. Besides recreational projects, master plan recommendations include economic development, transportation and utilities planning.

“There was no structure in place to carefully plan for the release of the Navy surplus lands,” Reed said, discussing the 2003 grant. “Today is the first celebration of what will be many celebrations. The kayak trail is the right way to begin.”

Kennedy said the Blue Trail initiative is “just the beginning of a new cooperation between Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth and the Navy.” He encouraged the communities to work together to control sewer and stormwater overflows that pollute bay waters and sometimes force the closing of beaches.

Sullivan said the federal government funded 75 percent of the costs of sewer treatment facilities in the 1970s. Now, he said, the federal government pays only 6 percent.