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Annual Westfield River Canoe Races Postponed (again)

Sadly, to stay safe the annual canoe race on the Westfield River has again been cancelled.  See their website for additional details.

In the meantime, here are a few pics from previous races.

65th Running of the Westfield River Wildwater Races this weekend

The oldest continuously run canoe race in North America will take place this weekend.

Can't race?  Watch the racers at the famous Hill and Dale Rapids.

oh yeah, we published a travel behavior paper influenced by climate change induced stream flow recently as well.

Westfield River Fish Ladder

Tour the Westfield River fish ladder Sunday, May 21 this year, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Sponsored by the Westfield River Watershed Association  this annual event is fun for all.

Annual Westfield River Races

Saturday, April 15th 2017 will be the running of the annual Westfield River Wildwater Race.

Nice weather is planned and while the water temps will be chilly, the race will go on.  For more info see the race website.

For stream gauge data, click here for the USGS.

Stream flow might be a bit low for this weekend

The Annual Westfield River Canoe Cruise has been canceled due to low water flow.  The stream gauge shows how low the water is and notice the triangles that illustrate normal flows for this time of the year.

61st Running of the Westfield River Canoe Races

Saturday, 19 April 2014, will herald the 61st running of this race.  Check out the details at their site, or better yet, go up to the Hill and Dale Rapids to watch!

Or best of all, grab your wet suit and run the river!

Westfield River flood two years ago

Except for the stupid commercial in the beginning, there is some good footage from the youtube clip about the Westfield River flooding back in 2011.

And of course, there is my clip that highlights the impact to Ashley Brook, a tributary in the Westfield River watershed.

Nordic Geographers Meeting 2013

The NGM is a biennial meeting of Nordic geographers, taking place in turn in one of the Nordic Countries.

The 5th Nordic Geographers Meeting will be held in Reykjavík, Iceland, at the University of Iceland, 11 – 14 June 2013. Previous meetings include: Lund, Sweden (2005); Bergen, Norway (2007); Turku, Finland (2009); Roskilde, Denmark (2011).

The theme of the NGM 2013 is Responsible Geographies.

We are presenting research on the carbon impacts of the Westfield River Canoe Races.

While most people think that a canoe race does not significantly to carbon emissions, especially when compared to auto racing, air travel or just about any motorized event, our research found about 33.6 pounds of carbon were emitted per vehicle in 2012 and 32.5 pounds in 2013.  From our group sample over the two years (n=142), this meant that each group having 2 or more cars to shuttle the canoes the average emissions per group was closer to 62.6 pounds in 2012 and 66.2 pounds in 2013.

Research has found that tourism activities contribute about 5% of the global emissions and of that figure 75% is from transport costs.

So a little canoe race in Western Mass, does have an impact.  See the abstract in the Nature Conservation and Tourism session.

Here we are navigating through Hill and Dale Rapids!

Westfield River Canoe Race today

We were up at the races this morning survey participants in the novice race and the expert race.  Another team hit "Hill and Dale" rapids to talk to spectators.  We did this study last year during a drought so we came back this year since the river was flowing well.  Check out the stream gauge data here.  While it rain last night, the sudden surge was the result of a controlled release on the river.  Back up on this site to see river flows across the country.  Thanks to James, Forrest, Jim, Mike and Sarah for helping me collect the data!

Westfield River Canoe Race 2013

Mark your calendars for the annual Westfield River Wildwater Canoe Race.  Saturday 20 April 2013 in Huntington Massachusetts.

See this link for details.

This is the Bristow / Young Team heading through the Hill and Dale Rapids.

Westfield River Canoe Race 2012

They made it through Hill and Dale Rapids and just after I stopped the camera, the guy in the bow jumped into the cooooool water.  Air temps were in the 70s so it was a warm race despite the chilly water.

I had 10 Westfield State students interview paddlers and spectators this morning and we get over 80 surveys!  The purpose was to determine where folks came from, some background racing history and regular paddling and some basic demographics.

We also collected info about the respondent's car so we can calculate the carbon emissions.

2012 Westfield River Whitewater Canoe Races

A week away is the oldest continuously run whitewater race in North America. Yeah, that's right the Westfield River in Massachusetts.

Next Saturday 21 April will be the annual race, held since 1953! See this link for more info.

Recreation and Carbon Footprint

Problem: According to the United Nations Environmental Programme, CO2 emissions generated directly from the tourism sector account today for 5 per cent of global CO2 emissions. In many cases, especially in the ecotourism sector, tourists may believe their impact in minimal as they try to travel green. This misconception needs further exploration since ecotourism is often touted as a green alternative to conventional mass tourism when in fact, the impact may be spread over a larger natural area. The purpose of this poster presentation is to identity the environmental impact generated by a canoe race from both the participants and the observers.

Background: The Westfield River watershed is one of Massachusetts’ largest undeveloped land areas. Current climate observations for the Northeast US indicated conditions are warmer and wetter (USDA-FS). Projections for the 21st Century indicated a likely warmer condition while there is an uncertainty about precipitation. Given these data, research into the environmental impact is crucial and timely. The Carbon Footprint is one measure of the recreation impact of human activity related to leisure pursuits. Individuals are attracted to high quality natural environment and the direct and indirect impacts resulting from carbon emissions can deter from that experience. According to the World Tourism Organization changes in the availability of water, loss of natural habitats, reduced to the visual landscape, altered agricultural production, and other factors will all impact tourism as a result of climate change.

Methods: A pre and post inspection of the course highlights many of the bio-physical impact associated with the Annual Westfield Wild water Canoe Race, the oldest continuously run race in North America. The carbon impact will be calculated by impact survey conducted during the annual event.

Results: While individual carbon emissions from one paddling team may be modest, the combined contribution of the participants and observers increases the impact tremendously. For example, for an average automobile, approximately one half pound of carbon is emitted every mile of driving. As a result of this estimate the Carbon Footprint of the Westfield Wild water Race may exceed 10 tons of Carbon emissions! The survey will be executed during April 2012 and the carbon footprint will be calculated.

Westfield River Trail Guide

For your hiking pleasure, check out the

Lower Westfield River
Trails User Guide


Prepared for the
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management
with funding from
The Massachusetts Watershed Initiative

Westfield River Canoe Races this weekend

Time for the annual Westfield River Races again. Might be a tad cold this year...to bad it is not like last week with temps in the 90s. Oh well, it is New England.

But even if the air is warm, the water is darn cold, ice cold that is. So a wet suit is a good thing to have, especially if you dump at "Hill and Dale Rapids". (see photo)

That's Mike Young in the stern.

Urban parks mitigate Urban Heat Islands

I have a class project this semester and we are looking into the urban heat island effect in Westfield MA. The students are blanketing the city tomorrow morning before dawn to measure the air temperature in this 40 square mile city. Some task, eh?

Westfield River Trail Guide

I gave a talk at the Annual Westfield River Symposium last month and talked about trail opportunities in the lower watershed. See this website to download the trail guide http://robertbristow.home.comcast.net/. It had been available on the river.wsc.ma.edu site but this site is no longer online, so I mirrored the data on my personal site for your hiking pleasure. It is raining right now, but since the temperatures are getting warmer, now is the time to get outside!

Enjoy.