This land is your land— and, while the educational turbine will challenge the formative minds of high school students as they determine where Woody Guthrie’s famous 1944 folk anthem fits into their own view of America, those students have been provided a rubber-meets-the-road context that addresses their present and future. And that’s the wonder of what went on January 23 at the Mattapoisett Land Trust Dexter “Tub” Mill property.
Over a dozen Old Rochester Regional High School students pocketed their smartphones, went out into a chilly Saturday morning to learn about this land from Paul “Ozzie” Osenkowski, and helped the MLT’s Education Committee install a ‘Story Walk’ on it.
“I joined (MLT) because I wanted to cut this [brush] down because it was a mess, and I said, ‘What a nice little stream,’ to show that there’s things that went on here years and years ago,” said Osenkowski, who is originally from Taunton but for the last 21 years has been a full-time Mattapoisett resident volunteering with the Land Trust. “I always give the talk to the sixth graders, … talk to them about what the history of Mattapoisett is and why this stream is so important, and what made Mattapoisett develop. That’s the thing I try to get across to all the kids.”
For Saturday’s high schoolers, Osenkowski’s delivery is challenging, inviting participation via some impromptu quiz questions. Students bite down on what he has to say and draw connections to their world.
“I’ve always been interested in the water,” said Thomas Galavotti, the starting goalie on the ORR/Fairhaven hockey team. “My grandmother is good friends with Ellen Flynn, who’s the chair (of the MLT’s Education Committee).” One thing led to another, and Galavotti is presently a student board member with the MLT. Joining shortly after the state shutdown measures in March 2020, Galavotti is only now sinking his teeth into the MLT’s activities.
The Story Walk, called “Noisy Paintbox,” was written by Barb Rosenstock and illustrated by Mary GrandPre. It can be found under the red cedar trees off of Route 6 and Mendell Road in Mattapoisett. There is a small parking lot along the east side of Mendell Road across from Mattapoisett’s Highway Department building.
The assembly of ORR students volunteering for MLT activities varies, according to Karen Browning, who works together with fellow ORR teacher Lynn Connor on the high school’s Community Service Learning Group. The two collaborate with the MLT to provide the building and maintenance of trails, and they have turned the experience into an educational tool by enlisting students in ORR’s Environmental Club.
Dexter “Tub” Mill park has almost 4 acres of grassy area bordered on the south by Route 6. Beginning in the southeast corner with the old mill pond dam, the land extends west to Mendell Road residences and north to a wooded area that at one point reaches Acushnet Road. The rusty turbine left from the water-powered sawmill operated in the 19th and 20th centuries will soon be relocated near a kiosk toward the corner of Route 6 and Mendell Road.
The event was one of several during the year organized by numerous key players, including Osenkowski, with the guidance of Ellen P. Flynn, director and chair of the MLT’s Education Committee.
“Ozzie is in charge of stewardship, so all the beauty that you see on these properties— he basically maintains the properties— and when we get a new property he goes in there, he and his group of volunteers go in and they create these gorgeous trails,” explained Mary Cabral, who with fellow MLT Board of Directors and Education Committee member Wendy Copps led the event.
When the MLT has procured open space over the past two decades, Osenkowski clears out what would be thick, invasive brush capable only of keeping the land quiet but also useless. After Osenkowski and his helpers are done with it, the land shines like a welcome mat at the front door to the town itself.
“He went in there with chain saws and brush cutters and volunteers– my husband was one of them. It does take a lot of time, a lot of energy,” said Cabral. “We’re trying to increase the activities on the property, so not just walking and hiking but story walk that we’re in the process of doing now for families. And we’re now in the process of creating scavenger hunts [and] finding items that are naturally here.”
Before departing, the leaders asked the students to decide on creative items to be placed for a scavenger hunt.
“People want to get together, they want to have hugs, they want to be friends … they need company. We are not islands,” said Osenkowski, who left the students with a request for help at the Grace Pond area. “I need people to help me out, young people who can bend over and pick up sticks. I need your help! Tell your friends! I need it over on Bowman Road over at the Grace Pond area so we can create a park that is for [disabled] people to get to because we’ve got a great trail system throughout this area…. I hope you can enjoy what you have here in town.”
Galavotti said he hopes he can bring some hockey players with him to the next clean-up effort. “I just want to do as much stuff as possible,” he said.
By Mick Colageo