Not Just Tidying Up
In typical Vermont fashion, spring has arrived at the Barge Canal. Rain, early green shoots, new tree buds, snow, migrating birds and renewed activity at the beaver lodges. Particular to our underappreciated South End wetlands and Superfund site are other signs of spring: collapsed torn tents, soggy blankets and sleeping bags, clothing, a dead computer, a boot, broken glass and needles. These are left over pieces and parts of people’s lives at the abandoned encampments of the Barge Canal. This is where people in twos or alone tried to make a home, a place to live when there is no other place.
We are reconciled to this work of picking up the trash left behind. Our first GreenUp day was picking up the detritus of 30 years’ worth of abandoned encampments. This trash is part of another cycle – an unnatural one – that grows out of our society’s inability to deal effectively with homelessness, substance abuse and mental illness. Up to now, all the community discussions about the housing crisis and the public safety emergency have not yet led to either real policy changes or an effective understanding of the causes of homelessness.
It takes determination to push a grocery cart loaded with mattress, cast iron frying pan, stove, water and so much more (books, clothes, kids’ toys) into these wild, wet woods. To haul in all the stuff you need to live outside with no infrastructure. It takes tremendous effort to set up a tent so it doesn’t leak in the rain, outfit that tent with a stove, gas canister and stovepipe in the hope of keeping warm and cooking food. And yet, ultimately, we have seen every home abandoned after days, tents ripped, contents strewn about, everything muddy and wet. Weeks before, it was the hope of a place to live. Now it has become trash.
Part of the work that Friends of the Barge Canal has focused on these last four years is cleaning up the trash that litters the woods and wetlands. We don’t do this to “tidy up” the Barge Canal. We do it to make room for plants to grow, to remove dangerous objects so people can safely enjoy this self-healing green space and, as we clean up the woods, to give people a chance to get to know both the unique pleasures of the site and the human tragedies that have played out there. We do it because it needs to be done.
To that end, FBC is sponsoring our 4th Annual GreenUp the Barge Canal event on Saturday, May 3. We will be working together from 9 AM to 1 PM. There will be some snacks to keep us going, lunch provided by the People’s Kitchen. Wear long pants and long sleeves (even if it’s warm), bring work gloves if you have them (we have extras) and water to drink. Sturdy boots or shoes are a must. No sandals, please. Come for an hour or the whole time. We will meet at the gate on Pine Street across from dealer.com. Look for the big, faded orange umbrella at the welcome table.
Write us with questions at sosburlington@gmail.com.