Wawayanda Creek Project launched

WARWICK — The community volunteer project to clear the Wawayanda Creek has gotten off the ground — and into the water.
An energetic and intrepid group of kayakers — five men and three women — made a preliminary reconnaissance run recently to assess conditions in the creek and on the banks.
The crew also did some actual clearing under the two bridges where the creek starts at the foot of Wickham Lake and were gratified to see an immediate and visible increase in the water flow.
“We knew that people were out of their kayaks and working out of sight under the bridge," Christina Thomas, one of the team members watching from the bridge, said. "And then suddenly, the almost solid layer of green on the downstream side of the bridge began to flow away and within minutes, you could see the bottom. The clearing of the creek had officially started."
The Wawayanda project is one of many ideas that emerged from the recently completed town-wide Visioning led by Community 2000, the same group that led the first Visioning in 1993.
The idea is for the Wawayanda to be cleared of debris and opened up for kayaks and canoes from Wickham Lake in the Wickham Woods Park, the former Correctional Facility, to the center of the Village of Warwick where it flows by the South Street parking lot, and eventually beyond.
When completed, it is envisioned as one more attractive recreational possibility that can be used by both residents and visitors.