Learn How You Can Help Restore Former Trailer Park On The Green River

Greening Greenfield invited Nicolas Miller of Field Geology Services to lead us on a guided tour of Conway’s S. River flood protection project to learn about rivers, and then return to Greenfield to discuss what we can do to reduce Green River flooding while improving river access and native habitat at Millers Meadow, the former Wedgewood Garden trailer Park. We need your input and participation. more

Nicolas Miller is a fluvial geomorphologist. Fluvial geomorphologists study how rivers flow and change over time, and how human-built dams, channels, retaining walls, combined with increased storms due to human-induced climate change, are causing flooding that threaten our communities.

We visited the South River in Conway where Miller designed a flood mitigation project that has much to teach us about what we can do at Millers Meadow in Greenfield.

“Millers Meadow has great potential!” says Miller. “Like in Conway we can reduce flooding hazards and build climate resilience while improving recreation, river access, native habitat for pollinators, and water quality for aquatic species.”

In Conway we explored a former cornfield that in 2016 was reconnected to the South River and has already provided flood storage at least 15 times over the past 8 years. At that time the impenetrable wall of invasive bittersweet and knotweed was removed, and boulders and logs were strategically placed in the river to protect a home on the opposite bank. In 2022, the Friends of the South River planted over 70 native trees and shrubs. Today, the site is fast becoming a recreational destination.

From Conway, the Tour returned to Greenfield to the Museum of our Industrial Heritage to look at the history of mills, waterpower, and flooding on the Green River.  The Tour continued upriver to Millers Meadow to dream and discuss how it could be transformed to be an asset to humans and all living critters.