I am delighted to write that PanAm Railways has completed all due diligence and is committed to working with FOPP to facilitate the invasive species removal and vista pruning on their property that will clear the view of the Connecticut River from Pulaski Park in downtown Holyoke. PanAm Vice President, Roger Bergeron, is very enthusiastic about the project.
The process now enters the time-consuming 'Permitting' phase. Despite still having a large amount of work in front of us, this step forward is very worth celebrating because I was told a year ago that coming this far was not possible.
Railroads have to file what's called a Vegetation Management Plan (VMP) with the Massachusetts Division of Agriculture (I think it's the Agriculture Department. I'm not actually sure about this.) PanAm will file a request to amend its VMP to include invasive species removal and vista pruning on property adjacent to Pulaski Park.
Once the work is approved by whichever state agency must grant its blessing, FOPP, here locally, will begin our own permitting process because we (working collaboratively with the Conservation Commission and Parks and Recreation Dept.) will actually fund and manage the removal and pruning process.
FOPP will need to file a Request for a Determination of Applicability, or a Notice of Intent (NOI) with the Holyoke Conservation Commission and the DEP to authorize the actual work. This is not difficult to do, but it is very time consuming. I'm told that the permitting, review, hearings, etc to take about three months to complete. We're going to start this process concurrently with PanAm's VMP process.
You can HELP!!!!! Community support is vital to this project! If you support our efforts, please write a letter outlining your use of the park, your interest in seeing the view, and send it to:
Friends of Pulaski Park
4 Open Square Way
Holyoke, MA 01040
Or, drop us a note on our 'Tell us Your Story' page.
Friends of Pulaski Park is the newest proud member of Passport Holyoke! Passport Holyoke promotes all the cultural, recreational, and educational events happening in downtown Holyoke. It is a great resource and a great group of people. If you ever host an event in Holyoke, I encourage you to become a member.
Sigh. Still trying to understand what Pan Am needs to help us move the view clearing project forward. I knew this project would take a long time, everyone told me that, but SHEESH!
In their defense, I think Pan Am's hearts really are in the right place. As a railroad, their first job is...well....being a railroad! They obviously have a million items to attend to, and removing invasive species along a 4/10 of a mile section of their hundreds of miles of property perhaps does not rise to the same level of importance as the project does for the residents of Holyoke.
So, to tide you over until a specific path forward is made clear (get it?) here are some groovy photos. Since I can't figure out how to add captions below, I'll put them here. The first two photos are courtesy of the Olmsted Historic Site.
1. Photo taken by Frederick Law Olmsted's firm in 1907 of the parapets along the promenade, along with some commentary about the quality of the concrete. See that VIEW?!?! This is looking southeast.
2. Another shot of the park pre-Olmsted design.
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