Tufts intern Ngodoo Atume and Kerry Mackin intern Grace Evans enjoy a paddle downriver from Riverbend. Below, Ngodoo shares her first paddling experience and what she’s learned in her time interning at Ipswich River.
I visited the Town of Ipswich for the first time this past week on a beautiful sunny Thursday. Ryan, the Programs Coordinator was very kind to pick me up from the train station and he gave me a nice tour of the town while we drove down to Riverbend. Before I go on, can I just say Ipswich town has the most beautiful scenery. I am a big fan of woods and outdoor life, so I was absolutely thrilled.
I interned at the Ipswich River Watershed Association this summer, and worked on cleaning and uploading the water quality data to EPA’s Water Quality Exchange portal. I also did some work on the Streamflow data and had an opportunity to learn more about the low flow challenges in the river especially in the summer months. It was interesting to see the source of all that data.
The highlight of my visit was paddling for the first time. I was a bit nervous, but the team was very reassuring that it will be fun. They were right, I absolutely loved paddling and I now considered myself a pro. I also saw many beautiful turtles while paddling. Sadly, I learnt that most of them die while migrating to other parts of the river because of the dam blockages, that is just disheartening.
I would like to thank the Ipswich River team for having me this summer, I enjoyed working and learning about the river.