Above: OARS recently announced its new foldout and interactive recreation maps for Assabet River (Images from OARS website)
Southborough has beautiful reservoirs. But boating in them isn’t allowed. So if you want to dip your oars in, you’ll need to head out of town.
If you have your own kyak/canoe, Assabet River is a popular spot.* But boating isn’t the only recreation the river has to offer.
To entice more use and appreciation of the river, its warden (OARS) created a new recreation map.
OARS began as the Organization for the Assabet River, before adding Sudbury and Concord rivers to its mission. The group organizes programs to maintain the rivers, as well as ecology education:
[OARS’] mission is to protect, preserve, and enhance the natural and recreational features of the Assabet, Sudbury, and Concord Rivers, their tributaries and watersheds, and to increase public awareness of the rivers’ values as important natural resources.
In the past, OARS shared maps of the rivers themselves. The Assabet map they released this summer is newsworthy because it incorporates walking and biking trails.
You can take a look at the new interactive version online here. For a look at boaters trails for Sudbury and Concord rivers, click here.
If you’d prefer an old-fashioned foldout map, you can pick one up at one of the following area locations: EMS stores in Northborough and Marlborough, Marlborough Town Hall, and Northborough Library.
(Or, become a member of OARS and get your own waterproof copy.)
*If you don’t have your own boat, here are a few rental options: You can rent a boat from an EMS or REI store – just be sure you have a way of transporting it back and forth! Or you can head to other waters for on-site rentals – like Sudbury River or Hopkinton State Park.
