This is a rendering of Transformation Trails, aka the Park Between the Fences, surrounding the Hudson Sports Complex in the Town of Warwick. The green will be arboretum, the yellow pollinator meadows. The vision of the TT project is to create a combination arboretum, pollinator meadow, sculpture garden, education center and, hopefully, amphitheater.
The Transformation Trails (TT) project at Wickham Woodlands Park was launched about a year ago. And almost immediately it generated interest throughout the Warwick community because, in part, the idea of a real life Warwick transformation was the very heart of the project.
Wickham Woodlands as a whole is now a beautiful 600-acre park and a successful 150-acre light-industry commercial area.
Until 2011, it was something very different — the Mid-Orange Correctional Facility.
Beyond that big transformation, however, was a smaller one. What was once an unsightly 10-acre “an orphan between-the-fences” parcel that was not on anyone’s radar, getting more and more overgrown every year is now, thanks to the TT vision, on its way to being a combination arboretum, pollinator meadow, sculpture garden, education center and, hopefully, amphitheater.
One of the early movers behind this idea was Sustainable Warwick, the local organization whose two-word title lays out its dual focus. In addition to helping form the basic vision of what this “prison” could become and providing some of the hands-on labor, Sustainable Warwick created a matching fund where it would match up to $2,000 of donations by the Warwick community.
Since the program was launched about a month ago, two things happened: first, the $2,000 goal was reached in early September; and second, Sustainable Warwick decided to increase its total matching fund to $4,000.
“We knew that Transformation Trails had captured the imagination of community members and had received very encouraging support from Michael Sweeton and the Town DPW,” Michael Helme of the Sustainable Warwick Steering Committee said, “we were still delightfully surprised by this dramatic testimonial to how Warwick residents value this project, and we are very happy to match that support with our own.”
For addition information about the project and donation details, visit atwww.sustainablewarwick.org/transformation-trails.