Published by the Times Herland-Record, July 22, 2015

GARRISON - For the fourth year, the Hudson Highlands Land Trust and Constitution Marsh Audubon Center and Sanctuary announce the opening of the River of Words Poetry Trail.

The trail is a series of temporary installations of nature-inspired poetry by local students on winding paths through the Constitution Marsh Audubon Center and Sanctuary in Garrison.

The poems were created by students during Hudson Highlands Land Trust’s River of Words workshops.

This year’s featured student poets include Cornwall Elementary School students: third-grader Angelina Martelli (teacher, Alison Harter) and fourth-grader Samantha Rice (teacher, Michele McHale); and Cornwall’s Willow Avenue Elementary School: fourth-grader Patrick Cosgrove (teacher, Linda Line).

They also include include Haldane Elementary School students Sophie Sabin, Steve Robinson and Evan Maasik; and Putnam Valley Elementary School students Michael McKeown and Gabriela Haggan.

The poems were chosen from hundreds of poems written during HHLT’s River of Words workshops throughout the 2014-2015 school year.

The HHLT Poetry Trail kicked off with a reception for the young poets, their families and guests on July 12, featuring a reading by award-winning poet and River of Words educator Irene O’Garden.

The free, self-guided tour of the HHLT Poetry Trail at Constitution Marsh is open to the public and can be explored from dawn to dusk through Aug. 10. Poetry Trail maps are located at the Constitution Marsh parking lot and information center.

In September, the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum will host a River of Words Poetry Trail that will feature a different set of poems written by children from both sides of the river.

Both Poetry Trail installations are made possible through a grant from Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp.

River of Words is an international program co-founded by U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass, and affiliated with the Library of Congress Center for the Book.

HHLT offers a free regional version of ROW to public schools in the Hudson Highlands, using resources of the national program to focus on the Hudson River watershed.

The program also trains teachers to use nature as a learning lab, conducts outdoor student workshops and ties nature-inspired, outdoor-based programming to the New York State Core Curriculum Standards.

For information about The Hudson Highlands Land Trust, go to hhltrow.org or call 424-3358, ext. 7.

Constitution Marsh Audubon Center and Sanctuary is a 270-acre tidal marsh managed by Audubon as a wildlife sanctuary since 1970. The marsh provides refuge to wildlife of the Hudson River Estuary. For  information, go to constitutionmarsh.audubon.org.