Despite the uncertainty surrounding us all, the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) continues to work to improve the health of our local environment. This is because we believe that clean water and healthy, resilient parks that are safe and welcoming for everyone–cannot wait. Below are some 2020 highlights of these efforts.
Clean water >>>
MyRWA volunteers are sampling water quality on a monthly basis (with the exception of April and May)–ensuring we have the data needed to realize the goals of the Clean Water Act. The data collected by our water quality volunteers is instrumental in creating the EPA’s water quality grade for all the water bodies in our watershed–which shows good news again–as we see “A” quality water on the main stem and the Mystic Lakes. We also saw improvements on the Island End River that borders Chelsea and Everett.
During the hot summer months, our Watershed Scientist and our summer interns, have been sampling for cyanobacteria–the cause of harmful algal blooms. To date there have been no blooms–though we continue to be diligent in testing–as right now no other public agency is on-the-ground testing and looking for these blooms.
In partnership with the Town of Arlington, completed two new rain gardens, as well as two dozen stormwater trenches, which will help filter stormwater runoff, thereby reducing the pollutants going directly into our Mystic watershed. MyRWA continues to identify and push for additional on-the-ground improvements in Chelsea, Winchester and at Belle Isle Marsh while also managing the Stormwater Collaborative with a dozen local municipalities.
On May 28th, 2020, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the “Mystic River Watershed Alternative TMDL Development for Phosphorus Management - Final Report” that calls for reducing phosphorus inputs into the Mystic River watershed by 60%. This report was based on a five-year study spearheaded by the Mystic River Watershed Association, and we leveraged an additional $600,000 from in-kind support from agencies across the state. This is an important new tool for helping tackle the growing problem of excessive nutrients and harmful algal blooms in the Mystic.
Restoring habitat >>>
Photo Credit: Manoj Sharma
MyRWA earned its largest grant in the history of the organization–receiving $1,267,685 from the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) fund. The result: eight on-the-ground restoration projects. Improvements to the Mystic River watershed include:
Creating a living shoreline at Draw 7 State Park in Somerville;
Removing flow impediments, restoring salt marsh, and creating healthy habitat at Mill Creek in Chelsea;
Building an improved fish passage at Scalley Dam, thereby opening up 100 acres of herring spawning grounds at Horn Pond in Woburn;
Installing a trash boom along the Malden River to reduce litter entering the river.
Almost 20 acres of wetland establishment and restoration adjacent to Shaker Glen Conservation Area in Woburn, increasing contiguous quality habitat for birds and wildlife.
The first herring was seen April 18th on the underwater "fish cam" at the Mystic Lakes dam. This year, 80 in-person volunteers counted weekly at Horn Pond and we had 5,500 video counters–many of whom watched hundreds of videos. The counts will be used by the Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) to estimate the herring size on the Mystic–which will be released in September.
Though we can’t convene hundreds of volunteers in the parks like normal, MyRWA launched an independent invasive removal project in Torbert Macdonald Park. We kicked off the program via Zoom–educating volunteers about invasive plants in our watershed and the specific issue of oriental bittersweet at Macdonald Park. Now small groups are adopting different plots in the park–to stop these fast-growing plants from crowding out our native species. For Earth Month, #TrashTag Challenge dozens of participants removed 90 bags of litter from our watershed.
Engaged youth and community members >>>
If you have been to the Mystic Lakes Dam lately, you probably noticed that the fabulous mural had faded. No more–thanks to a grant from Medford Arts Council, a local commission that is supported by the Mass Cultural Council and the City of Medford, lead artist Yetti Frenkel and a volunteer crew from MyRWA have repainted the mural. We encourage you to go out to the Lakes to enjoy the cool breeze, abundant birds and shiny, new mural.
During the last school year, MyRWA provided 65 educational sessions (11 of which were virtual after the school shutdown). We are planning for more virtual sessions during the coming school year, and are refining our goals to support teachers as they work to provide engaging virtual content as well as helping connect youth to their communities (local environment and scientists).
MyRWA hosted a dozen engaging webinars--from sharing the ecological herring success story on the Mystic, to the impacts of climate change locally to a fun trivia night.
Vibrant, inclusive and resilient parks >>>
Photo Credit: Chris McIntosh
As a result of our Malden River Vision Plan, MyRWA was part of the successful team that won the first ever Norman B. Leventhal City Prize from MIT. The team is building a coalition of community leaders of color, youth, environmental advocates, and government officials as well as designers—eager for community input into creating a park at the current Department of Public Work site on the Malden River.
MyRWA brought $1.3M in from federal and state sources for the Clippership Connector path in Medford and improvements to Draw 7 and Blessing of the Bay park in Somerville. Check out the planned improvements here.
Climate Resilient Communities >>>
Every single municipality within the watershed has now joined the Resilient Mystic Collaborative—up from 10 when it was founded in 2018. MyRWA is completing a major project in the upper Mystic that is mapping and prioritizing the green infrastructure projects that will help address flooding in the watershed. This summer we are also leading “virtual” functional exercises from control rooms of industries in the Lower Mystic to determine what could break during storm damage, and the resulting cascading failures (think about the 100 petroleum tanks, metal recycling, etc). This will help determine next steps that need to be taken to protect the community’s safety.
On the social resilience side, MyRWA is co-leading efforts to explore how our communities can stay cool during this hot summer in the time of COVID. Like COVID-19, climate change has demonstrably and disproportionately impacted people of color (POC)–making our efforts to focus on equity and social resilience vital.
These program impacts would not be possible without the support of 800 plus donors to the Mystic River Watershed Association. There is so much more to be done, and this will only be possible with wide-community support. Please consider a donation today.
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