On Aug. 22, the US EPA and US Dept. of Justice announced that Sterling Suffolk Racecourse LLC will pay a civil penalty of $1.25 million to resolve violations of the Clean Water Act at its Suffolk Downs racetrack facility in Revere and East Boston. The consent decree alleges that Suffolk allowed polluted wastewater, including horse manure, urine and bedding material, to discharge into Sales Creek, a tributary of Belle Isle Inlet and Boston Harbor. The company is also spending more than $3 million to prevent polluted water from entering nearby waterways and will perform three environmental projects worth approximately $742,000 that will provide water quality monitoring and protection efforts for more than 123 square miles of watershed. The Mystic River Watershed Association has been selected to manage a monthly water quality monitoring program intended to support environmental protection and restoration as part of these supplemental environmental projects.
Malden River Festival Announced for 9/22
This information is courtesy of Tri-City Community Action Program, Inc.
Join Your Friends and Neighbors at the Third Annual Malden River Festival at the Park at River’s Edge, Saturday, September 22, 2012
Tri-City Community Action Program, Inc., invites you, your family, neighbors and friends to join us in the 3rd Annual Malden River Festival, at the Park at River’s Edge, on Saturday, September 22, 2012, 11A-3P. (The rain date is the following day – Sunday, September 23, 2012.) Tufts University and Preotle, Lane & Associates (developer of River’s Edge) continue to help Tri-CAP sponsor this new annual community event. A number of other organizations throughout the Tri-Cities and surrounding communities are partnering with Tri-CAP to make this a community event that you don’t want to miss. Admission is free and will feature live entertainment, food, demonstration tables, and more family-fun activities. By popular demand, there will again be art exhibits by local residents from Malden, Medford, Everett, and the surrounding communities—including the winners of the Mystic Valley Elder Services’ annual Senior Art Show. The art exhibits will be from 11:00 A – 3:00 P, with entertainment between 12:00 noon – 3:00P. Free parking is available in the River’s Edge parking lot. So, bring the family and enjoy!
Mark your calendars now. Come join us for a day of fun, food, and celebration of a local natural resource—the Malden River!
For more information, you can contact: Loretta Kemp at Tri-City Community Action Program, Inc. (Tri-CAP), at lkemp@tri-cap.org.
Mystic River Herring Run Estimated at 198,932
For the first time since the Civil War, river herring (both Alewife and Blueback herring) made their way to the Upper Mystic Lake on their own. Using the newly renovated Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Mystic Lakes Dam, which now includes a fish ladder, these fish traveled from the Atlantic Ocean to some of the most desirable spawning habitat in the Mystic River Watershed – the Upper Mystic Lake in Medford, Arlington and Winchester. And their epic journey did not go unnoticed. For twelve weeks volunteers with the Mystic River Watershed Association’s newly established Herring Monitoring Program counted herring at the fish ladder twelve times every day. All told, 21,052 herring were counted passing through the fish ladder thanks to the steadfast efforts of over 85 volunteer fish monitors, logging 685 total observations.
Using Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries software, Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) staff scientists estimate that 198,932 +/- 18,062 herring migrated to the Upper Mystic Lake this spring. This data represents an important baseline determining critical herring trends in the Mystic River Watershed and allows us to learn more about herring habitat conditions. In addition to the Herring Monitoring Program, the Mystic River Watershed Association also performs herring habitat assessments of Mystic River, Alewife Brook, Little River and Little Pond.
Katrina Sukola, Watershed Scientist at Mystic River Watershed Association, said of the run, "the Herring Monitoring Program has been one of the most successful volunteer programs MyRWA has had. The construction of the new fish ladder has allowed this interesting opportunity for volunteers to view and monitor herring, and allowed herring passage to the Upper Mystic Lake to spawn easily for the first time. It's an exciting new program, and we are happy with the first year's results."
The Herring Monitoring Program would not be possible without permission from and collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and generous financial support from Federal Realty Investment Trust. This Program allowed local residents, including children of all ages, to be witness to this ancient and inspiring migration. The Mystic River Watershed Association will continue the Herring Monitoring Program next year, and new volunteers are encouraged to sign-up as fish counters. Learn more about the Herring Monitoring Program at www.mysticriver.org/herring-monitoring/.
Why Monitor River Herring?
Monitoring river herring is especially important in light of the species’ recent population decline. Over the last decade, coastal landings of both river herring species averaged a little more than one million pounds—indicating a decline of more than 98 percent when compared to averages from 1950 to 1970. Between 2000 and 2010 Alewife counts in Massachusetts’ Monument and Mattapoisett Rivers—two of the state’s most significant herring runs—plummeted almost 85 and 95 percent respectively. River herring population decline is associated with many factors including pollution, by-catch (unintentionally caught fish), lack of spawning habitat, habitat degradation, and dams.
With regard to by-catch there is some very good news for river herring. Steps taken in June 2012 by the New England Fishery Management Council to regulate the industrial Atlantic herring fishing fleet will help protect this small forage fish. By requiring new permit conditions for large scale mid-water trawlers, the Council will help commercial fisherman strike a better balance between the target fish and those species that are simply caught up in their nets. New permit conditions include independent observers on board, a limit to dumping, a river herring catch cap and a more accurate weighing of fish caught by these massive operations. These actions taken by the New England and other east coast Fishery Councils will go a long way to help restore river herring populations.
806 Baskets of Water Chestnuts Removed!
Thanks to the over 70 volunteers who helped remove invasive water chestnuts from the Mystic River in Somerville on Aug. 4th. We removed 806 baskets of water chestnuts thanks to support from the MA Dept. of Conservation and Recreation, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, City of Somerville, Environmental Resources Management, Boston Volunteers, Harvard Environmental Extension Club, Friends of the Mystic River, Groundwork Somerville, Gentle Giant Rowing Club and Flatbread Pizza.
Special Event: Meet Me At the Mystic!
Join your friends and neighbors in an early morning cheer to the river and watershed – a resource that has brought so much enjoyment to our community. Meet us at 9:00AM on Saturday, September 8 at the parking lot beside the new dam between the Upper and Lower Mystic Lakes. Reserve your boat here. Come by bike, boat, on foot or drive. We have a full family-friendly schedule that will stretch from the dam to Alewife Brook as we plan to have artists and music along the banks for your morning enjoyment.
Belmont Public Forum on Storms, Floods, and Pollution
Sponsored by the Belmont Citizens Forum
Where: Winn Brook School Cafeteria, Belmont
When: 7:00 – 9:00 pm, Thursday September 13, 2012
How can you as a homeowner make a difference in improving water quality and reduce flooding in your community?
Clean water is becoming an increasingly precious resource. Managing water from storms such as the mid-July series of thunderstorms that drop inches of water at a time is a critical challenge, given the increase of impervious surfaces in our urban communities. Such surfaces don’t allow the slow infiltration into the earth needed to cleanse water and refresh aquifers, resulting in floods followed by low water levels in waterways, affecting their entire ecology. Water from increasingly severe storms gets into our sewers, overburdening them and sewage treatment plants, leaving sewer overflow damage behind.
Come hear experts discuss local and regional storm water management issues. Find your home on official FEMA maps showing flood patterns in the Winn Brook and other Alewife Brook watershed neighborhoods. Find out what difference citizen voices can make to government decisions about the prevention of flooding and pollution caused by excess storm water.
Bring your questions and concerns!
Panelists:
Kathy Baskin Director of Water Policy, Mass. Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs
Glenn Clancy Belmont Director of Office for Community Development
Patrick Herron Mystic Monitoring Network Director, Mystic River Watershed Association
Ralph Jones Belmont Selectman
Richard Vogel Director, Tufts University’s graduate program, "Water: Systems, Science, and Society"
Moderator: Fred Paulsen, Belmont Town Meeting Member
Non-Profit Cosponsors:
Sustainable Belmont
Mystic River Watershed Association
Friends of Alewife Reservation
Coalition to Protect the Belmont Uplands
Call for Submissions: Volunteer of The Year
Do you know a MyRWA volunteer who goes above and beyond? Here at MyRWA, we rely upon the gracious efforts of our volunteers throughout the year and for a variety of projects. Each year, we select one volunteer to honor at our annual meeting (October 25, 2012).
Who is your volunteer extraordinaire of 2012? Please submit your nomination of someone who has performed significant work towards protecting and restoring the Mystic River Watershed. This person could be a volunteer at MyRWA or another organization, but must be working to improve environmental conditions in the Mystic River Watershed.
Submit your proposals to Beth@MysticRiver.org or by calling Beth at 781-316-3438.
Please include:
Your full name, email address and phone number.
Full name, email address and phone number (if you have it) of your suggestion for Volunteer of the Year. Include a short explanation of this person’s contribution to a healthier Mystic River Watershed.
Volunteer of the Year nominations are due by Friday, September 14, 2012.
Special Presentation Aug. 7 on Herring Monitoring Program Results
This spring, MyRWA coordinated the Mystic River's first Herring Monitoring Program at the Mystic Lakes Dam. This citizen science program relied on 85 volunteers who collected 685 observations over the 82 day program. This data can be used to extrapolate herring run size in the Mystic River. Given that the 2012 program was MyRWA's first, there were many bumps along the road. However, we met program goals, collected valuable data, and learned a lot. Join MyRWA staff, Katrina Sukola and Herring Monitoring Intern, Meghna Marjadi as they present MyRWA's findings on the Mystic River herring run and how to improve the program for next year's herring run.
When: Tuesday, August 7, 7-8pm
Where: Tufts University, Lincoln Filene Center Rabb Room, Medford
Free and open to the public!
Help Remove Invasive Water Chestnuts 8/4
Come do your part to remove the invasive plant, water chestnut, from the Mystic! The next event is on Sat. Aug. 4th, 9am - 1pm, at the DCR Blessing of the Bay Boathouse, 32 Shore Drive, Somerville, MA. Please REGISTER as there are a limited number of canoes available (or bring your own boat).
High Cyanobacteria Levels Close Beaches
MyRWA cyanobacteria monitors found high levels of the potentially harmful blue-green algae at both Horn Pond in Woburn and Wedge Pond in Winchester on July 25. MyRWA contacted the Department of Public Health with this data and the Towns have since posted advisory signs at the beaches to alert the public of this potential health risk.
