Paddling Tour July 21

Rick Beinecke leading a paddling tour on the Mystic River.Join the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) on Monday, July 21st as we explore the Mystic River and hear from author Rick Beinecke about the rich history and natural life of the river. Rick recently published “The Mystic River: A Natural and Human History and Recreation Guide” - for more information about his book click here. The paddling tour will start/end at the Upper Mystic Lake Dam, Mystic Valley Pkwy, Medford. 6:00PM – 8:00PM. Limited to 15 people. Bring your own boat and PFD. Heavy rain cancels the event.

RSVP (required) to Beth@MysticRiver.org or call 781-316-3438.

Mystic River Presentation with Rick Beinecke

You are invited to a presentation by Professor Richard Beinecke of Suffolk University on the history and development of the Mystic River and its environs at the Tufts University Crew Boathouse on the Malden River on June 27 at 5:00pm; 300 Rivers Edge Drive, Medford, MA.

Abundant free parking. Easy access via Route 16 at the Wellington orange line MBTA station.  Modern building in a riverside park.

Event co-sponsored by the Mystic River Watershed Association and the Massachusetts Association of Consulting Planners.

Proessor Beinecke recently published a book titled “The Mystic River: A Natural and Human History and Recreation Guide” which will be the basis of his talk.  A discussion period will follow the presentation.

Malden River Walking Tour - Industrial Eden Program

Come learn more about the history of Spot Pond Brook and the Malden River! As part of the Industrial Eden Program, Ryan Hayward and MyRWA are leading a walking tour of the Park at River’s Edge.

When: Saturday, June 21, 10am - noon

Where: meet at 200 Rivers Edge Drive, Medford, MA

Free and open to the public!

Learn more by visiting www.preservation-collaborative.com/haywardville

The Industrial Eden Program is funded in part by a grant from the Medford, Malden, Melrose and Stoneham Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency; in partnership with: The Preservation Collaborative Inc., The Historic Connection, and the Mystic River Watershed Association.

It's a bird, it's a plane...it's a drone!

Above Summit provided aerial drone videography and photography at the 18th annual Mystic River Herring Run and Paddle. Their work covered the 3, 9 and 12 mile paddling races as part of this event on Sunday, May 18th in Somerville, MA.

Mystic River Herring Run & Paddle from Above Summit on Vimeo.

Additional video coverage of the paddling races was captured by Trevor O'Brien.

MyRWA is THRILLED to have both videos to document the day and promote the races in the future. Thank you Emilie, Jovan and Trevor!

Mass Oyster Project Presentation 6/3

On Tuesday, June 3rd we'll hear from Andrew Jay or the Mass Oyster Project from 7-8pm as part of MyRWA's monthly Committee Meeting. Mr. Jay will discuss the Project goals and history as well as the prospect of a project in the Mystic River Watershed. This meeting is open to the public and we encourage all to attend.

Join us on June 3rd, 7-9PM, at Tufts University, Lincoln Filene Center, Rabb Room.

Art and Film Festival to Celebrate Mystic River June 19-22

The Mystic River will be celebrated in multiple forms during the “Into the Mystic” Environmental Art and Film Festival in Medford Square on June 19-22.

Four film showings, a juried art exhibit, and a river park cleanup will be among the activities during the first-year event, being organized by Medford Arts Center Inc. (MACI) and four environmental groups.

Festivities will begin on Thursday, June 19, with a “sneak preview” at Circle the Square from 4 to 8 p.m. The Into the Mystic booth will be near the Salem Street Burying Ground entrance on Riverside Avenue, where samplings of the winning art entries will be on view, along with an informational display on the headstone artwork at the historic cemetery. The trio of Arlington singer-songwriter Chris Nauman, Kenny Selcer and Steve Gilligan will provide musical entertainment from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

The festival officially gets underway Friday evening with an Opening Night Reception and three short films at the Hyatt Place hotel, 116 Riverside Ave., from 6 to 9 p.m. The films to be shown are:

• “The Mystic Unseen,” produced by Emerson College students, about sanitary sewer overflows in the Mystic River

• “Re-Storying the Anacostia River,” produced by the American University Community Voice Project, about engaging a community in river stewardship

• “Hidden Rivers of Southern Appalachia,” produced by Freshwaters Illustrated, on celebrating the precious creatures who make their homes in our rivers

On Saturday afternoon, Grace Church of Medford’s GreenUp CleanUp will bring its volunteers to Clippership Park along the Mystic for a cleanup from 1 to 3 p.m. Participants should meet at the Mystic Art Gallery at 14 Main Street (behind Citizens Bank facing Clippership Drive).

Saturday evening, the festival’s feature film, “The Mystic Herring Run: The Return of 2012 and Beyond,” will be given its premiere at 7 p.m. at the Hyatt. The documentary, by independent filmmaker Shervin A. Arya, explores the past, present, and future of the Mystic River through the story of the blueback herring. Each spring, tens of thousands of the small fish journey from the inner Boston Harbor to the Upper Mystic Lake to spawn before swimming back out to sea. Arya, founder of Illuminating Minds Media, a cloud-based media production company focused on quality science-based films, will be on hand to discuss his film and take questions.

Meanwhile, the top 20 entries in the Into the Mystic art competition will be displayed festival weekend at the Hyatt all day Friday and Saturday and until 5 p.m. Sunday. The pieces include found art sculpture, photography, mosaic, painting, drawing and mixed media creations.

Admission to all of the festival events is free. Due to limited seating for the film screenings, RSVPs are requested for the Saturday night feature film at this web page.

In addition to MACI, co-sponsors are the Mystic River Watershed Association, Green Medford, the Friends of the Mystic River, and the City of Medford’s Office of Energy and Environment. The festival is also supported in part by a grant from the Medford Arts Council, which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

Bike to the Sea to lead bike tour at Herring Run & Paddle

Bike to the Sea will once again lead a family-friendly non-competitive bike tour as part of the Mystic River Herring Run and Paddle on Sunday, May 18th. Bring your own bike! The tour will depart from the Blessing of the Bay Boathouse, Shore Drive, Somerville at 11:15AM.

View Mystic River Herring Run & Paddle - May 18, 2014 in a larger map

Witness the Herring Migration!

The return of the herring is a sure sign of spring for Mystic River communities, and the Mystic River Watershed Association is happy to offer the public an opportunity to view this annual migration. Join us for an open house at the DCR Upper Mystic Lake Dam on Mystic Valley Parkway in Medford to learn more about the Blueback and Alewife Herring.  If you would like to coordinate a group visit, please contact the Association at 781-316-3438.  Read more about the Herring Monitoring Program at www.mysticriver.org/herring-monitoring/.

Fish Ladder Open House Dates:

• Monday, May 12th, 3PM to 7PM

• Sunday, May 18th, 11AM to 2PM

• Saturday, May 24th, 11AM to 2PM

The Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) was founded in 1972 and has largely functioned as a volunteer-run organization, mobilizing activists on a project-by-project basis. Its mission is to protect and restore the Mystic River, its tributaries and watershed lands for the benefit of present and future generations and to celebrate the value, importance and great beauty of these natural resources. 

For more information see www.MysticRiver.org.

Mystic Communities Come Together to Celebrate Earth Day

Hundreds of volunteers dawning rain coats, work gloves and trash bags gathered in the steady, cold rain in Somerville, Malden, Cambridge and Medford to do their part to clean-up their local green space on Saturday, April 26th. These events were part of Mystic Community Earth Day – a coordinated effort by many community groups and organizations in the Mystic River Watershed to plan events for Earth Day (April 22nd). In 2014 – the fifth consecutive year of this initiative – twenty-one organizations coordinated nine Earth Day events in the Mystic communities of Winchester, Medford, Somerville, Cambridge, Malden, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop. Thanks to the many hundreds of volunteers who participated – together, we collectively removed well over 400 bags of trash, tires and debris! Below is a brief summary of the events.

Cambridge: Results of Alewife Earth Day Cleanup and DCR Park Serve Day could not have been better. Despite the lousy weather for a cleanup program, Friends of Alewife Reservation (FAR) was delighted to receive local residents and students from BU, MIT and UMass Boston. Sara Barbuto from the Mystic River Watershed Association assisted Ellen Mass of Friends of Alewife Reservation at the Alewife T stop where cleanup teams filled up on supplies and carbs to venture deep into the Reservation's 130-acre urban wild and newly constructed storm water wetlands. The goal was to clear the remaining abandoned encampment along the south Little River trail which had been left since the Fall.

Chelsea: On May 3rd seventy-five community members gathered at City Hall to take action in making Chelsea a cleaner environment. We collected over 100 bags of trash and recyclables along with 17 tires we took out of the marina. We also planted a tree on Bellingham Street to kick-off our tree project of planting 700 trees throughout Chelsea. 

Medford: Friends of the Mystic River hosted its 19th annual Mystic River Spring Clean-Up, attracting 30 volunteers to cleanup Mystic Riverbend Park , Condon Band Shell park and in the Auburn Street/Boston Avenue/Route 16 area near Whole Foods Market. Among the more unusual items collected were a toaster and an ironing board.

Malden: Tri-City Community Action Program, Inc. (Tri-CAP) partnered with Groundwork Somerville and their sponsor, Comcast Cares that provided breakfast foods, gloves, and bags; Bike to the Sea; Friends of the Malden River; and Cambridge Health Alliance/Malden. This was Tri-CAP’s fifth annual Earth Day clean-up, which focuses on the Malden River. This year, due to the earlier good work of Malden’s Department of Public Works, there was less trash to pick up than previously. Cambridge Health Alliance’s groundskeepers have also been maintaining the river bank at their Canal Street site. As a result of these efforts, the 20 committed volunteers did the clean-up along the Bike to the Sea path from Medford Street, near the CHA site, to the Madeline English School in Everett. Approximately 10 large trash bags and 5 recyclable bags were filled.

Somerville: Mystic River Watershed Association, the City of Somerville, Groundwork Somerville, Gentle Giant Rowing Club and KEEN Footwear hosted a river clean-up at the Blessing of the Bay Boathouse in Somerville. The event was also part of Comcast Cares Day and BU's Global Day of Service. The more than 100 volunteers collected over 200 bags of trash along I-93 and the river, as well as planted and mulched the garden beds at the boathouse.

MyRWA to receive award

The Universities Council on Water Resources will award MyRWA with the Education and Public Service Award for 2014 at the June 19th awards banquet. MyRWA was nominated by Dr. John Durant, a Professor at the Tufts University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering for our work to protect and restore the Mystic River. Patrick Herron will accept the award on MyRWA’s behalf. Thank you Universities Council on Water Resources and Dr. John Durant for this honor!