Corporate Volunteer Opportunity

The Mystic River Watershed Association has a unique opportunity for your business, church or community group. We are seeking groups of up to 100 people to help remove water chestnut, an invasive plant, from the Mystic River while offering a fun team-building day!

The Need

Water chestnut is an invasive plant that has recently exploded in the Mystic River. It forms huge stands that impede boats and have negative effects on fish, native plants, and water quality. Managing water chestnut is a major goal of river front towns and cities, boat clubs, river advocates, and citizen groups.

The Opportunity

One of the most effective ways to remove water chestnut is also fun! A four-hour event with 10 to 100 people in canoes can have a tremendous effect, clearing acres of this invasive plant. By sponsoring a corporate event, your company can participate in a major green initiative while providing a great team-building opportunity and rewarding day on the river for your employees. We have worked with many organizations and companies over the past five years, including IBM, FedEx and Citizens Bank, and supply all the materials and expertise necessary.

The Impact

In five years, thousands of volunteers have removed tens of thousands of baskets of water chestnut, clearing many acres of the river. We are aiming to expand our efforts every year. Studies have shown that the key to ultimate success in management is sustained effort at the same site over several years. Join us this year to help us meet our goals!

For More Information

Water Chestnut Project Coordinator, waterchestnut@mysticriver.org, 781-316-3438

Job Opportunity at Spy Pond Condominium

The Shoreline Manager will care for shoreline plants at the Spy Pond Condominium in Arlington, Massachusetts. Schedule is flexible and depending upon seasonal growth will require five to fifteen hours per week beginning March or April through November.  Responsibilities involve attending an orientation to the shoreline, developing working knowledge of the plants, tending to them, and controlling and eradicating invasive species.  The successful candidate must be self motivated and have the ability to prioritize independently.  Candidates with working knowledge of invasive species are preferred.  The hourly rate is $15.00. Tools, gloves, and gardening supplies will be provided.  The Shoreline Manger will report to the Co-chairs of the Landscape Committee at the Spy Pond Condominium.  Interested candidates should contact Adrienne Landry at info@adriennelandry.com.

MyRWA Comments on EPA Small MS4 Permit for Massachusetts

MyRWA staff and the Policy Committee submitted extensive comments on the 2014 Draft Massachusetts Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) General Permit issued by the US EPA. When approved, the permit will provide guidance to municipalities that will result in improved management of stormwater infrastructure and eventually cleaner water. The content of the permit is important to our members as the rivers, lakes, streams and ponds of this watershed are a long way from being the resource that the Clean Water Act promises. MyRWA commends the strong efforts of Rusty Russell, Nathan Sanders, Tracy Olson and Veronique Vicard, among others, in helping to write this comment letter.

MYSTIC RIVER WATERSHED ASSOCIATION VOLUNTEERS FEATURED IN NEW EBOOK

Press Release provided by Robert Barossi

-------------------

MYSTIC RIVER WATERSHED ASSOCIATION VOLUNTEERS FEATURED IN NEW EBOOK, BEING WHERE YOU ARE: HOW ENVIRONMENTAL VOLUNTEERS IMPACT THEIR COMMUNITY AND THE PLANET EVERY DAY

By Robert Barossi

ARLINGTON, MA - Their efforts often overlooked, volunteers play a vital role in the environmental solutions of our time. Freely giving of their time and devotion, environmental volunteers are ordinary citizens who consistently give back to their local communities, both man-made and natural. These are the stories of those volunteers and their extraordinary work.

Being Where You Are: How Environmental Volunteers Impact Their Community and the Planet Every Day features the stories of an eclectic group of environmentally involved citizens. They include a frog song monitor who used to be terrified of frogs, a man whose personal mission and life’s work is to clean his town’s beaches, and a mother-daughter team of suburban beetle ranchers, among others. Their efforts run the gamut from monitoring osprey nests and banding songbirds to pulling trash out of rivers and educating children at nature centers. While the locales range from small coastal towns and mountain villages to major cities, all of the volunteers have a deep connection to the special places where they live. They also have a lot to say and teach about the environmental problems we all face and how every person, regardless of location or stage of life, can get involved and do their part.

Told by the volunteers, in their own words, these are stories of giving back to the community and the planet. Stories of finding special connections to special places. Stories of the many ways that anyone who is willing and able can have a powerful and lasting impact on those places. This includes stories from Michael Ripple and Karen Buck, both active volunteers for the Mystic River Watershed Association who give of themselves, their time and effort, in many ways. These dedicated and passionate citizens demonstrate how volunteers can and do get involved in important environmental work along the Mystic River and in similar watersheds everywhere.

Being Where You Are is currently available as an eBook, with a print version planned for the near future. It can be downloaded for $1.99 at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, the Apple iTunes store, KoboBooks.com and other online eBook retailers.

About the Author: For more than three years, Robert Barossi has been immersed in the world and work of environmental volunteers. In April of 2011, he began working with the Trustees of Reservations, the largest land conservation organization in Massachusetts, on a public relations project aimed at the group’s volunteers. Robert spent that spring and summer attending volunteer events, meeting with volunteers, speaking with them and interviewing them, at Trustees properties across the state. Over the summer and fall of 2011, he worked with the Trustees’ Public Relations Manager, writing press releases detailing the stories of the interviewed volunteers. The following spring and summer, Robert began the process of contacting and interviewing volunteers for the work that culminated in Being Where You Are. Over the course of the project, approximately eighty environmental organizations were contacted. Many volunteer program directors and managers responded, enthusiastically interested in taking part and willing to facilitate contact with the organization’s volunteers. He then contacted volunteers at all of the responding organizations, eventually interviewing roughly sixty of them, from Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, varying in age from twenty-three to eighty years old. Those interviews now make up the chapters of Being Where You Are. Robert is a recent graduate of Green Mountain College, where he received his Masters of Science in Environmental Studies, with a concentration in writing and communications.  Recently, his environmental writing has appeared on the blog for The Trustees of Reservations, as well as a new environmental blog which he helped to launch, The Ecotone Exchange (theecotoneexchange.com). He has continued to tell the stories of environmental volunteers at his own blog, Being Where You Are (beingwhereyouare.com) and can be followed on Twitter @RobBarossi.

volunteer to count fish!

The Mystic River Watershed Association will launch the fourth year of the Herring Monitoring Program on April 1st. Volunteer herring monitors are needed to count fish for a ten minute slot at the DCR Upper Mystic Lake Dam in Medford. Training will be held on Saturday, March 21st from 10am until noon at the Medford Boat Club. All herring monitors MUST REGISTER for this training (if you can’t make it on March 21st we’ll find another date to train you. If you have participated as a herring monitor in the past and would like to participate again in 2015 please register as well.)

Mystic River Watershed Initiative Science Forum - April 9th

The Mystic River Watershed Initiative Science Forum will be held on Thursday, April 9th in Court Room 6, on the 15th floor at EPA New England: 5 Post Office Square, Boston. We recommend arriving early to leave time for EPA's airport style security. Coffee and snacks are available for sale on the 3rd floor. If you plan to attend, please RSVP by emailing glivinski.elizabeth@epa.gov.

MYSTIC RIVER WATERSHED INITIATIVE SCIENCE FORUM AGENDA

Thursday, April 9, 2015
8:30 am to 1:00 pm
EPA Region 1
5 Post Office Square, Boston
Court Room 6

8:30      Sign-in

8:45      Welcome and Introduction, The EPA and the Consensus Building Institute

9:15      Conditions in Alewife Brook, Mystic River mouth and update on basin overenrichment, Kelly Coughlin and David Taylor, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA)

10:00    Modeling storm event phosphorus in Alewife Brook with respect to climate change, Kate Munson, Tufts University

10:30    State of the Mystic in 2014: Current conditions, trends, and new insights, Andy Hrycyna and Patrick Herron, Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA)

11:00    Break 

11:15    The Mystic River Watershed: CEHS and MIT Engineering field lab experiences for students past and present, Harry Hemond, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

11:45    Alewife Constructed Wetland: stormwater attenuation, water quality improvements, ecological enhancements and recreational opportunities, Catherine Woodbury, City of Cambridge

12:15    Opportunities for Coordination and Collaboration in 2015

 Consensus Building Institute

• Briefly share planned activities in 2015 - EPA, MyWRA, and Forum Participants

• Discuss opportunities to collaborate or coordinate efforts to better understand the conditions of the Mystic Watershed - All

• Feedback on Forum/Input for next year

12:55    Closing Comments, Patrick Herron, MyRWA

1:00      Adjourn

Summer 2015: Water Quality Monitoring Internship

Summer Internship with the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA)

The Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) seeks two Water Quality Monitoring Interns to assist in a water quality monitoring program from late May through August.  Since 1972, MyRWA has played a unique role in the whole of the watershed by its science, advocacy, and outreach efforts. Among these efforts MyRWA characterizes water quality problems in the Mystic River Watershed, informing stakeholder efforts to reduce pollutant inputs and thereby improve water quality.

Water Quality Interns will conduct water quality monitoring at several sites across the watershed, collecting data on a variety of parameters, including bacteria. Interns will also collect data on cyanobacteria populations from several recreational sites to safeguard the public health of residents who live in the watershed. Data is shared with stakeholders including the public, municipalities, Department of Public Health and the US Environmental Protection Agency.  (Learn more about MyRWA’s Cyanobacteria Monitoring Program here.)

Interns will work both in and out of the office, and must be able to work independently and as a team. This is a part-time position that requires a commitment of two days a week during the Monday through Friday work week that are agreed upon between the interns (14-16 hours/week).  Start times of 7AM will be necessary, because of sampling protocols. Primary duties include monitoring local water bodies, collecting water samples (training provided), analysis of samples, and data entry.  Additional duties may include assisting with database and data reporting.  Interns will learn about the scientific tools applied to monitor water quality and the efforts that a watershed association undertakes to advocate for water quality improvements based on this information. 

Qualifications:

• An interest in science, the environment and advocacy is encouraged.

• Experience with Microsoft Excel preferred, Microsoft Access considered an asset.

• Having reliable transportation is strongly preferred, and mileage will be reimbursed.

Exact dates can be flexible depending on the candidate. These are unpaid positions.

The Mystic River Watershed Association is based in Arlington, MA and is accessible via several bus routes. 

The Mystic River Watershed Association is an equal opportunity employer.

Deadline to apply is March 15 but applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis starting February 15, 2015.  To apply send your cover letter and resume to WQInternship@MysticRiver.org.  No phone calls please.

2014 Year In Review Now Available

The Mystic River Watershed Association maintained its core water quality monitoring programs, water chestnut removal efforts, and outreach and education programs in 2014, while adding new and exciting projects and initiatives. We hope you'll enjoy reading about some of the highlights of the year in our Annual Report. Thanks to the many supporters that make this work possible!

RETURNING LIFE TO THE ABERJONA - special event 3/5/15

Please join MyRWA and Sustainable Winchester for an evening about blueback and alewife herring! We'll provide an update on the possibility of installing a fish ladder at the Center Falls dam and the results of a two-year herring habitat study of the Aberjona River conducted by the Mystic River Watershed Association and funded by En Ka. Also of discussion will be the possibility of day-lighting the Aberjona River. We'll conclude the evening by screening a short film, "The Mystic Herring Run: The Return of 2012 and Beyond" by Shervin A. Arya.

Find out more and register for this (free) event here - space is limited!

Registration open for “The Future of Water in Southeastern Massachusetts”

Press Release provided by the Watershed Action Alliance of Southeastern Massachusetts.

--------------

Registration is now open for The Future of Water in Southeastern Massachusetts, a one-day conference organized by Watershed Action Alliance in partnership with Plimoth Plantation.  It will be held on Friday, April 24 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, MA. To register, click here. For more information, click here.

The conference will provide information and networking opportunities relevant to professionals and volunteers working or interested in water conservation, sustainable water management and river restoration.  Sessions include the four big areas in water conservation: stormwater, drinking water, recreational water and wastewater, as well as three crucial topics in nonprofit endeavors: fundraising, outreach, and science and data collection. For session descriptions and panelist biographies, click here.

The plenary speaker, Eric Walberg, is the Senior Program Leader in Climate Services at Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences. He will discuss past trends and future projections in temperature, precipitation and sea level rise for New England and the ramifications for watershed management.

An exhibit hall will feature displays and posters from nonprofit organizations, government agencies, businesses and students illustrating successes and some of the latest work in research, conservation, river restoration projects and techniques, and more. To register your display or poster, click here.

Water, critical to all of us, requires prudent management, realistic planning and effective regulation for protection of waterways, recreational areas, aquatic wildlife and drinking water. Our water resources are threatened by Increasing population and development pressures in southeastern Massachusetts. It is imperative that we work now to plan for a future with clean and plentiful water, restored rivers with abundant wildlife, and safe and efficient ways to treat wastewater and stormwater. Join Watershed Action Alliance and others at “The Future of Water in Southeastern Massachusetts” in striving toward this end.

Conference sponsors: Island Foundation, Sheehan Family Foundation, MA Division of Ecological Restoration, Mass Audubon: Shaping the Future of Your Community, Duxbury Cultural Council, Herring Ponds Watershed Association, Horsley Witten Group, Plymouth Area League of Women Voters, Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, Massachusetts Bays Program, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Neponset River Watershed Association, North and South Rivers Watershed Association, Plymouth Cultural Council, Save the Bay, Six Ponds Improvement Association, Weir River Watershed Association, Wildlands Trust, and Halifax Cultural Council. To become a conference sponsor, click here.

For questions and comments, please email the conference coordinator: dorie.stolley@jhu.edu.