Guest Presentation: Advocating for Clean Water

MyRWA is thrilled to announce Environmental League of Massachusetts Erica Mattison as a guest speaker at the August Committee Meeting. Please join us! 

Come explore how we can enhance our effectiveness as clean water advocates.  Learn strategies from the Environmental League’s Erica Mattison, MPA, JD.  Erica leads the Green Budget Coalition and the MA Environmental Collaborative, both of which MyRWA participates in.

This presentation is part of the Mystic River Watershed Association’s monthly Committee Meeting. The meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday August 2, 2016 at Tufts University, Tisch College of Citizenship & Public Service, Lincoln Filene Hall, Rabb Room, 10 Upper Campus Road, Medford. Free and open to the public!

Erica Mattison, Legislative Director at ELM

Mystic LandLine Bike Ride

Get the next LandLine ride on your calendar! LandLine is MAPC's vision to connect our greenways and trails into a seamless network. The plan has been developed in coordination with the LandLine Coalition, a group of 40 volunteers representing a number of local agencies and advocacy groups.

What: Mystic River- the final frontier of waterfront path and park development in Metro Boston! This ride will include beautiful spaces along the Mystic and Malden Rivers as well as projects in the works to expand and connect the network*. Bruce Kulik of the Medford Bicycle Advisory Committee will be co-hosting and Jay Monty, Transportation Planner with the City of Everett will be joining to share the latest in Everett. 

 When: Wednesday, July 13th, 5:30 pm (end by 8 pm)
Where: Meet at the North Bank Bridge (Cambridge side of the bridge, in front of Education First/Lynch Family Skate Park in North Point Park), end at Alewife Brook Greenway

*As there is still work to be done to create safe, off-road paths in this area, some parts of the ride will not be as pleasant as others, but we will ensure a safe trip and you'll get the inside scoop on path development.

Environmental Economics in the Mystic River Watershed

How can you assign a value to a healthy environment? Are you curious about how ecosystem services analysis or other tools in environmental economics could be applied to the Mystic? Please plan on joining Nejem Raheem, Associate Professor in the Department Of Marketing Communication at Emerson College at the Mystic River Watershed Association’s July 5th Committee Meeting.  Nejem Raheem has over 10 years of experience as an environmental economist. His expertise is in economic analysis of natural resource and environmental issues, focusing on ecosystem services and traditional or indigenous economies.

This presentation is part of the Mystic River Watershed Association’s monthly Committee Meeting. The meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. on July 5, 2016 at Tufts University, Tisch College of Citizenship & Public Service, Lincoln Filene Hall, Rabb Room, 10 Upper Campus Road, Medford. Free and open to the public!

Cleaning up the Mystic River – Water Chestnut Removal to Begin

Volunteers remove water chestnut from the Mystic River.

On Wednesday, June 15 the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) will launch the seventh year of water chestnut removal efforts. Native to Asia, Europe and Africa, water chestnut thrives in the nutrient rich waters of the Mystic River Watershed, including the Arlington Reservoir– in some places extending nearly shore to shore. This vegetative mat impedes boating, fishing, and swimming and crowds out native plants. Additionally, the decomposition of large quantities of water chestnuts lowers dissolved oxygen, which can lead to fish kills.

Volunteers from the local area will hand-pull this invasive plant from the Arlington Reservoir – an initiative funded through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program. Bank of America, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S.D.A. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, FedEx, Southern Company and Alcoa participate in this conservation program in support of the environment and helping our local communities.

MyRWA partners with corporations, local businesses, and community groups throughout the summer to offer fun and rewarding group volunteer opportunities. Using canoes, volunteers pull water chestnuts out of the water by hand and collect the material on shore for composting.

Additional events are scheduled for the community to be involved on Saturdays, June 18th, July 16th and July 30th. Events run from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. All supplies are provided for these family-friendly events. The June 18th event will tackle water chestnut at the Arlington Reservoir on Lowell St. Check the website for locations of the July events. Boats are limited so please register in advance at www.mysticriver.org/water-chestnut-removal-project/.

If you have any questions contact the Water Chestnut Project Coordinator at waterchestnut@MysticRiver.org.

Mystic River Water Quality Grade Announced

US EPA Regional Administrator Curt Spalding, MyRWA Executive Director EkOngKar Singh Khalsa, Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, US Congressman Michael Capuano

For the second year the US EPA issued localized water quality grades to provide information on how frequently Mystic waterbodies meet standards for swimming and boating. We are pleased to share that the Mystic River (fresh and salt water sections) received an A- , the Mystic Lakes an A+ and Chelsea Creek an A-. These water bodies meet bacteria standards for swimming and boating on average greater than 85% of the time. That's right -the Mystic River is a great place to go boating and the Mystic Lakes are a great place for a swim! The grade also shows that much work lies ahead in realizing the promise of the Clean Water Act in many of our water bodies. For example, the Malden River is a C, the Aberjona River is a C+ and Alewife Brook is a D. Please explore conditions and read the US EPA press release. View a map here.

DCR Recreational Advisory: Temporary Path Closures in Medford’s MacDonald Park

Press release from the MA DCR:

DCR Recreational Advisory: Temporary Path Closures in Medford’s MacDonald Park

WHAT:           On or about Wednesday, June 1, 2016, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) will be closing segments of the MacDonald Park Pathway System for reconstruction and restoration.

Sections of this pathway are suffering from unsafe edges, pavement deterioration and root damage. The project will include reconstruction, rerouting, loam and seeding shoulders and erosion controls to protect the adjacent Mystic River. The DCR will also be removing one segment of overgrown and unsafe asphalt path.

Alternative routes will be open and available along Mystic Valley Parkway.

WHERE:         MacDonald Park, Mystic Valley Parkway, Medford
WHEN:           Expected, Wednesday, June 1 to June 30, 2016

Children's theater production about the Mystic!

Wild Tales presents “SONG OF THE RIVER” - a children’s theater production about the Mystic River. The play explores the effect that invasive water plants have on the river’s well-being, and it is filled with a fanciful collection of birds, fish, dragonflies, mermaids, people and a big orange harvester named Hannah. It is being performed at SCATV (Somerville Community Access TV) in Union Square on Saturday, June 11th at 2:00. It is free and funded by a grant from the Somerville Arts Council.

MyRWA speaks out in support of CLF lawsuit

Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) president Bradley Campbell announced a major lawsuit against ExxonMobil for its decades-long climate deceit on May 17th. This is the first lawsuit against ExxonMobil since revelations last September that the corporation has engaged in a deliberate cover-up of sound climate science for over thirty years. The Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) and Chelsea Green Space joined Campbell at the press conference.

MyRWA's Executive Director, EkOngKar Singh Khalsa.

MyRWA's Executive Director EkOngKar Singh Khalsa gave the following comments:

The Mystic is a great river, a river of history. Mystic River communities are among the most diverse and densely developed in the Commonwealth and for the past forty years many people and many organizations including the Mystic River Watershed Association have fought to restore the river to good health. 

As a result, it is very disappointing to learn that ExxonMobil is violating its own Federal permit and regularly discharging pollution to the Mystic River. It is very disheartening to learn that ExxonMobil has done nothing at its Everett facility to protect the community from climate change impacts which it has apparently known are coming for quite some time. 

In the Mystic right now, one of New England’s largest migrations of river herring is underway. Hundreds of thousands of fish will pass up the Mystic River and through the Mystic Lakes dam to spawn in Upper Mystic Lake. This wonderful natural phenomena, which has continued without break for the last ten thousand years, needs to be protected. This river is a living system visited by striped bass and harbor seals - where wildlife seeks refuge and eagles fly overhead. 

In the City of Everett great effort is being made to reconnect the community to its waterfront at the Wynn Resorts site and elsewhere. Just one half-mile up river from where we are, the City of Somerville and Federal Realty are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to improve life on the river’s banks at Assembly Row. John Preotle is restoring the Malden River at River’s Edge and Tufts University has brought its rowing team to practice there. 

In Chelsea, Everett and East Boston, local community activists are finding ways to bring people to the river, inspire young students to learn more about the local environment and to provide outdoor recreation opportunities for Mystic River communities. 

It is tremendously unfair that one of the world’s largest corporations is putting all of this work in jeopardy. It is time for ExxonMobil to step up to the plate to address the ongoing harm it is causing our river and our community. 

We are very grateful that Conservation Law Foundation is holding ExxonMobil accountable for its actions and for CLF’s promise to help protect and restore the natural environment of the Mystic River.

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

View a video of the press conference on CLF's Facebook page (you don't need to sign-in to Facebook or have an account to watch this.) 

Watch EK's WGBH interview.

Read the WBUR and Boston Globe coverage.

What is your vision for Macdonald Park?

Mystic River Watershed Association is collaborating with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to revitalize Macdonald Park, the Mystic River's largest parkland and open space amenity. This is an important project of MyRWA’s Mystic Greenway Initiative - a multi-year effort to revitalize the waterfront with a seamless network of paths and parks.

To make this park one that is used and treasured by the thousands of people that live, work and play in the area, we need to hear from you! Please fill out this survey or draft a letter to DCR by May 26th to share your ideas for this park revitalization project.

Survey
What is your vision for Macdonald Park? Give us feedback in the survey.

DCR Presentation
To see more information on the park improvement in the DCR’s presentation from May 11th. 

The public is invited to submit comments after the meeting either online or by U.S. mail addressed to the Department of Conservation and Recreation, Office of Public Outreach, 251 Causeway Street, 6th Floor, Boston, MA. Comments must be received by DCR by the close-of-business on Thursday, May 26.

Swimming Upstream: Bringing Herring Back to Winchester

By John Kilborn, Winchester resident, with help from John Shawcross, Ann Storer, and Beth MacBlane

The Mystic River watershed, including the Aberjona River in Winchester, supports one of the largest upstream runs, or migrations, of river herring in Massachusetts. Efforts are underway to build a fish ladder in Winchester, which could increase the number of migrating herring, perhaps making the migration the largest in the Commonwealth.

Each spring, schools of river herring swim up the Mystic River from the Atlantic to spawn (lay eggs) in the fresh waters of the watershed.  The adults quickly return to the ocean after spawning, but the juvenile fish grow and migrate back to the ocean in late summer and fall.  Most herring spawn in the same river system where they were hatched. 

These small but numerous fish are an important part of the ecosystem.  They provide food for marine mammals like whales; land animals; fish, such as striped bass; and local birds, such as, herons and eagles. 

Historical records discovered by the Town Archivist from the 1870s confirm that there was an active herring run into Winchester, and “great numbers” of herring were taken for food and other purposes.  In 1870, Winchester built a fishway over the Central Falls dam in Winchester center at Main Street.  In 1872, it was reported that the herring “swarmed in our waters last spring.”  

But by the early 1900s, the herring migration was likely blocked by dams and other man-made obstructions, and water quality was poor.  In 2011, however, the state constructed a fish ladder in the Mystic Lakes dam that allows the herring to bypass the dam and swim farther upstream.  This ladder has opened up significant new habitat suitable for herring reproduction.  In 2015, the number of fish using the ladder almost doubled, perhaps as a result of the additional habitat.

Winchester's Central Falls Dam. © David Mussina.

The fish are now blocked by Winchester’s Central Falls dam.  (This is this semi-circular dam next to Lincoln School and across from the Library.)  Last June, thousands of fish were stuck in front of the dam, and observers said that it looked as if you could cross the river on the backs of the herring.  When the dam’s floodgates were opened, the fish quickly swam up river—all the way to Horn Pond in Woburn, which could provide significant new breeding habitat.     

Local volunteers, Town of Winchester officials, and the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) have been working to install a fish ladder in Winchester’s Central Falls dam.  This ladder will allow the herring to pass up and down river, while allowing the Town to control the water levels of the Mill Pond by the library.

With funding from the En Ka Society, MyRWA tested the quality of the Aberjona for two years to ensure that it was good enough for spawning and fish growth. Although the Aberjona has some water quality impairments, none are significant enough to stop the migration.

The good news is that construction of a fish ladder at Winchester’s Central Falls dam may begin this November. Agreements for the construction are not yet complete, but a final design is being prepared.  The performing parties at a Superfund cleanup site in Woburn have preliminarily agreed to fund construction of the ladder.  In addition, the state will make improvements to a spillway in Horn Pond to ease fish passage into Horn Pond.  If the fish can get up to Horn Pond, the Mystic River watershed has the potential to support the largest run of herring in Massachusetts.

This community effort to construct these fish ladders is a critical step in restoring the Aberjona and larger watershed.  The fish ladders will open new herring habitat that will help increase the herring population.  That, in turn, will support many other kinds of wildlife.  Winchester has a unique opportunity to restore the herring migration to its past glory.  The Aberjona can again become a living river, and we can all see the herring in their “great numbers.”