Mattapan Square trail house expected to be completed by spring

 by Patrick Rosso, Boston.com Staff . Originally posted at Boston.com on January 9, 2014 

The conversion of a former mattress store in Mattapan Square into a Department of Conservation and Recreation trail house is progressing and should be completed by the spring.

The property, adjacent to the Mattapan Square MBTA station on the Mattapan/Milton line of RT. 28, will be the neighborhood’s gateway to the planned and partially completed Neponset River Greenway, which stretches along the Neponset River from Dorchester to Hyde Park.

The project will create an “interim plaza” at the site, which will eventually be converted into a space that could potentially house an information kiosk, public meeting space, or commercial element.

On Wednesday, Cathy Garnett, a project manager for DCR, explained to the Neponset River Greenway Council that the project is moving forward, but still needs some finishing touches.

The mural that will wrap around the building still needs to be installed, along with a cap for the building’s chimney, new benches, and new trees.

“Right now the exterior of the building is stabilized and the plaza is done,” said Garnett. “The next step will be to have those conversations about what it can be used for.”

Although the project will revamp the building’s exterior, little has been done to the interior of the building.

“The interior has the potential to be used for anything, but it’s gutted right now,” added Garnett.

Garnett said she expects a public meeting will be held sometime after the project has been completed to gather input from residents about what they would like to see at the space.

DCR bought the property for an estimated $400,000 in November of 2010.

(Image courtesy DCR)

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Email Patrick D. Rosso, patrick.d.rosso@gmail.com. Follow him @PDRosso, or friend him on Facebook.

Thank you to the Neponset River Watershed Association for sharing it on their NepRWA blog.

You can find the original post here.

Orphan Dam in Hyde Park

Today we share a post from Tom Palmer, manager of Neponset River Watershed Association's Willet Pond, first posted on NepRWA's blog

Recent development in Boston beside the Tileston and Hollingsworth Dam has made it more visible but no less problematic.

Tileston and Hollingsworth from Hyde Park bank 8/8/98

If you’ve canoed the lower river, you know about the Tileston and Hollingsworth Dam–a formidable roadblock on the Milton/Hyde Park line at the former Bay State Paper complex, where the river falls about six feet over a concrete wall divided into two parts, each topped by a sort of adjustable drawbridge called a bascule that can be raised and lowered to fine-tune the rate of flow. You also know that the only way past the dam is a lengthy carry around the derelict mill buildings on the Milton bank, a twisting route often blocked by chainlink fences and barbed wire.

Tileston and Hollingsworth Dam from Milton bank 11/30/08. The mill at rear has just been demolished. Homes at rear are on far side River St, Hyde Park.

But the Milton option was the only one, since the Hyde Park bank was completely bricked in by the massive mill complex, and you couldn’t even walk the narrow wedge of rubbly fill at the water’s edge, much less drag a canoe over it.

Bay State Paper Mill overlooking Neponset River, Hyde Park, MA 12/16/95. View upstream from Milton bank. The mill would close for good in 2004

I live not far from the dam in Milton, and from time to time I wander in from Truman Highway, under the railroad and around the perforated sheds and roofless tanks, if only to see if it’s still do-able. And it is probably not news to many of you that the view across the river has been completely transformed; nearly all the mill buildings on the Hyde Park side have been knocked down and hauled away, and the resulting vacancy, renamed The Shops at Riverwood, has a brand new PriceRite supermarket and Sovereign Bank down at the far end. The $30 million project is being built by the Finard Properties of Burlington with $5 million in financing from the city.

Looking east across former site of 8.5 acre Tileston and Hollingsworth paper mill complex, now the Shops at River St. 892 River St., Hyde Park, MA 7/28/13

The bank and supermarket opened in 2010, and in the last month, the steel for another building went up right beside the dam, a large two-story box which will reportedly have a Dollar Tree on the ground floor facing the parking lot and perhaps a restaurant or similar tenant up above and at grade beside River St.

River St with new 10,000 sq ft two-story commercial building under construction at rear. Shops at Riverwood, 892 River St., Hyde Park, 7/28/13

View from River St. of three-story brick tower at Hyde Park end of Tileston and Hollingsworth Dam 7/28/13

Looking west at relict three-story tower at Hyde Park end Tileston and Hollingsworth Dam beside new commercial building 7/28/13

Does this mean paddlers will now be able to portage the Hyde Park side of the dam? Evidently not; the immediate bank is as rubbly and overgrown as ever, but instead of a mill looming over it, it has a new retaining wall topped by a waist-high fence–great for views of the river, not so great for humping canoes. Indeed, it looks as though the developers preferred to simply pull away from the bank rather than attempt to incorporate it in the project. In honor of what was, they didn’t touch the iconic three-story brick tower that anchors the end of the dam or the bulkier steam plant downstream, whose mighty brick chimney still dominates the area.

In the meantime, the dam itself has deteriorated further. Up until recently, the dam’s owner, the state Dept. of Conservation and Recreation, usually kept the Milton-side gate raised, confining flows to the Hyde Park-end in dry weather, but the latter gate tended to slip, and frequently had to be cranked up again, which cut-off flow until the river overtopped it. Now it looks as though the agency has decided the Hyde Park gate is not worth repairing, because a series of holes has been punched into it, and these now discharge the river’s entire flow except during high water.

Upstream side Tileston and Hollingsworth Dam from Hyde Park bank 5/5/13

Downstream side Tileston and Hollingsworth dam from Hyde Park bank 5/5/13

I am not a dam expert, and don’t know why the rebuilt dam was equipped with gates approximately fifty years ago, not long after Hurricane Diane blew out its predecessor in August 1955. The gates allowed DCR to vary the elevation of the river behind the dam over a range of five feet or so, a function presumably useful to the adjacent mill, which would continue to operate off and on until 2004. But the holes in the gate have dropped the pool behind the dam to a new and somewhat lower elevation, exposing the former high-water mark as a deep incision on the Milton bank just upstream.

Pool above Tileston and Hollingsworth Dam. Looking upstream, Milton bank at rear 5/5/13

If you are eager, as I am, for the dam to come out entirely, so that the Neponset can once again glitter with ocean-going fish running upstream to spawn, you can’t be displeased that it’s not being maintained. Hey, you might even wish it would fall apart quicker. Now that the Hyde Park side of the dam is being spiffed up and made over, and more and more people are coming to the site, here’s hoping that the river will get some attention as well.

Tom Palmer, Willett Pond Manager, August 6, 2013

Small Dams Tumble on Massachusetts Rivers

Our guest blogger is Carly Rocklen,  Restoration Manager and Outreach Director for the Neponset River Watershed Association. 

The frequency of dam removals on streams and rivers around Massachusetts and New England is picking up.

The removal of small dams from rivers around Massachusetts and New England has been in the news, pretty frequently, these days. For instance, you may just have read an article on the removal of the Whittenton Dam on the Mill River in Taunton, MA, or on the Veazie Dam on the Penobscot River in ME.

Dam removals have been increasing in frequency as a general understanding builds that old, deteriorating dams that no longer function for their original purpose (most were built in previous centuries to power mills) present liability and flooding hazards, are far more expensive to maintain and re-build than to remove, and threaten the future of New England fisheries.

These dam removals elicit passion and excitement in communities. When dams come down, towns experience physical and aesthetic changes to the landscape and also gain new and improved recreation options. A familiar waterway will revert to a more natural, historic shape and flow, which only people from the past may have known. Residents and river-users become accustomed to seeing different fish, wildlife and plant communities in stretches of the river from which these species may have been absent for decades and even centuries–i.e., since the dams were constructed. The structure of the dam is no longer part of the landscape, and neither is the mill pond that was associated with it. Recreation options widen and improve – people can paddle further up and down rivers, and fishing opportunities diversify.

Now, while dam removal may be an easy process to visualize, it also tends to be more complex and time-intensive to implement than one might expect. Gaining all the necessary permissions, completing the site studies, and acquiring funding can take a while–at least 2.5 to 3 years – and sometimes even 20! Fortunately, under review is a proposed regulatory change that would make the dam removal process simpler, less time-intensive, and less expensive.

The Neponset River Watershed Association continues to pursue small dam removals around the Watershed, with an eye toward restoring stream quality, wildlife habitat, and fish passage. We’re looking forward to implementing a more streamlined dam removal process, one of these days, soon, and to enjoying the community’s reaction to a freer-flowing waterway with a greater variety of wildlife and habitat and better water quality. Learn more about our small dam removal program.

Learn more about dam removal, in general – including the process of removing dams in Massachusetts.

Do you have a dam on your property that you’d like to remove? Other questions? Contact NepRWA Restoration Manager Carly Rocklen at 781-575-0354 x303 and rocklen@neponset.org.

Restoration Manager and Outreach Director Carly Rocklen, August 2, 2013

Our Visit to the Neponset Watershed

Our Blogger today is Shalen Lowell

Last Wednesday Dorie and I had the pleasure of touring the Neponset Watershed with Tom Palmer of the Neponset River Watershed Association. This watershed encompasses the towns of Canton and Norwood, as well as parts of Sharon, Foxborough, Stoughton, Walpole, Medfield, Dover, Randolph, Westwood, Dedham, Quincy, and Boston. Its highest point is the summit of Blue Hill in Canton at 636 feet.

One of our first stops was Fowl Meadow (see picture on left) near Great Blue Hill. This broad floodplain reaches eight miles upstream to Walpole alongside Rt 95 and absorbs a tremendous amount of water during storms, thus preventing flooding in crowded areas downstream. At one time, the meadow had been intended to be filled for housing and industrial development. Thankfully, it remains a natural space and a satisfying reminder of how much healthier our environment would be in the absence of suburban expansion.

As we headed downstream, we noticed a disturbing trend: the Neponset is often barred from sight by shopping centers and their parking lots. We ventured near one Stop and Shop, which boasted a six-foot high fence separating the lot from the trees that line the riverbank. Before extensive cleanup, the river used to be full of stagnant sewage, and people saw fit to conceal it. But now that the Neponset is relatively clear and much improved, its banks should be opened for people to enjoy. Frequently, the very people that live along the river know little about it, thanks to the thickets and fences that hide it from view.

We also noted that the parking lot was graded to allow runoff to flow straight off the pavement and into the river, and that several catchbasins discharged to it directly through pipes.  When development reaches to the top of the bank, extra work is required to filter stormwater. 

Near this particular site are the remains of a gutted paper mill and its still-standing dam. This dam is not in use, and the river pours through rusty holes in its decrepit gates. The dam should be demolished: it accomplishes nothing, and it prohibits fish from migrating upstream to spawn.

A few miles beyond we visited a second dam just above the Adams St. Bridge in Lower Mills between Milton and Boston. This one likewise has outlived its usefulness as the surrounding factories have been converted to condos. Eight feet high, it blocks ocean-run shad, herring, and smelt from entering the river. Restoring the Neponset will require removing both dams.

At the base of the lower dam the Neponset estuary begins. Below here the river widened, and I began to smell salt water, a sense which triggers nostalgia for my childhood summers spent sea-side.

We followed the estuary’s southern edge another five miles to Squantum Point Park in Quincy, where the Neponset empties into Dorchester Bay opposite the gas tank on the Southeast Expressway. This park, once a Navy airfield, is the result of one of the many initiatives to encourage outside recreation in the Neponset corridor. NepRWA is working to connect it via walking paths to the marshes upstream and to Wollaston Beach.

This overview is a mere small sample of our Neponset experience. These areas are best appreciated and enjoyed when encountered in person, and I encourage you to visit this stunning area and experience its plentiful beauty on your own! One way to do this is to go canoeing or hiking with the Neponset River Watershed Association. To visit their website, please see http://www.neponset.org/.

Click the links below to read more about Squantum Point and the Neponset River Trail.

Squantum Point Park: http://www.opengreenmap.org/greenmap/quincy-green-map/squantum-point-park-605

The Lower Neponset River Trail: http://bostonharborwalk.com/placestogo/location.php?nid=2&sid=63