The Future of Water in Southeastern Mass: It’s Up to Us

By Shalen Lowell, WAA Social Media Manager 

“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.” –Loren Eisley

Photo credit to Shalen Lowell

Passion, persistence, public engagement and community: these are some of the crucial takeaways from “The Future of Water in Southeastern Massachusetts,” an environmental networking conference co-hosted by the Watershed Action Alliance and Plimoth Plantation. Our mission for the conference, held April 24th, was to gather concerned citizens, conservation professionals, legislators, volunteers, and all those committed to preserving and protecting the waters of Southeastern Massachusetts. Our goal was to network and further strategize about how best to combat the issues in Southeastern Mass watersheds, including stormwater and wastewater concerns, dam removal, and health concerns effecting environmental recreation.

WAA’s conference consisted of seven engaging, enlightening and thoughtful panels: Fundraising for Nonprofits, Science and Data Collection, Outreach and Education, Stormwater, Drinking Water in Southeastern Massachusetts, Wastewater, and Recreational Waters. (For a summary of the panels, click here.) Eric Walberg of the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences presented as our guest plenary speaker on water resource preservation and watershed management in the face of climate change. You can catch Eric’s talk and all of the sessions on WAA’s Youtube channel.

Gorgeous view from the conference pavilion
(Shalen Lowell)

As social media manager for WAA, I was responsible for live-tweeting about all of the panels at our conference. At times such as these, I especially see the real value in how social media platforms enhance our relationships with member watershed associations, our Twitter followers and other environmentally affiliated associations in the region. People unable to attend the conference were able to follow along with the panels as I tweeted from our account with our conference hashtag #thefutureofwater. Please check out our Twitter platform @Watershed_AA to view our tweets from the day, and don’t forget to follow us, too!

My personal favorite panels were Stormwater and Fundraising for Nonprofits. Especially with regard to stormwater, my renewed interest in, and dedication to, the issue goes back to my last year at Stonehill College, when I was a Teaching Assistant for a Learning Community (LC) seminar entitled Stonehill’s Water. That semester, I assisted the LC students in drawing up proposals for stormwater solutions for the town of Brockton, MA, and I had an active part in the writing and presentation processes. Some of the solutions with which the students engaged (many of which were addressed in the stormwater panel below) included updating to more stable green infrastructure systems and continued education and outreach.

The stormwater panelists for WAA’s event included Martin Pillsbury (Environmental Director at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council), Debbie Cook (Communications Director at the North and South Rivers Watershed Association), and Newton Tedder (of EPA Region 1), with Ian Cooke, Executive Director of the Neponset River Watershed Association as moderator. The new EPA municipal stormwater permit provided inspiration for this panel, requiring a renewed effort in stormwater management for nonprofits, local agencies, and municipalities. The new permit will thus hold communities more responsible for dealing with stormwater issues. The panelists emphasized intra-watershed coordination and cooperation with regard to combating environmental degradation and especially stormwater concerns. When asked to identify “sleeper” stormwater issues, the panelists called attention to the following: effective design of green infrastructure, land use, and public education and participation. The takeaway? When it comes to stormwater, we need to take real action now, and to enhance communication and cooperation between all those players involved in ameliorating the issue.

Photo taken during the Recreational Waters panel
(Shalen Lowell)

Another of my favorite panels was Fundraising for Nonprofits. Samantha Woods, Executive Director of the North and South Rivers Watershed Association, moderated, and the panelist speakers were the following: Bill Stanton (former Executive Director of the NSRWA), Sarah Kelley (Senior Program Officer of the Island Foundation), and Bethany Kendall (President and CEO of the Executive Service Corps New England). One of the most important notes I took away from this panel was also one which I had not before considered: one of the keys to funding an effective nonprofit is widening one’s scope. Several of the panelists advised looking outside local areas and tying in a nonprofit’s specific focus to other regions and wider national issues, in order to network with other organizations engaged in these issues and perhaps receive additional funding. Emphasis was also placed on donor relations (you can never thank them enough!). Most important of all, however, is personal networking. I have experienced this often enough in my personal interaction with WAA’s member watershed associations, and with the inspiring individuals in them. All the panels are now available on WAA’s YouTube channel.

Photo credit to Shalen Lowell

I was excited to make contact with those individuals I know from our member watershed associations but had not seen in quite a while! It was great to chat again in person with these hard-working and inspiring individuals that I met way back in my WAA intern days. It’s important to maintain these personal connections. On a similar note, one of the many successful outcomes to the conference was networking: networking between individuals of all different backgrounds and occupations in the region uniting with one focus in mind: the future and health of water in Southeastern Massachusetts.

To read more about this conference, the people and organizations involved, and more, please check out this article by Frank Mand of the Old Colony Memorial, another of the conference’s enigmatic attendants!

Kayaking on the North River!

Today’s Blogger is Shalen Lowell!

I’m always diving into new things, so last week I went kayaking for the first time! As part of the 2013 Wampanoag Paddle Fundraiser, Dorie and I paddled the 12.5 mile first leg of the Wampanoag canoe passage to experience first-hand the North and South Rivers watershed.

This watershed comprises 12 towns including Norwell, Scituate, Hingham, Hanover, Pembroke, and Weymouth, is an expansive watershed, and was known for shipbuilding. Used as channels for melt water when the glacier moved north around 10,000 years ago, the North and South Rivers surround 3,000 acres of salt marsh and 2,000 acres of endangered species habitat. The North River rises the from marshes and springs in Weymouth, Rockland and Hanson, emptying into the Atlantic, and the South River’s source is Round Pond in Duxbury.

The watershed’s topography is dynamic: for instance, as the rivers deposited silt, the salt marshes extended, keeping up with the sea level rise. The watershed lowlands contain fresh and salt water marshes, crucial for stormwater runoff and habitats for local wildlife, whereas a small section for the uplands is used for agriculture.

The NSRWA is working on Third Herring Brook, a tributary of the North River. As of now, herring can only access the bottom part of the watershed system, and have trouble moving upstream. There is only a 26% passage outflow in the fall. The Third Herring Brook has four dams that traverse its main stem. The NSRWA is working to take out one dam, funded by the YMCA, which is hesitant to go through with the dam destruction because of a lack of funds.

Peter Kelly-Detwiler and Nik Tyack once again paddled the 72-mile long passage mentioned above to raise money for the North and South Rivers Watershed Association. In a statement about their fundraiser, Peter and Nik said, “We hope to both raise awareness of Massachusetts' beautiful rivers and also support the North and South Rivers Watershed Association in their pioneering efforts to preserve and restore the watershed we grew up in. Recent successes of the organization include bringing river herring back to Scituate's First Herring Brook and re-opening shellfish beds on the South River.”

(http://www.crowdrise.com/WampanoagCanoePassage2013/fundraiser/peterkellydetwiler)

We kayaked down Herring River from the Driftway Park in Scituate, to where the Herring meets the North in proximity to the ocean. We then entered up the North River. I traveled with Dorie half the time, and the other half by myself; as a writer some reflection time suits me well.  Upon reflection, the journey seems a blur of riverside docks and waterfront properties, sprawling forests, and tall grasses. I do, however, remember feeling exhilaration as I swept down the river and jetted right under a highway overpass. Nothing pumps me up like the adrenaline of emerging under a bridge and into the open for a new adventure. I tired quickly by the end of my journey and my arms ached the entire day after! The repercussions were well-worth the experience though.

This journey was a unique one. So far, I’ve been viewing the southeastern MA watersheds and their main waterways from their shores, looking at the rivers. But instead of touring the watershed land, we were actually on the water, where I was able to gain a different perspective. We literally traversed the land as if we, too, were the North River.

This perspective led to an overwhelming contemplation about the North River: I thought about just this one river, and the countless ecosystems it encompasses, which broadened to the North and South Rivers watershed, to the millions of waterways in this country and in the world, the minute and fragile, interlocking environments. Each environment is its own, and also connects to all others; each one is vital to its environment and to the lives of organisms around the world. I also imagined what it was like for the Wampanoag Native Americans to have to traverse the waters, how taxing, frustrating, and rewarding it must have been.

Thanks to this experience, I’ve found that kayaking is something I could see myself doing long-term. A big shout out to the NSRWA for sponsoring this fun and successful event and for their ongoing work on ecosystem restoration in the watershed! If you want to learn more about the North and South Rivers watershed or NSRWA’s advocacy, history, and volunteer opportunities, visit http://www.nsrwa.org/ or log onto http://watershedaction.org/.