My day out on the Back River

Today’s blogger is Shalen!

Did you know that the Weymouth Herring Run in the Back River watershed is one of the largest runs in Massachusetts? On August 6^th, I had the great pleasure of joining Linda DiAngelo, President of the Back River Watershed Association (BRWA), on a boat tour of the Back River. Local State Representative James Murphy, a longtime supporter of the BRWA, organized this tour to gain support for the proposed Back River Trail connecting Great Esker Park and Abigail Adams State Park in North Weymouth to Stodder’s Neck State Park and Bare Cover Park in East Weymouth, making these seemingly separate parks a one-destination attraction. This trip was also an excellent opportunity for me to get to know the BRWA, as well as the issues, triumphs, and goals for the Back River watershed.

The Back River runs through Weymouth and Hingham Massachusetts. Its watershed includes portions of Braintree, Abington, Rockland and Holbrook, and the river is a state-designated area of critical environmental concern (ACEC). The BRWA’s mission to preserve, protect and promote the Back River. The Back River is tidal and its Estuary is one of the most productive with tidal flats, seabed nurseries for many species of fin fish, and shellfish beds. The mouth of the river lies at Whitman’s Pond in East Weymouth, which serves as the town’s secondary water supply. It is also the spawning grounds for river herring and is the location of the Weymouth Herring Run. The run boasts five fish ladders. Webb State Park, Abigail Adams State Park and Great Esker Park sprawl to the west side of the river and Bare Cove Park to the east (in Hingham). Many tributaries flow into the Back River including Fresh River entering from Hingham and Old Swamp River and Mill River from Weymouth. Nine open-space parks, including those previously mentioned, surround the river, and are wonderful passive recreational areas for walking, jogging, bicycling, cross-country skiing, fishing, birding and wildlife watching. The Back River flows out to Hingham Bay, which is where the herring enter the river. 

Mary F. Toomey founded the BRWA in order to conserve the Back River, with help and direction from Dr. Mary Sears of Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institution. Toomey was born in Weymouth, taught in its school system for 41 years, and was beloved for her leadership. She served as a Weymouth Town Meeting Member and was an active participant in this community. To save the Back River, Toomey ran a campaign with the Weymouth Conservation Commission to buy Great Esker Park when released for sale by the government. Among her numerous accomplishments, Toomey’s tireless work helped the Weymouth Back River attain its ACEC designation in 1982. Toomey helped constitute four important designations for the Back River:  an ACEC in 1982, a wildlife sanctuary, a local scenic river, and one of Massachusetts Special Places, by Mass. Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.  As Representative Murphy acknowledged on our tour, everyone in the area knows of and highly respects the late Mary Toomey for her dedication to and influence on the Back River watershed. In 2004 Toomey was honored with The Gulf of Maine Council Visionary Award.  Along with Linda, another of the BRWA’s board members is Phil Lofgren, the Assistant Herring Warden and a particularly knowledgeable individual.

On the hour-long tour, we departed from the South Shore Yacht Club at Abigail Adams State Park. The morning was sunny and the breeze welcoming as the day heated up out on the water. According to Representative Murphy, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) completed plans for the proposed trail, and they just need funding to begin the extension project. As president of the BRWA, Linda is excited about the trail extension, but also she impressed upon me the importance of not widening the existing trails, because Great Esker Park in particular contains a valuable and fragile post-glacial ninety-foot esker, reversing falls, and many archeological treasures. There is a fine balance between recreation and conserving the waterfront shores of the river. Many important officials were in attendance, including members of the DCR and the Conservation Commission. In particular I talked to Abby Pearsall, Conservation Officer of the Town of Hingham Conservation Commission.

We ventured upstream the Back River’s waters, in between the state parks, heading towards the direction of Whitman’s Pond. When the waterway narrowed too much for the boats to pass, we turned around and double-backed past the Yacht Club, our starting point, and downstream to see Stodder’s Neck. Stodder’s Neck is a piece of the Back River Reservation (a coastal reservation and part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston) that Representative Murphy wants to be preserved for the conservation commission. We also saw the nearby Weymouth Port Condominiums, which rest on a piece of land that was remediated by the multinational corporation ConocoPhillips. The land, which was contaminated by lead and arsenic residue left over from the operation of a fertilizer plant owned by American Agricultural Chemical, was acquired by ConocoPhillips in 1963.  The boat tour was the perfect way to draw people out, and have them experience the beauty and inherent importance of the Back River to its environment and notice the need for a trail to connect the state parks.

Linda DiAngelo, President of the BRWA

After our tour of the river concluded, Linda was kind enough to bring me to the huge Weymouth Herring Run. To reach Whitman’s Pond for spawning, the herring travel from the Atlantic Ocean to Massachusetts Bay, from there to Hingham Bay, and finally up the Back River and through the five fish ladders. The herring, most of which are alewives, must travel a total of 70 vertical feet up the Weymouth Herring Run, located in Jackson Square in Weymouth, to reach the pond. Linda led me to the three viewing areas in the square, from which I could see the run. I saw a resting pool for the herring at one section adjacent to Stephen Rennie Park, and I observed the swinging gate in need of repair in another section (discussed below) in Herring Run Pool Park. From the Iron Hill observation platform, I marveled at the longest sector of the run, and at the size and scope of the run in its entirety. Finally, Linda and I walked from Iron Hill, named for the iron production that flourished in the 19^th century in the area, to a south cove that led up to Whitman’s Pond, the mouth of the Back River.

One of the issues the BRWA encounters is a host of structural problems on their herring run. The major problem with the run is a swinging gate that is not functioning correctly at the part of the run that contains a flood control tunnel. Fish are getting caught and killed in the gate. The herring are a vital keystone species in this environment, because they sustain the recreational and commercial fisheries in Boston Harbor and the Gulf of Maine, and the damaged gate must be repaired to sustain the herring population and therefore these fisheries. In addition to maintaining the fish ladders, BRWA also strives to improve water quality in the Back River and Estuary, because of declining herring populations, and to reopen shellfish beds.

Thanks to Linda, and her never-ending and vibrant knowledge of the Back River watershed, and Representative Murphy for sponsoring an informative and engaging tour on the river, I experienced my day to the fullest. The Back River watershed, like the Jones River watershed and countless others, is another priceless and wonderful environment in Massachusetts, and perhaps even more impressive than the river itself are the people striving to preserve and protect it.

Want to learn more about the Back River Watershed Association? Please visit their Facebook page by clicking https://www.facebook.com/pages/Back-River-Watershed-Association/345912222170505 and visiting the Watershed Action Alliance at http://watershedaction.org/.

"Did You Know?" Community Building through Watershed Recreation

“Did You Know?”

Community-Building through Watershed Recreation

By Shalen Lowell

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul.”

So wrote John Muir in his 1912 book, The Yosemite. Muir spoke of the restorative quality of our natural environments, and as such recognizes them as integral parts of our lives. Much as we can benefit from nature in its spiritual as well as material resources, we must recognize what we can do to repay the environments in which we live.

Dorie Stolley, "Great River Race Preparation"

As many of the southeastern Massachusetts watershed associations realize, one of the best ways to get people, whether adults, children, concerned citizens, or budding environmental activists, involved in their communities is through recreational activities. Many of these associations bolster this sense of community with volunteer opportunities. Some volunteering does not require a big commitment but, nonetheless, gets people out for a fun and active day as a means of contribution.

Participating in river herring counts encourages people to take action and learn about the environment of their community, in a small and simple way. Herring counts determine how many herring are returning to a system or how many are blocked by a specific dam, and citizen involvement is a perfect and manageable way to help. Two organizations, the North and South Rivers Watershed Association  (NSRWA) and the Jones River Watershed Association (JRWA) accept volunteers in the spring to assist with herring counts, and for the JRWA this occurs at the Elm Street dam in Kingston, Massachusetts.

The JRWA also sponsors other enjoyable activities such as a summer hiking series, family-friendly hikes from Jones River headwaters to Kingston Bay. Other recreation in the Jones River watershed includes boating from Kingston Bay out to Cape Cod Bay, and canoeing and kayaking from Mulliken's Landing, a put-in on the Jones River.

Shalen Lowell, "Neponset River Reservation"

The Neponset River Watershed Association (NepRWA) also recruits volunteers to bolster community-building efforts with their Citizen Water Monitoring Network (CWMN), for which volunteers help with water sampling in Neponset waterways. Public parks in the Neponset watershed provide great recreation opportunities. Where the Neponset empties into Dorchester Bay sits Squantum Point Park, a former Navy airfield. The Lower Neponset River Trail, a multi-purpose trail and “corridor park” that runs along the Neponset River and alongside old railroad tracks, is ideal for cycling, running and walking because of its seclusion from traffic and resting spots that include information about local wildlife and maps. The Neponset watershed also has a boat launch at the Neponset estuary.

The recreational activities of the North and South Rivers watershed are similar to Neponset’s. Kayaking, canoeing, and motor boating abound in the North River. Residents along the river build decks to which they dock their boats and from which they fish or jump into the river to enjoy its cool waters by swimming. The NSRWA also sponsors many other fun activities, such as water quality monitoring by volunteers (like the NepRWA), the Great River Race, Yoga at the River’s Edge, and River Cleanup Days.

Much like the North River, Great Herring Pond, of the Herring Ponds watershed, is a hotspot for water recreation. Residents in Plymouth and Bourne partake in swimming, kayaking, fishing, sailing, and even jet skiing. There is a Great Herring Pond public access boat launch in Bourne from which people depart into the pond. Little Herring Pond has a public access point as well for canoeing and kayaking, however motor boating is forbidden because of its shallow waters.

Shalen Lowell, "The NSRWA Great River Race"

The Little and Great Herring Ponds are two of the activity hubs in this watershed, over which the Herring Ponds Watershed Association (HPWA) watches. In this watershed, there are many parks and day camps as well: Camp Clark, just ashore of Hyles Pond, is a YMCA day camp for children and has nature trails and swimming; Hedges Pond Recreational Area is a Plymouth town park open to the public on afternoons and weekends. There is a Massachusetts Maritime Academy facility on Great Herring Pond that offers sailing lessons and rowing. The Carter Beal Reservation Area just to the south has a lovely park and trails. Finally, the Herring Run Recreation Area along Cape Cod Canal fronts a paved pedestrian trail, which is closed to traffic and used for biking, jogging, and walking and the Canal abounds with boats.

Just as outdoor recreation is important for our spirits and health, it is equally as vital to community-building and connecting networks of dedicated citizens. These ponds, rivers, and parks not only bring us together, but teach us to appreciate the inherent value of our environments and a desire to preserve them.

If you would like to volunteer and be active in your community contact your local watershed association today. To learn more about the southeastern Massachusetts watersheds and how to contact your local watershed association visit the Watershed Action Alliance website and http://watershedaction.org/index.php/watershed-matters/know-your-watershed. 

The 2013 Great River Race!

Today’s Blogger is Shalen!

Shalen kayaking the 2013 Wampanoag Paddle.

What energy and excitement I experienced at the NSRWA’s Great River Race last Saturday! Organized by the North and South Rivers Watershed Association and authorized by the American Canoe Association (a national, nonprofit organization that sanctions programs and events to promote recreation of “paddlesport,” and influences stewardship issues that effect paddlers), this year’s race involved 81 participants and was truly a great success thanks to the over 20 volunteers at the event!

I volunteered at the race, which made it all the more exhilarating (not as much as if I was a participant, but I’m sure I’ll be paddling next year!) The 7-mile race on the North River began at the Union Street Bridge in Norwell, Massachusetts. I helped unload various boats from participant’s vehicles so they could park, mingle, and prepare before launching boats and gathering at the starting line. All the excitement from the preparation of those people racing and those helping on the sidelines was infectious. Despite the intense humidity of the morning, our spirits were high. Finally the racers gathered in the North River and I saw them blast right under where I stood on the Union Street Bridge. Seeing the various vibrantly colored boats as the racers dashed under the bridge and upstream was astonishing.

There were three stand-up paddle boarders this year, and each had incredible perseverance in the race! When Craig Prentiss, one of these paddlers, crossed the finish line on a racing board he had quite a crowd cheering him on, me included. I admired these paddlers, especially their determination despite the oppressive heat and their balance. I can’t imagine the practice it must take to master a paddle board.

The race ended at the Washington Street Bridge on the Hanover/Pembroke town line. I chatted with a few of the contestants’ relatives, a line of people eagerly waiting along the bridge for the racers to finish. Quite a crowd gathered and I finally saw clusters of canoes and kayaks paddling under the flagged finish line, resting and hydrating before heading farther upstream to the takeout point. Dorie and I visited the pickup point at the Hanover Canoe Launch to cheer, congratulate the racers, and assist them in loading up their boats.

The day’s schedule concluded with a well-deserved party and awards ceremony with prizes for each of the participant categories (i.e., single kayak, double kayak, single canoe, and stand-up paddle board). Events such as the Great River Race instill a sense of community for all those who are members of NSRWA, but also river recreation aficionados and those people who just love to have a great time! Whether young or old, racing or cheering, all those involved enjoyed themselves in this spectacular event.

To learn more about the NSRWA, please visit their site at http://www.nsrwa.org/. In addition to the Great River Race, the NSRWA has many other fantastic events, just in time for summer and outdoor recreation, which you can find by following this link: http://www.nsrwa.org/Page.145.html.

Find out more about the American Canoe Association, their commitment to stewardship, “paddlesport,” and healthy recreation by visiting http://www.americancanoe.org/?page=About_Us.

Want to learn more about Watershed Action Alliance, our mission, your local watershed and more? Check out http://watershedaction.org/. 

Welcome to WAA, Herring Ponds Watershed Association!

Today’s blogger is Shalen!

Little Herring Pond public access point

Lee Pulis, of the Herring Ponds Watershed Association which was founded in 2007 as a volunteer neighborhood organization, was kind enough to take us on a tour of the Herring Ponds watershed last Thursday! The HPWA is WAA's newest member! This watershed is not a hydrologic watershed but a state-d
esignated area of critical environmental concern (ACEC), with politically designated boundaries (one of which is Rt. 3). The ACEC is an important area for recreation as well as for water supply, as most of its residents draw from the Plymouth-Carver Aquifer. In addition to sampling pond water and storm water runoff, the HPWA commits to educating residents about their watershed and promoting boating and recreational safety.

The highlights of this watershed are the Little and Great Herring Ponds. Little Herring Pond (I will use the abbreviation LHP for brevity) is at maximum 5 feet deep. Its northern waters never freeze, so aquatic plants abound and it is a great fish pond. Motor boats are not allowed on LHP, and because of this there are no invasive species which often spread by boats and their trailers.

Great Herring Pond (GHP), however is much larger: its waters span 376 acres and are at least 20 feet deep. It receives 80% of its water from the LHP. The state requires a 100-foot buffer zone for any construction around its shores, because of its designation as one of the great Massachusetts ponds. Of course there are many grandfathered homes all around the shoreline, so buffer zone stewardship education is a prime mission of HPWA. Carter’s River flows downstream from LHP to GHP.

At the Carter Beal Conservation Area

Our first stop in this watershed was the Ponds of Plymouth housing development on the western edge of LHP. We saw lots of large expanses of irrigated lawn with non-native decorative plants. Just off one of the development’s roads is Pickerel Pond, part of The Wildlands Trust.

Water recreation is an important attraction in the Herring Ponds watershed. This watershed not only boasts residential properties along the shores of both ponds, but also many parks and day camp areas for adults and kids alike. Two such properties are Camp Clark and Hedges Pond Recreational Area. The former is a YMCA day camp for kids, has horses, nature trails, and offers swimming in Hyles Pond. The latter is a recreation area open to the public on afternoons and weekends, and which used to be an church nature camp.

After a quick interlude, in which we allowed a portion of the pouring rain to pass, we headed south along LHP’s western shores and encountered considerable runoff from the rain heading into Carter’s River, the water body connecting the two main ponds.

We drove past Parcel 15, an area of inactive cranberry bogs, between LHP and GHP. The town missed the deadline of exercising first right of refusal to buy it, and there’s a battle as to whether this land will be reactivated and two more houses with septic systems will be built on the land nearby.The Plymouth Community Preservation Community has since met and indicated it has the funds and will encourage Selectmen to correct the mistake and preserve this area to protect area water quality and recreation. Keep an eye out for further updates.

From thereon we ventured to the LHP public access point, which leads to the northeast part of GHP, and at which was a flow gauge. The wooded path leading to this outlet was rife with horrid construction materials and used electronics dumping. A short distance away, I saw a rain garden for the first time (see right), near the shores of GHP, constructed as the surface part of an underground stormwater filtration system.

Further down GHP’s southwestern shores sits a Massachusetts Maritime Academy sailing facility, offering rowing and sailing lessons, among other recreational activities. This facility is also one of the few places in the world you can learn to drive an oil tanker by training on a 1/12^th working scale model. Pretty cool!

We next observed a few passing locations including a Native American burial ground, another flow gauge towards the end of the Herring River, a boat launch in Bourne, and the Carter Beal Conservation Area, which included a fish ladder.

We reached the Herring River’s outlet by late afternoon: it flows into Cape Cod Canal, and it is at this location that herring swim up the river near the Herring Run Recreation Center. This center provides people with a view of the river (and sometimes herring!), information regarding the contribution of herring to the watershed, the Sagamore Bridge, and a recreation road dedicated purely to biking and pedestrian activities, much like the Neponset River Trail that I visited several weeks ago. This trip was a refreshing and amazing one, one during which I learned how watershed recreation creates an active community among an area’s residents!

Want to learn more about the Herring Ponds Watershed Association or volunteer in any of their activities? Visit their website http://www.theherringpondswatershed.org/Home_Page.php and check out their landmark stewardship guide at http://www.theherringpondswatershed.org/uploads/HPWA_Stewardship_Guide.pdf.

See the following link to learn more about the Lower Neponset River Trail: http://bostonharborwalk.com/placestogo/location.php?nid=2&sid=63