CRWA Accelerates Work to Restore the Charles River
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MARCH 23, 2023
BOSTON, MA––Charles River Watershed Association is pleased to announce the organization will accelerate its work to restore the Charles River watershed, thanks in part to a recent $1M anonymous grant.
“This is a game changer for the Charles River. We will be able to move much more quickly to remove defunct dams that are harming native fish, restore streams and tributaries in urban areas, and tackle invasive plants that crowd out native species,” says Executive Director Emily Norton. “Over time, these actions will reconnect miles of stream, improve water quality, and restore aquatic habitat for fish, insects, and wildlife.”
For more than 400 years, the Charles River has been culverted, dammed, and buried in order to power progress and support the development of cities and towns. As a result, the Charles River suffers impaired water quality from stormwater runoff, impeded fish passage by aging, defunct dams, invasive species growth, harmful cyanobacteria blooms, and biodiversity loss. Climate change is amplifying these impacts, as these interventions have diminished the river’s natural resilience to increased precipitation, stronger storms, drought, and extreme heat.
“This grant is an unparalleled opportunity to restore a clean, free-flowing, and abundant Charles River ecosystem for generations to come,” says River Science and Restoration Program Manager Lisa Kumpf. “Our efforts will steward the transformation of our watershed to again be a welcoming place for migratory fish, wildlife, plants, and people alike.”
The outcomes will be the creation of a comprehensive restoration plan for the watershed, a study to accelerate the removal of defunct dams that serve no purpose, advancement of three priority stream daylighting and naturalization projects, surveys of road-stream crossings for wildlife passage, and expansion of the community-led invasive species removal volunteer program.
“Deadbeat dams and aging, undersized culverts are like blocked arteries harming the health of our rivers and exacerbating flooding. We are excited to continue to strengthen partnerships with cities and towns by helping them gather information to prioritize restoration projects that are a win-win-win for public safety, stream and wildlife health, and climate resilience, ” says Climate Resilience Specialist Robert Kearns.
Watershed-Scale Restoration Plan
The creation of a watershed-scale restoration plan will enable CRWA to study and prioritize the highest-impact dam removal and culvert replacement projects to restore fish and wildlife passage, support municipalities in building climate resilience, and heal the river ecosystem. This work will include analysis of existing data on fish passage from MassWildlife and the Division of Marine Fisheries and the creation of a volunteer fish monitoring program to better understand fish passage. Additionally, CRWA will compile data on all 108 dams within the watershed, including the owner, age, condition, hazard classification, ability to pass fish, and stream connection potential, to determine priorities for removal or modification. Finally, CRWA will work with volunteers and partner organizations to assess over 100 culverts in priority coldwater, migratory fish, and wildlife habitat stream corridors and work with municipalities to prioritize replacement projects. Culverts can be barriers to fish and wildlife passage, are often in disrepair, and exacerbate local flooding problems. CRWA will work in partnership with municipalities to help them gather information to advance projects to help support both the public safety of residents and the health of fish and wildlife.
Accelerate Removal of Defunct Dams
CRWA will continue building a coalition of supporters through creative, community-based strategies to advance three priority projects––Watertown Dam, South Natick Dam, and Wrentham Eagle Dam––and work collaboratively with state and local leaders to take action to remove these structures that do not serve a purpose. Additionally, CRWA will invest in hydrologic and hydraulic modeling to study the feasibility of dam removals on the main stem of the Charles and leverage additional funding for permitting, design, and construction costs to support individual dam owners, cities and towns, and state agencies to pursue dam removal. Finally, a significant focus will be on uplifting the perspectives of the Nipmuc, Massachusett, and Wampanoag nations, who have long-expressed support for dam removal, to revive migratory fish populations and center Indigenous perspectives in envisioning a restored river ecosystem.
Daylight and Restore Streams
CRWA will advance stream restoration projects in the Muddy River, Canterbury Brook, and Cheesecake Brook to restore ecosystem health and water quality, mitigate the urban heat island effect, and create new recreation opportunities. As the Charles River’s most polluted above-ground tributary, the focus for the Muddy River will be the development of a creative, long-term, watershed-scale vision for restoration and remediation through an equitable consensus-building process. In Canterbury Brook, the only above-ground portion of the 10 mi2 Stony Brook watershed in Mattapan, CRWA and Mass Audubon will work together to engage the community, the City of Boston, and legislators to grow grassroots support for stream restoration to benefit the nearby Environmental Justice community. Finally, at Cheesecake Brook in Newton, CRWA will advocate naturalizing a downstream section of the stream, building resilience to flooding, and reinvigorating the ecosystem
Tackle Invasive Species
This funding will allow the organization to expand the impact of its successful volunteer invasive removal program. Continuing to focus on invasive aquatic water chestnut and bittersweet vines, this program will grow to engage over three hundred volunteers across two seasons, allowing CRWA to sustain our efforts to eradicate these species and restore native plant communities, all while helping community members deepen their stewardship of the watershed. Additionally, CRWA will continue to partner with the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) on the five-year invasive aquatic management program that is already underway to clear the current of invasive species.
Charles River Watershed Association’s mission is to protect, restore and enhance the Charles River and its watershed through science, advocacy, and the law. CRWA develops science-based strategies to increase resilience, protect public health, and promote environmental equity as we confront a changing climate.
CONTACT:
Julia Hopkins
Communications & Outreach Manager
Charles River Watershed Association
(617) 540-5650 x1071
