DAYLIGHTING & RESTORING STREAMS
Bringing tributaries back to light & back to life.
Buried Streams Beneath Our Feet.
Since European colonization began 400 years ago, the Charles River and its tributaries have been buried, dammed, fragmented, and otherwise controlled.
Many of the Charles River’s 30+ tributaries have long suffered the effects of this approach to water management–– tributaries that are culverted, straightened, and armored face impaired water quality, impeded fish passage, increased flooding, invasive species growth, loss of critical wildlife habitats, and more.
What we are doing about it:
We’re bringing altered streams back to life with daylighting and riverbank restoration to improve water quality, reconnect habitats, create natural climate resilience, and new recreation opportunities.
MUDDY RIVER RESTORATION
Flowing through Olmsted’s iconic Emerald Necklace, the Muddy River is one of the most celebrated urban tributaries of the Charles River. However, centuries of development and urbanization along its banks in Boston and Brookline have severely degraded water quality in the Muddy— earning it a D- grade in the 2020 Charles River Report Card.
Check out our Muddy River Restoration work!
CANTERBURY BROOK RESTORATION
A tributary of Stony Brook, which flows underground through Boston to the Charles River, Cantebury Brook is largely a buried stream, with only one portion above ground in Mattapan. Flowing inside an artificial channel since the early 1900s, through a highly urbanized area, the brook suffers problems of poor water quality, flooding, and habitat degradation.
We are collaborating with Mass Audubon’s Boston Nature Center to reimagine and restore Canterbury Brook. We are working together to understand community needs, assess stream health, and identify areas for restoration to improve stormwater management, connect the stream to surrounding wetlands, and improve water quality and habitat.
CHEESECAKE BROOK
An urbanized stream and tributary of the Charles River located in Newton, the once meandering Cheesecake Brook and its surrounding wetlands were filled, straightened, and channelized in the 1800s and 1900s. Today, the tributary flows through a narrow stone and concrete channel, and suffers from poor water quality, poor habitat for aquatic species, and major problems with stormwater flooding.
In 2020, we worked with the community to create a vision plan for a restored Cheesecake Brook. Interventions could include bank restoration, stream sinuosity, bioretention areas, outfall stabilization, a dry swale, and a rock vane. These measures would mitigate flooding, improve water quality, control erosion, improve habitat, and serve as an educational resource for the community.
