Hc.l-.rtl- 2S- Wft^. 5 Pi UMASS/AMHERST 312066 0308 0532 6 THE METROPOLITAN DISTRICT COMMISSION ALEWIFE RESERVATION a ALEWIFE BROOK Master Plan JUNE 2003 Alewife Master Plan Acknowledgments Prepared for: The Metropolitan District Commission William D. McKinney, Acting Commissioner George M. Anzuoni, Associate Commissioner Avril T. Elkort, Associate Commissioner Howard M. Kahalas, Sr., Associate Commissioner Marilyn E. Rollins, Associate Commissioner Julia O'Brien, Director of Planning Daniel Driscoll, Project Manager Prepared by: GOVERMENT DOCUMENTS The Bioengineering Group, Inc. COLLECTION In association with: MAR 2 20ft Carol R. Johnson Associates, Inc. University of Massachusetts Landscape Architects and Environmental Planners Depository Copy Robert France Associate Professor of Landscape Ecology Graduate School of Design, Harvard University Pouder Associates, Inc. Landscape Architecture, Environmental Planning and Permitting Nobis Engineering, Inc. Environmental, Geotechnical and Civil Engineering Judith Nitsch Engineering, Inc. Civil Engineers, Planners and Land Surveyors The MDC thanks the many community groups, area residents, and elected officials for their thoughtful contributions to the master planning process. 1 Preface 1. Introduction 1 A. The Need for a Master Plan 2 B. The Setting for the Master Plan 4 C. The Master Planning Process 9 2. Findings and Recommendations 11 A. Current Site Conditions 1 B. Goals and Objectives 18 C. Proposed Site Improvements and Amenities 19 D. Area-Specific Recommendations 32 3. Implementation 51 A. Design Process and Priorities 51 B. Schedule 52 C. Budget 53 D. Funding Sources 54 E. Required Permits 56 F. Encroachment Solutions 58 G. Maintenance and Management 59 H. Community Involvement and Stewardship 60 4. Related Projects and Recommendations 63 A. Projects Related to Study Area 63 B. Recommendations Beyond Study Area 67 Epilogue 73 Bibliography 75 Credits 81 Appendix A - Existing Flora and Fauna 83 Appendix B - Plant Lists 95 Appendix C - Sustainable Materials & Organic Products 105 Appendix D - Maintenance 109 Appendix E - Master Plan / 15 Preface As a meeting place — of earth and water, city and suburb, culture and ecology — the Alewife Reservation and Alewife Brook Parkway play an important role in the lives of people and other animals alike. The area is rich with physical and symbolic connections: hydrologic connections link wetlands, rivers, floodplains, and neighborhoods; restored and protected ecosystems link wildlife habitats and thus sustain biodiversity; a network of trails and paths connects people to each other, to a significant historic legacy, and to the wilder, natural world which is the home for many animals. Urbanization and residential sprawl damage ecosystems and disconnect people from nature, exacting a significant toll on our physical and emotional well being. This Master Plan offers a prescription for ecosystem restoration of the Alewife Brook and Reservation, one small step toward restoring the balance between hu- man and natural communities. ALEWIFE MASTER PLAN Introduction A. The Need for a Master Plan A,.lewife Reservation and the Alewife Brook Parkway are part of the B. The Setting for Metropolitan Park System, the first regional park system in the country. the Master Plan Established in 1893, the system today comprises almost 20,000 acres of C. The Master woodlands, rivers, coastline, wetlands, and urban parklands. Planning Process The Alewife Brook and its adjacent Parkway are important linear connec- tions within the Metropolitan District Commission's park system. Near the end of the 19th century, the visionary landscape architect Charles Eliot planned the Alewife Brook Parkway as one link in his network of car- riageway parks winding their way through the suburbs of Boston. Such carriageways, and later parkways for automobiles, were a synthesis of road and adjacent landscape designed for driving as a leisurely, recreational, and aesthetically enjoyable activity. Increased traffic and other development pressures have obscured the parkland component so that the road now dominates public perception of many historic parkways. The Alewife Reservation, which has existed since the early 20th century, was purchased with the intent to fulfill Eliot's desire to connect the Mystic River with Fresh Pond. The intrinsic ecological value of the Alewife area was not recognized at the time. Today the Reservation is one of Boston's largest urban wilds, a remnant of the Great Swamp that once stretched from Fresh Pond to Spy Pond. This relic of the former expanse of wetlands still provides valuable ecological functions such as wildlife habitat and filtering stormwater runoff. It also ALEWIFE MASTER PLAN m serves as critical floodplain. These ecological values are being eroded as connections to other v , r « * 1 faBC??h^f'fTrrTTT ^t*r :-fwB -w "': '•"»• - natural resource areas are lost to urban devel- 1 i t * mmAT^—^W * '. opment. •'" r The Alewife area's ecological and recreational virtues are often overlooked because it receives stormwater and combined sewer overflows from surrounding communities and is therefore perceived as a source of pollution and flood- ^•^^g ?- - 1 ing. The Alewife Brook, the central landscape | ; ; ^ 1 FIGURE 1 . This great blue heron is one of many wildlife species feature of the Alewife Brook corridor, lies that are found in the Alewife Reservation. unseen from the Parkway and fenced off from cal restoration deemed necessary by the MDC: walkers, joggers and bicyclists. The Reservation has been used for Route 2 construction fill, il- • Preserve and protect existing aquatic legally used as dumping grounds, inhabited by and riparian (shoreline) resources from homeless people, encroached abut- upon by threats of further degradation. ters, and intensely developed along its border. • Restore, wherever possible, ecologi- Clearly the Alewife Reservation and Alewife cal structure and function in ways that Brook Greenway require and deserve renewed are self-sustaining through time. Use attention, resources and stewardship. bio engineering techniques, which rely on native plants and natural reinforcing A. THE NEED FORAAAASTER PLAN methods. The Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) • Consider recommendations for the Res- is a major property owner in the Alewife area, ervation and the Alewife Brook corridor having management control of the majority of within a larger watershed and landscape the green space located there, including the context. 115-acre Alewife Reservation and the 2.5-mile- • Address ongoing causes of degradation long Alewife Brook and adjacent Parkway. The from a multidisciplinary perspective, ap- MDC has a renewed commitment to improve plying the principles of geomorphology, the Alewife Reservation and Alewife Brook ecology, hydrology, and hydraulics to de- corridor. The commissioned this Master MDC velop comprehensive solutions. Plan to provide recommendations and guide- • Add public access and recreational com- lines by which the desired improvements of ponents. the Alewife Reservation and Alewife Brook This Master Plan presents a comprehensive corridor could be achieved. set of planning and design recommendations. This Master Plan envisions significant resto- Both short-term and long-term actions are ration of wildlife habitat and ecological and proposed to set this process in motion. The hydrological functions; enhanced recreational actions described in this document should be and educational opportunities; and improved understood as setting the foundations for a connections to the system of protected natural sustainable future in which people and wildlife areas and corridors in metropolitan Boston. In can harmoniously coexist in an urban wetland- particular, the purpose of this Master Plan is to river corridor landscape. address the following key principles of ecologi- INTRODUCTION ALEWIFE MASTER PLAN o o CD CD < -C on <u i_ c o 4-1 oI/) CD c m o a. o Mi_ <u E in <Q 0) i_ (0 UCD IB Q. i/i C <Da o m > a o c n _o a oi_ E o (0 « c <U CD 1_ aDfl D<u £<Ll o 2! c — u* a o (Li Xl h jo eo a- o fe.E IJ "* Q. s E fj * °Jm > ai > z*>> > "a ^ cd ts x: >. I- S CD 4-> on-t B. THE SETTING FOR THE MASTER row strip 50 feet wide. The Parkway lies to the PLAN east of the brook. Alewife Brook Parkway stretches from the B1 . The Study Area Route 2 rotary south to the Fresh Pond ro- Alewife Reservation and Alewife Brook lie tary. This section is not included in the study the 9- square-mile Alewife subwa- within Brook area. Recent improvements have been made by tershed. This subwatershed in turn forms part MDC along this section. of the Mystic River watershed, a 79-square- mile area that drains to Boston Harbor. B2. The Ecological Value of Alewife The study area of this Master Plan encom- Reservation and Alewife Brook the Alewife Reservation and the Ale- passes The Alewife Reservation and Alewife Brook wife Brook Greenway north of Route 2 and is are examples of two important ecological located along the borders of four towns and systems: an urban wetland and an urban river cities, namely, Arlington, Belmont, Cambridge, corridor. and Somerville (see Figure 2). Urban Wetland The Alewife Reservation roughly spans the area from Little Pond to the west, Yates Pond to the Wetlands such as those found in the Alewife east, the Boston and Maine Railroad and Blair Reservation are a key part of the hydrologi- Pond to the south, and the Acorn Office Park cal cycle, and have significant impacts on both [formerly Arthur D. Little (ADL) headquarters] water quantity and quality. Wetlands slow down and Route 2 to the north (see Appendix E, and absorb stormwater runoff, then gradually Master Plan for boundary- defining features). release the stored water over a prolonged peri- However, the study area excludes Blair Pond od. The resulting reduction of peak flows helps to slow and its adjacent land (7 acres) from the 115- reduce flooding downstream. The acre Reservation because a planning document movement of water through wetlands allows was recently completed for Blair Pond (MDC, physical, chemical and biological processes to 1999).