Alewife Brook Reservation is a

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

and

urban wild An urban wild is a remnant of a natural ecosystem found in the midst of an otherwise highly developed urban area. One of the most expansive efforts to protect and foster urban wilds is the aptly titled "Urban Wilds program" conducted in Boston, w ...

located in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, Arlington, and Somerville. The park is managed by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation and was established in 1900. It is named for Alewife Brook, which was also historically known as Menotomy River (the village of Menotomy is now Arlington), a tributary of the Mystic River.

Description

A large proportion of the park is

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

, including the Little River, though there is also a wooded upland and meadow area. The reservation serves as a

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

for numerous indigenous and migratory

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

. Common species include

osprey The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It ...

great blue heron The great blue heron (''Ardea herodias'') is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America, as well as far northwestern South America, the Caribbea ...

and the

woodcock The woodcocks are a group of seven or eight very similar living species of sandpipers in the genus ''Scolopax''. The genus name is Latin for a snipe or woodcock, and until around 1800 was used to refer to a variety of waders. The English name ...

, whose unusual mating ritual may sometimes be observed by visitors. Additionally, the park's ponds (Little Pond, Perch Pond, and Blair Pond) provide spring spawning grounds for

anadromous Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousa ...

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

, which migrate from the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

via the Mystic River and Alewife Brook, a tributary which, in turn, drains the Little River. The southern end and single largest part of the reservation is adjacent to the Alewife Station at the northern end of the MBTA Red Line in Cambridge. The Minuteman Bikeway terminates at the reservation and the Fitchburg Cutoff Path and Alewife Greenway run through it. The reservation includes Alewife Brook as it flows north through Cambridge, Arlington, and Somerville toward the Mystic River. Much of this corridor is fairly narrow, and contains only the brook, the Alewife Brook Parkway and modest buffer strips of land on either side and in between the brook and the parkway. North of Broadway the area between the brook and the parkway opens, and has been developed to include playgrounds, playing fields, and Dilboy Stadium. South of the Fitchburg Line is the small Blair Pond, (First picture on Images tab) which has public access from Mooney Street and Normandy Ave. There are multiuse paths or sidewalks on at least one side of the brook for the entire length of Alewife Brook, which are being improved as part of the Alewife Greenway project. Little Pond is surrounded by fencing and private property, so there is no public access to the shoreline.

History

In the 1600s, the area from Fresh Pond to Spy Pond was a tidal wetland known as the Great Swamp. It was known for its Alewife, and there was an important

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

near what is now the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Massachusetts Route 16. Most of the swamp was drained and developed as farmland, then mining for brick clay, tanneries, and landfill. The Fitchburg Railroad main line in 1843 was the first rail link constructed through the swampy area in western Cambridge. It still serves as the MBTA Commuter Rail Fitchburg Line. The Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad was branched off in 1846, with the curving connection still visible today, passing under Alewife Brook Parkway, along the west side of the Alewife Station parking garage, and proceeding northwest along the right-of-way of the present-day Minuteman Bikeway. The Watertown Branch Railroad was opened in 1851, branching from the Fitchburg and curving south behind what is now the Fresh Pond Shopping Center on the east side of Alewife Brook Parkway (then merely swampland). By 1852, several spurs were serving local freight customers, including ice houses on the south side of Spy Pond. In 1870, the

Boston and Lowell Railroad The Boston and Lowell Railroad was a railroad that operated in Massachusetts in the United States. It was one of the first railroads in North America and the first major one in the state. The line later operated as part of the Boston and Maine R ...

bought the former Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad, by then renamed the Lexington and Arlington Railroad, and constructed a connection from the Alewife area through what is now Davis Square to Somerville Junction. Most of this connection is now the Somerville Community Path and Alewife Linear Park, but at its western end it passed through what is now Alewife Center and met up with the Lexington, after curving past the stub ends of Fairmont and Lafayette Streets. This new connection also had a southerly fork known as the Fitchburg Cutoff, passing just north of the present-day Alewife Station, crossing the now-removed Fitchburg-Lexington connection, and joining the Fitchburg mainline. A map from 1903 shows these railroads criss-crossing the reservation, as well as Alewife Brook proceeding farther south to drain Fresh Pond. The swampy area is largely undeveloped, compared to the surrounding neighborhoods. The reservation was originally planned by landscape designer Charles Eliot in conjunction with the Alewife Brook Parkway, although it has been substantially altered since its initial set-aside. It forms part of Boston's Metropolitan Park District, established in 1893. The Alewife Brook was straightened and channelized next to the parkway between 1909 and 1912, with road construction completed by 1916. Landscaping was performed by the famed

Olmsted Brothers The Olmsted Brothers company was a Landscape architecture, landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870–1957), sons of the landscape ar ...

firm. Especially in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, the surrounding land was developed with residential, commercial, and industrial buildings.

Storm water management wetland

Beginning in 2011, the City of Cambridge constructed a 3.4-acre storm water management wetland in the reservation, just west of Alewife Station. The project opened in October 2013. The wetland stores and gradually releases collected storm water runoff from nearby parts of Cambridge, including the Huron and Concord Avenue areas. A basin and native plantings will slow the flow of runoff and remove pollutants and nutrients before they enter the Little River. The area includes an amphitheater, interpretive signage, overlooks and boardwalks, and links the bike paths on either side. Habitats, ranging from deep marsh to riparian forest, were created. The land bordering Massachusetts Bay in eastern Massachusetts once consisted of spongy wetlands that worked to improve water quality and regulate flow in the surrounding rivers, however, the natural structure and

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

of the land was disturbed by urbanization of the city of Cambridge and surrounding areas. With this degradation, water pollution from

sanitary sewer overflow Sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) is a condition in which untreated sewage is discharged from a sanitary sewer into the environment prior to reaching sewage treatment facilities. When caused by rainfall it is also known as wet weather overflow. Cause ...

became a huge problem in the Alewife Basin. To combat this issue, the city was ordered to separate its sanitary and stormwater sewage systems. In 2003, the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority collaborated to create a

green infrastructure Green infrastructure or blue-green infrastructure refers to a network that provides the “ingredients” for solving urban and climatic challenges by building with nature.Hiltrud Pötz & Pierre Bleuze (2011). Urban green-blue grids for sustain ...

plan involving large scale restoration of a neglected

within the Alewife Reservation in Cambridge with additional development to convert the reservation into a usable public park. The restored wetlands would work to regulate flooding and flow rates and improve

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

by removing debris and pollutants from urban

stormwater runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow or terrestrial runoff) is the unconfined flow of water over the ground surface, in contrast to '' channel runoff'' (or ''stream flow''). It occurs when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other ...

as it is filtered through the wetlands. The outcomes of this plan proved to be highly successful as they have addressed various aspects of the region's broader urban systems. Not only has the project improved water quality and reduced flooding and sewage overflows within the area, but it has also promoted

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

by providing safe and healthy urban wildlife habitats as well as sustainability by reducing the environmental footprint of the city. Additionally, the park's renewal has created shared public space that fosters a sense of community in the surrounding areas and provides an educational platform for those communities with environmental education opportunities and outdoor classroom space built into the park's design. Despite its success, the project has received some push back. Before the plan was implemented, a series of court cases arose from public discourse in the community that deemed the project "an inappropriate use of parkland". Additionally, the initial predicted cost of the project was $3 million, however it is now a part of a $171 million investment.

Alewife Brook Greenway

A bike path project for the reservation received $4.5M from the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a Stimulus (economics), stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed ...

. The Alewife Greenway, a bike path following the parkway from the Mystic River to the Minuteman Bikeway near Alewife station, was completed in October 2012.

References

External links