CHARLES  RIVER  PARKLANDS  UPDATE
April 2010
Archives—Table of Contents

We hope you are enjoying the Parklands as spring arrives, the trees grow daily greener, and the flowers are starting to bloom. Now is a beautiful time to take a stroll or a bike ride - and don't forget to look for the thousands of daffodils our volunteers planted last fall.

And this upcoming Saturday, April 24th, on the 40th anniversary of Earth-Day, thousands of folks will be out picking up the winter's accumulation trash and debris along the Charles. Read more below.

Conservancy Turns 10 in 2010:
Celebrate the Power of the Parklands!

To celebrate, on Tuesday, June 15, 2010 the Conservancy will host 300 business, government, and community leaders at a luncheon honoring lead Conservancy supporters Carolyn and Peter Lynch as well as Henry Lee, Founder and President of the Friends of the Public Garden. Our keynote speakers will be NPR's Tom Ashbrook and Fred Salvucci, former Secretary of Transportation and now Senior Lecturer at MIT.

Sponsorship opportunities and tickets to this event are still available, but time is limited. For more information about the event, please click here. To find out about becoming an event sponsor, please click here.

Conservancy Volunteer Spring Events

On Saturday, April 24th we will supervise over 700 volunteers for the 11th Annual Earth Day Charles River Cleanup, in partnership with a host of other non-profit and government organizations. Last year over 3,000 people joined together to remove over 20 tons of garbage from the 160 miles of Charles River shoreline.

On Sunday, May 16th, the Charles River Conservancy will be hosting its First Annual Alumni Day on the Charles. We want you and your alumni association to spend a morning with us volunteering on the banks of the Charles. In the afternoon we'll provide for lunch and games, with prizes awarded from our partner and sponsor REI. Wear those school colors, and wear them with pride as we get down and dirty revitalizing the banks of the Charles. Time is running out to sign up, but for additional information please contact John Broderick at jrb@thecharles.org.
 

The Conservancy is currently fully booked for the next few months: Thank you to all our amazing volunteers (over 1,500 in April and May alone!). Please stay posted for the next available opportunity and stay in touch with us on Facebook!

Conservancy Seeks new Volunteer Coordinator

While we are saddened to lose John Broderick and all the energy and enthusiasm which he has injected into the program, we were excited to hear of his recent decision to start law school in the fall and wish him all the best in this new endeavor.

We are now looking for a new Volunteer Coordinator to help manage our 2,500 annual volunteers who help with landscaping and maintenance tasks to improve the health and beauty of the Parklands. Please click here for the full job description. Application deadline is April 25.

Parklands Advocacy: CRC in the News & Bottle Bill Action Alert

Read our recent pieces in the Boston Globe and Cambridge Chronicle! Click here to read the April 5, 2010 Boston Globe Op-ed by Conservancy President Renata von Tscharner calling for bridge underpasses to be added to current plans for the Charles River bridge renovations. In our last e-newsletter, we mentioned the City of Cambridge's newly unveiled Riverfront Plan, which you can learn more about on the City of Cambridge's webpage. You can also read the Conservancy's response to this plan as published in the Cambridge Chronicle.

Help support the updated Bottle Bill! Only 22% of non-deposit bottles and cans are recycled: the rest end up as litter or trash, clogging storm drains and increasing waste and costs. For a detailed analysis of the bill, click here. We urge you to contact your State Representative and State Senator and ask them to support the Updated Bottle Bill, H3515/S1480. You can find your representatives here.

Additional information: H3515/S1480 would (a.) expand the bottle bill to include water, sports drinks, flavored teas, juices, and other on the go beverages. (b.) it would reestablish the Clean Environment Fund, taking forfeited deposits and using these funds to improve recycling and other environmental projects (c.) would provide an industry-paid slight increase to redemption centers, who have not had a raise in 18 years. This bill would not increase the deposit, and would not cost the state any money. This bill would help reduce litter, increase recycling, and help municipalities reduce collection and cleanup fees. There are no other bottle bill updates currently being considered by the legislature.

Please feel free to email us with your comments and suggestions.

Swimmable Charles Initiative: Advocacy Update

On March 18th CRC Board Member Mark Kraczkiewicz testified at an EPA hearing in support of the EPA's new proposed Municipal Separate Storm Sewer (MS4) stormwater general permit. The Conservancy also submitted a letter to EPA in support of the permit.

The proposed permit will require towns, state and federal agencies to do more to reduce the amount of polluted rain water that runs off paved surfaces during storms, through storm drains, directly to our rivers, streams, lakes ponds, wetlands and coastal waters. This is significant because while the water quality of the Charles is much improved due to significant sewer infrastructure improvement, much of the remaining water quality problems are due to pollutants in stormwater runoff. The Conservancy urged the EPA to reduce the amount of implementation time allowed so that positive impacts can be seen sooner, but otherwise strongly supported the permit.

For more information, contact our Swimmable Charles Coordinator Karen Patterson Greene at kpg@thecharles.org.

The Charles River Swim Club is now accepting applications for the Annual Charles River One-Mile Swim Race on July 11 (rain date, July 25). Visit the Charles River Swim Club's website for details.

Upcoming Events

Tango by Moonlight on the Weeks Footbridge
Starting in May, the Tango Society of Boston will begin their 14th season of offering their popular monthly Tango By Moonlight events on the Weeks Bridge. Dance the night away from May to September. Visit the Tango Society website for details.

Watercolor Workshop: June 25-27
Reserve your place at the 1-3 day session with watercolorist Frank Costantino. First day indoors, followed by 2 days of plein air workshops on the Charles.

Visit the following links for more information and registration form. Watercolor sketch at right by Frank Costantino.

Charles River News and Updates

Read below for more recent happenings related to the Charles River Basin:

On April 15, Governor Deval Patrick pledged state funds to supplement private efforts to replace the deteriorated timber docks and float system at Community Boating Inc. on Boston's Esplanade as a tribute to the 100th anniversary of this unique riverside park. For the press release, click here.

East Watertown Neighbors to Clean up Banks of the Charles River. (Watertown TAB)

$4m Effort Aims to Fix Esplanade Dock. (Boston Globe)

Two Impervious Acres Will Require a Permit in Charles River Watershed. (Environmental Protection Online)

Moorings Available for Small Boats in Charles River Basin. (Cambridge Chronicle)

Notice a problem in your state park? An excess of litter or shady business? The DCR has set up a single phone number for reporting all problems, anywhere in the state. For more information click here.

CRC TV Shows on CCTV

The CRC has been broadcasting live on CCTV since 2001. Tune in to Channel 9 every second and fourth Wednesday of the month at 5:30 p.m. Shows are replayed at 12:30 a.m. the same day.

Click here to visit YouTube where you can hear host Renata von Tscharner discuss the Parklands with river advocates, legislators, and friends. Recent shows include a conversation with State Representative Marty Walz.

Thank you for reading! To support our work this spring, please give online or send your check to:

Charles River Conservancy
Four Brattle Street
Cambridge MA 02138

Thank you for your support!

Sincerely,
Charles River Conservancy