1. Current Situation.
2. Analysis.
1. Current Situation.
Phil Barber reports, on March 8 and 9, 2018: [Paragraphing added.]
I was at Magazine Beach the other day.
Denuding that area has thrown off the water table for the whole area, in my opinion. The other “swale” is underwater now too (they are connected by a culbert) and there is deep water under the odd little bridge-walkway they put in near the MWRA area. Never seen water there anywhere as much, especially after a rain.
The hideous black tarps are fraying in the wind, maybe 25% out of kilter now. What an unsightly mess nature’s pals have wrought.
One nimrod keeps posting how lovely it will be when the area becomes a wildflower meadow. Apparently he has found meadow flowers that can endure wet roots, and are indigenous to landfill too.
The destroyers cut down a lovely stand of stately Joe Pye Weed I had watched expand there for years.
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I was there Monday, 3/5, before the newest snow on the ground. I took my usual tons of digital photos, nothing especially noteworthy but illustrating the abnormal water accumulation.
And I found a poor dead rabbit. It occurred to me I haven’t seen the resident red-tailed hawk in a while. I wonder if destroying the habitat of the bunnies and (many, many field mice has adversely affected him (or her) too.
Humans stupidly drop a boulder into a still pond and wander off while the ripples spread and affect all.
“MWRA” stands for Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. They have an environmentally sensitive water clean up plant between the Magazine Beach playing fields and the BU Bridge. They have been friends.
Here is a blow up of a photo in the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Draft Environmental Impact Report, omitting I90. Looking at details, I would say this photo is several years old. Major trees to the left are slated for destruction by the Fake Protectors, the Cambridge City Council and, oh yeah, the villains who initiated the outrage, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.
The single red line is the poison drainage area which has been denuded of free vegetation and covered over with the tarp.
Here are a couple of photos of the covered area from December 2017:
The first looks from the northern end. The Charles River is the blue patch above the black tarp.
Here is a closeup taken from the left of the above picture, with the Starvation Wall in the background.
This photo looks at the “other ‘swale’”, taken from pretty close to the location of the first shot of the tarp. It is marked with three red lines in the MassDOT photo. To the right in this photo you can see the worn-out area so visible from the MassDOT photo.
Cambridge and the DCR introduced poisons in the 2000's to Magazine Beach to “improve” the situation. This worn-out area demonstrates how useless is the poison drinking grass. Their “solution”: dig it all up and put in more poison drinking grass.
Returning to the responsible grasses of most of the 20th Century and ending poison usage is unthinkable to these destructive people. Contractors do not make money out of responsible behavior.
The Red Arrow at the right in the MassDOT photo points to the MWRA plant, which is just off the photo.
The two lines show the bridge Phil mentions. In the MassDOT photo, you see a tiny opening in the starvation wall. That is the location of the bridge, and is the only opening in the starvation wall. There is a massive collection of bushes on the north end of the bridge to prevent the Charles River White Geese from feeding if they use this opening to get through the starvation wall.
Here is a 2014 photo of the opening from the land side taken from the bridge Phil mentions. It is marked with two red lines in the MassDOT photo. The figure is an adult woman, overwhelmed by the starvation wall. The starvation wall is that much larger now. Now behind the camera are the monstrous bushes installed to keep the Charles River White Geese from feeding.
For greater details of this particular outrage, please see our letter to the Cambridge City Manager and City Council complaining on the subject. It was one of the first things received by the new City Council on taking office in 2018. It is posted in city records at: http://cambridgema.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1875&Inline=True, pages 163 to 167.
