Charles River White Geese: Fire next door to the Destroyed Nesting Area
Here is a photo taken from the website of WBZ TV Boston. WBZ TV was reporting a fire on the opposite side of the BU Bridge from the Destroyed Nesting Area of the Charles River White Geese.
The report is that of a fire reported to be in a homeless encampment. The situation, obviously, is yet another result of the extreme lack of fitness of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation to be charged with the maintenance of properties on the Charles River in Boston and Cambridge.
The view is from a point a little bit north of the Cambridge city line on the BU Bridge.
The building at the right is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology building which is separated from the Destroyed Nesting Area of the 42 year resident Charles River White Geese by Memorial Drive and the on ramp to Memorial Drive from the BU Bridge. The DNA is approximately to the right of the car which is visible.
The thick smoke is obviously from a landscaped strip managed by the DCR located between the BU Bridge and the sensitively designed pollution control plant of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. The row of trees on the left abut the plant.
I walked around this area on Thursday. The area I saw, consistent with the belligerent incompetence of the DCR, was a mess. A fire is not at all surprising. Not that long ago, a contractor working for the DCR created a public health emergency in the Charles River by rerouting poisons dumped on Magazine Beach by the DCR and Cambridge into the Charles River, creating an algae infestation. The DCR has inflicted decades of heartless abuse of the 42 year resident Charles River White Geese. The DCR with Cambridge assistance has destroyed more than 150 commonly excellent trees between the BU Bridge and Longfellow Bridge on the Charles River. The DCR and Cambridge are in the middle of destroying another 60 commonly excellent trees at Magazine Beach.
The DCR is belligerently unfit to be charged with state properties on the Charles River. I have recently gone into detail of its record (including a predecessor entity). That analysis may be seen in Cambridge, MA records at: https://cambridgema.iqm2.com/citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=3903&Inline=True, pages 2654 to 2713. It can be difficult to wander through the Cambridge records. At the request of Governor Healey’s Assistant Secretary for the Environment, I have recently provided the off line masters for this document to an official at the DCR. I would be pleased to provide the off line files to people so requesting at boblat@yahoo.com. There are an extremely large number of graphics in this report. I have subdivided the files into workable size. It is feasible to transmit them at your request.
The Charles River White Geese should be safe from this outrage. The unfit DCR, however, keeps on creating outrages.
My solution of the DCR problem is to replace the DCR on the Charles River with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation which also is responsible on the Charles River but has different responsibilities. MassDOT is not perfect, but on shared responsibilities, MassDOT looks like the adult in the room with the DCR and Cambridge.
I encourage anybody who is concerned with the environment to communicate to Governor Healey. It is a waste of time to attempt to deal with the belligerently destructive Cambridge City Council. However nominal communications could be of value. The Cambridge City Manager is relatively new and could be of help. City Council candidates other than two with records on the Charles River are also possible people to communicate with. Among other problems, one of the new candidates did the poisoning of the Charles as documented in our DCR report.
