Yesterday, we had the edges of the deluge which was formerly known as Hurricane Florence.
The day before that, September 17, Phil was on Magazine Beach and was shocked with what he saw.
Here is his report, an overview photo of the area from a large scale photo by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation earlier this year, and Phil’s 12 photos, with comments by Phil on the photos.
Phragmites are important because the people fighting for all the destruction are also attacking them. They have gone so far as to block a drainage system intended to keep poisons out of the Charles River. The drainage system was created when Cambridge and the DCR started dumping those poisons on Magazine Beach in the 2000's.
The destroyers are offended by vegetation growing without paying tithes to contractors. As Phil notices, the blocking of the drainage system is having major negative impact on the environment. The vegetation growing without contractor payments just keeps on growing.
The blocked poison drainage system is next to the river in the middle of the waterfront in the overview photo.
The observation platform he refers to is at the riverfront to the right. This is the supposed new / improved boat dock on which we reported a few days ago.
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Phil’s Report:
They've cut another clump of Phragmites. Hardly makes a dent in the
growth. Also cut back the unusually tall ragweed along the edges of the swale.
There's nothing but crabgrass and smartweed growing in the wet mucky
place in the reed area where they did their first cut in the spring
of 2017. Stinks of sulfur too, not the pleasing earthy scent of the
wetland before it got wrecked. Some "wildflower restoration"! It
angers me. Aren't they noticing the havoc they're wreaking? In the
process they trampled half the wildflower garden that was planted earlier too.
Here's an amusing unintended consequence: the marsh is beginning to
spread into the playing fields. The mower can't work in what are now
permanent wet spots so rushes and witch grass are actively colonizing them.
The decking is being put in for the observation platform. It stands
on metal legs anchored in concrete footings in the river, as near as
I can tell.
The unprecedented volume of plant growth extends maybe fifty feet
into the river in places now, and what I can see of it from shore is
heavily encrusted with algae, a dead zone where fish cannot now
survive. Geese and ducks avoid it.
I saw two headless chickens in the river near the magazine, Santeria
voodoo savages loose on our turf? what next
Phil
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Overview:
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Phil’s Photos
