Muddy River Restoration Project’s New Plan Falling Short of Sufficient

BOSTON – The plan was simple – and expensive. Dredge the three-and-a-half mile long Muddy River that flows through the Emerald Necklace – the historic chain of parks create by the premier 19th Century landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted.

The project’s $90 million price tag would pay for the dredging, the shore-to-shore removal of Phragmites, an invasive reed plant clogging the river and the unearthing of a section of the buried river; all with the goal of restoring the neglected waterway to prevent future flooding.

But sometime in 2005, the Assistant Secretary of the Army and Army Corps of Engineers, which is leading the project, decided the cost was too high and scaled back the plan to just the “Flood Risk Management” (FRM) phase. Now, the 17-year-old conservancy group that oversees the chain of parks is looking for ways to restore the “Environmental Restoration” (ER) phase, completing the project as previously intended.

“Originally, the plan included full dredging and removal of all the invasive species, primarily Phragmites,” said Jeanine Knox, the director of external relations for the Emerald Necklace Conservancy. “Then that phase was determined to be too expensive. It was about $800,000 per acre. [Officials] didn’t think it was worth the cost.”

Both phases of the project total 40.6 acres of open water and wetlands. While the exact acreage of the ER phase alone is unknown, the FRM portion will stretch from Leverett Pond to the Charlesgate area.

The project’s price is being primarily covered by the federal government, which is funding about 65 percent of the cost, and then evenly distributed between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the city of Boston and the town of Brookline. The conservancy, an independent, non-profit organization, contributes to Boston and Brookline parks budgets through private fundraising.

With the extra dredging and invasive plant removal phase eliminated, the project budget was cut a third to about $61 million. But the conservancy warns that the saved costs could mean negative consequences, possibly compounding the flooding worries the plan was to ameliorate.

“Phragmites don’t even allow water to pass through them because they’re so dense,” said Knox. “Full bank-to-bank restoration would have been key because you could add New England native plants that would help alleviate sediment build-up and help with flooding.”

Jennifer Flanagan of the Army Corps’ New England District’s Public Affairs Office, disagrees, stating in an e-mail that, despite the presence of Phragmites, the “project will be effective in conveying the flood waters without the environmental restoration features.”

“Whatever configuration is needed for the FRM channel is able to be created within the existing Muddy River without a bank to bank restoration and associated plantings,” she wrote, adding that, despite not completing the ER phase, they “will remove certain areas of Phragmites in order to construct the channel.”

The Phragmites cover the parks through Charlesgate – a considerable portion of the Emerald Necklace’s 1,100 acres. The connected series of nine parks, created by renowned park designer Frederick Law Olmstead in the 1860s, include the Public Gardens, Boston Common, The Riverway and Fens.

Together, they form the oldest remaining continuous series of parks in the country, encompassing Boston and Brookline; the Muddy River, which has been forced into underground pipes since the 1920s, will help reinforce that connection by flowing freely from Jamaica Pond to the Charles River.

Dredging the Muddy River will help preserve and rebuild Olmsted’s dream by returning the parks to many of their intended conditions, but despite that benefit, the conservancy is so passionate about the original plan’s necessity they’re prepared to seek funding elsewhere to complete the full project.

“The speculative thought is that we may have to look to grants, private, state and city funding to get [the project] done,” said Knox.

However, she concedes that, despite the conservancy’s history of successful fundraising, the large amount of capital needed to complete the project, advocates may have to go back to Washington for help.

“There has been advocacy to push the federal government to reconsider and do the full project,” said Knox. “[Massachusetts senator] Elizabeth Warren has even helped out.”

The only thing the conservancy is not prepared to do is to concede just yet. Although the ENC’s primary mission is to keep the parks at peak quality, it may have to take on the large-scale task of removing some of the invasive plants in the event that the original plan remains tabled.

“There’s still the hope that the city will get the full funding,” said Knox. “We could advocate for new processes, but it is up to the city to decide what should be done.”

Flanagan said that the “Corps applauds the conservancy for continuing to advocate for the ER portion of this work.”

The source of the conservancy’s determination to see the full restoration plan completed is partially tied to its history.

The organization was created as the result of two devastating floods in the mid-90s, primarily involving the Muddy River. Areas such as Kenmore Square, the Museum of Fine Arts, Northeastern University and Fenway Park were inundated.

On Oct. 21, 1996 alone, 10.8 inches of rain fell on Boston, causing an estimated $60 million in damages to the MBTA. June 1998 saw comparable devastation, made worse because of the Muddy River’s inability to contain and drain the floodwaters.

 “We were the convener of multiple voices,” said Knox. “There were many groups trying to solve the problems that contributed to those 100-year floods, but there needed to be one, main advocacy group.”

The contributing factors to the flooding were not so different from the ones the conservancy faces with the restoration project today.

In addition to neglected maintenance, primarily in the form of litter, the river suffered from “sediment build-up and invasive species,” according to Knox.

After its creation, the ENC set out to fix the river along the lines of today’s plan.

“It’s a federally-funded project, but the conservancy was key in getting this project off of the ground by advocating and stating early on that it needed to be done,” said Knox, adding that the ENC was on the “ground floor” — both in the 90s and today.

Despite her concerns, Knox said that the dialed back restoration project does have positive aspects, including the creation of a small island in the river.

“Putting in an island in the Fens was part of the original Olmstead plan, and it will provide a safe habitat for water fowl,” said Knox. “Reptiles and fish will have a better, cleaner environment, too.”

Knox said the conservancy isn’t opposed to the current plan so much as it still wants to see the original version completed.

“We’ve never not been for it, but this has been a decades’ worth of work; we want to see it fully-funded as designed,” she said.

According to Knox, that design, while necessary then, is crucial now.

“About 20 years ago, climate change was happening a lot less,” said Knox. “Now there’s an increased potential for flooding because of it. It’s even more important that this is done properly.”