Never Write Off a River: Charles River Comes Back

Luckily for the Charles River (and all the people who visit it) some people don't see any problem as too big. Or too long-term. Or too gross.

On September 27, 2011 the Charles River won the International RiverPrize, for excellence in river management. The $330,000 prize went to a River Network Partner group Charles River Watershed Association. (CRWA's Executive Director, Bob Zimmerman, also sits on River Network's Board of Directors.)

The Boston Globe summarizes the river's past in its article about the recent award:

It was unthinkable 20 years ago that the Charles River would ever be clean enough to win the world’s leading environmental prize for river restoration. Back then, human feces lapped at the Museum of Science. It was a river with “belly-up fish and algal blooms making dogs sick,’’ recalled Arleen O’Donnell, former state department of environmental protection acting commissioner.

In fact, the Charles faced just about every problem you could imagine for an urban river: sewage discharges, over-zealous flood control projects, egregious industrial pollution and a disengaged public. How did the Charles get from there to international stardom?

I think what was clearest to me in reading the Globe article and other sources is that this is a story about people as much as it is a story about the river. Just read through the Globe article and you'll find a laundry list of heroes: Rita Barron, John DeVillas, Robert Zimmerman, Kate Bowditch, Jim Fitzgerald, Roger Frymire, and Bill Walsh-Rogalski...and I'd bet this list is just the beginning.

This list includes volunteers, watershed group staff, and agency staff. No one person pulled off the on-going transformation of the Charles. The result?

“The Charles in many ways is a wild river again,’’ said Bob Zimmerman, executive director of the CRWA. “If you had asked me in 1991 if that was possible, I would have said you were crazy.’’

So if you need more inspiration to imagine a different future for your urban river, ponder this description (from the article linked above) of the Charles as a possible vision for your river, and think about the list of people who could help make this possible for your river:

Another visible tipping point of the Charles is the wildlife. The river now hosts otters, beavers, fishers, herons, hawks, herring, and migrating loons. Maury Eldridge, one of the river’s most dedicated kayaking photographers, says it has become more a “national park or wildlife sanctuary than an urban/suburban river.’’

Safe to swim in. Full of wildlife. A draw for visitors from the neighborhood and the world. These are all possible for our urban rivers where smart and savvy advocates come together for the long haul.