At Alewife Reservation on a sunny morning, about 75 persons from Cambridge, Arlington, Somerville and other towns, stopped by Friends of Alewife Reservation's sign in and literature tables for a full cleanup of the 115 acres of urban wild, managed by the Dept. of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). This year, additional sites were added to the 4th annual Super Mystic Earth Day cleanup by FAR such as the old ice rink at Lake and Route 2, where Belmont citizens are proposing an alternative site from the forested Uplands for the O'Neill properties to develop. Owner of the land, the Dept. of Conservation and Recreation, and the surrounding towns and city are looking favorably on the swap idea. A petition circulated at the cleanup asking towns to consider alternative economic plans, rather than to clearcut 7 acres of rare silver maples. The public land of the Uplands was also cleaned by Darrell King, Martha Moore, Sally Alcorn of Belmont and Mike Arnott of Cambridge, who pulled trash from the north side of Little River around the Bulfinch Discovery Park complex. At Blair Pond off Blanchard Rd., containers of sulphuric acid were found by Temple Beth El environmental outing families. Belmont Fire Dept. removed them. Elevator equipment was also found there. The Pond is dying due to town silt and obstructed flow. Rugs and a large iron tub were pulled out of the area from south of Blair on Normandy Drive. A large "MDC" sign was found along the Alewife Brook channel, but not reusable.

Thanks to the Yates Pond crew, drivers leaving the T going west to route 2, or traveling 16 north, will see the huge embankment, now pristine nature from years of litter. The group barely made a dent in the debris that has been tossed on the north side of Yates Pond primarily by homeless populations moving in and out. The coordinators calculated about 125 cubic yards of debris for the entire cleanup after 4 hours.

Volunteer Groups participating were Boston Cares, Temple Beth El, and many residents and friends of the Reservation.
Generous support, coordination, and volunteers were forthcoming by Dennis Carr and his crew from MWHGlobal.
Dept. of Conservation Recreation, State Highway department, Bulfinch and Grace Co. all cleaned the area in conjunction with the FAR cleanup. Donations were given by Zeff Photo, Hillside Gardens, Spaulding and Slye, Dodge Co., Bulfinch Companies, Wyeth Co., Loft Equipment, City of Cambridge, Mystic River Watershed Assoc. and DCR. SEA Company.