Stew Sanders has reported that there are no alewives this spring or summer at Little Pond's Winn Brook for the first time since his monitoring of 30 years. The herring run may have gone on for thousands, as the runs for centuries are documented from St. Lawrence seaway to the Carolinas. Those of us at FAR who have monitored this summer can point to the lack of water in the Pond, Brook and River as the science of the matter, but contamination and climate change must be considered as well. See more at http://www.mcz.harvard.edu/fish.

Watershed woes do not stop here. The arson event over July 4th week-end could also poison Little Pond's natural harmony. The public pier is a second time target of Little Pond neighborhood youth for some reason and it takes many cans of gasoline to light the pilings. My Fire Department phone call reports that children were playing with matches. What is encouraging their appetite to burn the only public viewing site of the lovely Belmont Pond that allows us to view the Alewife, when they have spawned in years past? Public property has always been 'fair game' for vandals. They dare not pillage private areas for fear of immediate reprisals, maybe? Sad to me that our natural public forests and waterways are so hard to protect. After the first arson attempt, the Dept. of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) built new pilings (not an easy thing to do). It has remained in good form this year until last week-end. By burning it, I feel the youth disgraced the neighborhood. Little Pond has one side as private homes but also, a DCR pathway around it not determined. Hill Estates contains public DCR land on all sides of its perimeter as well. We should feel pretty good about sharing preservation of the watershed (one area affects it all) for the sake of future generations and for the potential to remedy its worst abuses. No one constituency can do it alone. It will take a number of interest groups together and then some to reverse the filling in, erosion, too much nitrogen and phosphorus, poisons, and poor hydrology etc.

By enjoying Little Pond with preservation minded companions, and those who have seen it once rich with fish and game, youth learn conservation requirements, and understand its fragility in an very rare urban landscape. And they have a place to enjoy in the spring, summer and fall.

The Belmont Pond has been a key area along the East Coast of the United States for Alewife going up stream from the Mystic River along the Alewife Brook and Little River tributaries to appropriate fresh water spawning grounds. Keep in mind that Alewives are related to sea herring which include menhadden, shad, pelchard, sprats. They are one of the most important food fish in the world. They give us connection to the earth's history of salt and fresh water living creatures, their ancient web of life cycle through the Alewife herring's frenzied migration patterns. "The homing instinct brings them back to their streams of origin with almost united force." They have been known to pass the fish ladders more easily on their second run, noted in The Run by John Hay, Beacon Press. He says that the Alewife were so important to towns that in small communities similar to early Belmont, Alewife Committees were appointed and had to be re-elected annually to watch the area and to prevent overfishing, and to keep obstructions from preventing passage.

I wish we had an Alewife committee now in summer of 2004. FAR is asking folks to help us find a solution that will improve flow or develop river corridors, and reduce the huge amounts of silt from killing our river and Brook. Also, we must unblock a number of streams in the Reservation near the Uplands that conduct stormwater runoff, elevating our river, improving the flow, and preventing flushes from culverts and gushes from impervious surfaces in certain areas of the rivers and streams that have caused flooding in the past.

There are numerous solutions on the website Americanrivers.org which will help us find solutions. as well as hundreds of websites whereby we can find solutions to this sad state of affairs at Alewife.

Thanks to the bird and the alewife monitoring individuals of FAR who have been watching the barn swallows feed their fledglings in the new bird boxes. All are encouraged to go to the website to find these locations and watch this process, although we may find that we are too late, and they have already flown from the nest.