Friends of Alewife Reservation (FAR)        Join Email List     DONATE!
Updated July 13, 2013

Email for page updates

it's private



Alewife:  Map — Directions — Places to Park
 (on Events page)


Sections on this page: News - Office - Belmont Uplands: Forest Development and Developer - Cambridge Storm Water Basin - New England Restoration Model - Development News - Resources from FAR - Image Collections - Development Information - About FAR - Get Involved




News

FAR office
FAR's office is located in the Fresh Pond Mall
at 186 Alewife Brook Parkway, Suite 304, Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: 617 415-1884
Viewing/borrowing materials


Belmont Uplands: Forest Development and Developer
DEP File #: 123-0180, Notice of Intent (NOI);
EOEA #13312 Environmental Notification Form (ENF)

Cambridge Storm Water Basin - New England Restoration Model

Cambridge and regional storm water basin makes progress - added to website January 31, 2012


Major Progress in Alewife Reservation Stormwater Wetland Construction - December 19, 2011

FAR Wins Financial Support from State for Education at the New Wetland-Stormwater Restoration Project - updated January 25 with Department Of Fish And Game Riverways Program scope document.

A Major Wetlands Restoration/Storm Water Management Model Project, and Environmental Learning Center for Cambridge and the Massachusetts metropolitan western corridor, covering 8 to 10 acres, by City of Cambridge, Bioengineering Group, MWH Inc., Mass Water Resources Authority and SEA construction and Friends of Alewife Reservation.
List of the 22 project pages (with link to the 7MB Adobe Acrobat file, which takes about 22 minutes to download with a 56K dial-up modem - compared to about 15 to 30 seconds for each project page)
New on January 6:
Planting details page available as easy-to-read-and-print Microsoft Word file and text Adobe Acrobat file.
Letter plus number designations from the drawings added to page-number list for easier reference.
.

Restoration Plans Move Forward for Wildlife and Communities of Cambridge, Arlington, Belmont, Somerville and Metropolitan Boston


Development News
Links to all the news

Resources from FAR
Biodiversity in the Alewife Reservation Area: Species, Habitat and Ecosystem — Available from FAR for $10. Describes Reservation and its wildlife and locations and access.
A major assessment: 120 pages of maps, charts, illustrations and details of the Reservation topography; habits of the wildlife.
Storm water brochure developed by Friends of Alewife Reservation and City of Cambridge for local businesses and neighbors as a watershed Pilot Project, implemented and organized by local Scout troop.   Stream Team materials page
(updated October 5, 2004)

Image collections — slide shows
Silver Maples In the Urban Wild: art of Sarah Leon 4 paintings
See also the text at
Silver Maples In the Urban Wild - art of Sarah Leon, which includes a link to artist's website

North Trail Maintenance Improvement Project Improved Pathway for conservationists, hikers, birders and class rooms, fishermen.
Partners: Student Conservation Americorps, Department of Conservation and Recreation, Friends of Alewife Reservation
67 photos/slides, taken March 2006

Walk, January 7, 2006
15 photos/slides by Janet Malenfant
  Urban Wilds Past-Present-Future
The Alewife Reservation's wildlife, wetlands, meadows, and woodlands. A Friends of Alewife Reservation presentation by Michael Arnott, with 67 slides.

Urban Wild (Alewife Reservation)
Paintings by Vicki Paret, a page with 3 images.

Summer 2004 Alewife Reservation Photos
Unseen and Unknown Areas and Wildlife
Spectacular photos by Michael Arnott, FAR Steering Board, AMC naturalist, with 10 slides

Friends of Alewife Reservation images — maps, plans, photos (Silver Maple Forest, fauna, flora, water, and people — many categorized by season), with 135 slides .
Development Information
Alewife Master Plan - Complete contents of June 2003 MDC CD, with maps.   Alewife Master Plan - assessment
(Summary of strong and weak points of MDC Master Plan — not a FAR final assessment.)
Floodplain Map from FEMA of GIS - Belmont Uplands DEIR / proposed land-swap area   Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to put bulletin board / sign up at Blair Pond (part of Master Plan)

Of Special Significance    
Silver Maple Forest building — architect's renderings   Aerial view 1 of building    Aerial view 2 of building
Little Pond — headwaters in proper perspective   Aerial view of Little Pond
Boston Basin ecoregion, Cambridge land use,
Vernal pools (including potential pools near Little Pond)
  Maps
MDC Master Plan Nov. 20, 2002 presentation
— Ellen Mass' description
  MDC Master Plan — Ellen Mass' description
MDC Master Plan Nov. 20, 2002 presentation
— Russ Cohen's comments
  MDC Master Plan — Russ Cohen's comments
370+ flora & fauna (with more flora, from Betty Wright)   Biodiversity lists for Cambridge
Forest, shrub, wetland, marsh, waterways — Ellen Mass   Greater Alewife ecosystem
Environmental Notification Form comments   Frontage Road Office/R&D
Maps: forests and proposed soccer field   Forests and soccer field
Alewife Wildlife Inventory - David Brown's initial findings   Alewife Wildlife Inventory (edited version)
Presentation to MDC and design firms   Plans for Alewife Reservation
     

About FAR   Get involved
FAR is a multileveled stewarding and advocacy group that desires to protect the public Reservation land owned by the MDC and to preserve it for wildlife and for future generations, providing a highly accessible area in limited wilderness areas for passive recreationists. The group is run by a board of overseers that oversee activity and help advocate for Reservation needs.
Statement of Purpose
  If you'd like to be on our mailing list for updates and events, and quarterly newsletter, join our email list .

We welcome you to join FAR for $20 a year. Our address for sending dues is 186 Alewife Brook Parkway, Suite 304, Cambridge, MA 02138.


The naturalist, William Brewster, wrote in 1906 about the "Great Swamp" area, now known as the Alewife Reservation. Quote follows from his book, Birds of the Cambridge Region:
This fine, large meadow, upwards of one hundred acres in extent, has changed but little, either in character or surroundings, within the past thirty or forty years. It lies partly in Belmont and Waltham, but chiefly in the southeastern corner of Lexington, near the source of Beaver Brook. Although for the most part open and grassy, it contains many swampy thickets, several tracts of low-lying maple woods and a few wooded ridges and 'marsh islands.' The Concord Turnpike crosses it from east to west on an ancient causeway bordered by pollarded willows. Through the long and alluring vista formed by the trunks and overarching branches of these fine old trees one may walk or drive in cool and unbroken shade during the hottest June day, listening to the songs of Bobolinks, Red-winged Blackbirds, Swamp Sparrows, Yellow Warblers, Maryland Yellow-throats, Catbirds and other marsh- or thicket-loving birds . . . As the meadow is also bordered on every side by sparsely populated country, abounding in woods, thickets, cedar pastures and grassy fields, it offers to the bird lover one of the most attractive and interesting resorts to be found anywhere, at the present time, within easy reach of Cambridge.



Blair Pond in Cambridge, on Blanchard Road, fills in with mud flats from sediment.

South Belmont forest. The forest is open grasslands and wetlands.
Important transitions are between forest scrubland and river. Summer.