Land and Water Acknowledgement
The Charles River Conservancy (CRC) and the water and land it supports are situated on the stolen homelands of the Pawtucket peoples and the Massachusett and Wampanoag tribal nations.
The waters and land surrounding the Quinobequin, meaning “meandering”, (Charles) River have been continually used and cared for by Pawtucket peoples and the Massachusett and Wampanoag tribal nations for generations prior to the arrival of colonizers. The CRC recognizes the sovereign rights of Native Indigenous groups and the ongoing efforts of colonialism to erase them. Likewise, we seek to honor and aid their ongoing stewardship of the Quinobequin River and are committed to the perpetual process of de-centering colonial perspectives in our maintenance of these lands and waters. This acknowledgement serves as a foundational step in building our understanding of how to be supportive partners of Natives in our conservation efforts. For resources to learn more click here.
Photo via http://massachusetttribe.org/
History of the Charles River
Although the Charles River Basin, an iconic public space, appears to be a natural landscape, it is actually the result of deliberate design and planning. More than two centuries ago the Charles was a tidal river, surrounded by hundreds of acres of salt marshes and mudflats. The river, known as the Quinobequin (meandering) by its indigenous stewards, was used and cared for by Massachusett, Wampanoag, and Pawtucket peoples that lived in what would become known as Boston and Cambridge by their colonizers. With the increasing disruption to Natives and their land that colonialism brought, in the nineteenth century the basin was dammed for mills and filled for industrial, commercial, and residential purposes. As a result, pollution proliferated the river, revealing stretches of foul, sewage-filled mudflats at low tide of the lower Charles.
In 1844, Charles Eliot, a notable Cambridge landscape architect developed a plan for the Boston area that imagined the river as an expansive public space and centerpiece of Boston’s regional park system. Three key interventions advanced his idea. First, the acquisition of the river banks by the City of Cambridge and Boston Metropolitan Park Commission transferred the riverfront to the public domain in the 1890s. Second, the construction of the Charles River Dam at the mouth of the Charles in 1910 stabilized the water level from Boston to Watertown. Lastly, the creation of the Storrow Drive Memorial Embankment, which today is known as the Esplanade
The landscape changed dramatically again in 1949 with the construction of Storrow Drive. To compensate for the land that was lost to the new road, a new island was developed along the Esplanade, creating two new lagoons. Later, in the 1960’s, the Esplanade was linked by a path to Herter Park, in Brighton, and other upstream linear parks.
By the mid 1960s, major industrial activities along the Charles had ceased and an environmental movement emerged advocating for improved water quality and ecological health of the Charles River. A partnership between the Charles River Watershed Association, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the MA Water Resources Authority, MA Department of Environmental Protection, and surrounding municipalities was established to advance improvement of the water quality of the Charles.
By 1995, the EPA launched the Clean Charles River Initiative with the goal of making the lower Charles River, from Watertown to Boston Harbor, fishable and swimmable by 2005. Through the efforts of federal, state and local agencies, nonprofit organizations, and residents, tremendous progress has been made toward this goal; the water quality of the Charles has improved from a grade of “D” in 1995 to a “A-” in 2018.
In 2002, a Master Plan for the Charles River Basin, which stretches from downtown Boston to the Watertown Dam, was developed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, creating a comprehensive assessment and vision of the parks and green spaces along the Charles. In the last decade, MassDCR has worked to turn the “lost half-mile” of the river between the old Charles River Dam (now the site of the Museum of Science) and the Charlestown Bridge into usable public park space. Utilizing federal, state, and mitigation funds from Boston’s “Big Dig” , the New Charles River Basin includes two new parks, North Point Park and Nashua Street Park, and the restored Paul Revere Park in Charlestown. These parks are linked by paths and the newly developed North Bank Pedestrian Bridge, which opened in 2012.
Today, the urban parks of the basin include natural areas, recreation fields and facilities, playgrounds, critical wildlife habitat, and paths for cycling, walking, and rollerblading. Sailing, rowing, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, and windsurfing are all popular activities on the river.