Interested in helping to care for the parks and ecosystems along the Charles? The Charles River Conservancy (CRC) recruits volunteers that are interested in land stewardship to make an impact all along the Charles River, covering many neighborhoods and sections of the parks. There are two ways to get involved in Charles River Environmental Watch (CREW), either through our CREW Stewards or CREW Vegetation Monitoring Program. Both CREW programs allow you to volunteer on your own schedule.
Questions? Email volunteer@thecharles.org.
CREW PROGRAMS
CREW – Stewards
As a CREW Steward you will be assigned a section of the park, where you will report on pathway conditions, and remove litter and invasive plants. Once you’ve received the training and supplies needed, go out as often as you are able and have fun! Learn more about the Stewards program here.
CREW – Vegetation Monitoring
CREW Vegetation Monitoring volunteers will help determine the effectiveness of our restoration efforts in a section of the Charles River Parks called Hell’s Half Acre. Volunteers will collect data on their assigned vegetation test plot(s), tracking native and invasive plant growth throughout the growing season. Learn more about the Vegetation Monitoring program here.
CREW SEASON SUMMARY
CREW VEGETATION MONITORING REPORT
The Vegetation Monitoring program trains volunteers to collect data that aids in assessing the effectiveness of invasive plant management in controlling the population and spread of invasive plant species in four habitat types within Hell’s Half Acre (HHA).
2025 was our second year of monitoring vegetation plots in the four habitat types at Hell’s Half-Acre: River’s Edge, Road’s Edge, Wetland, and Successional Woodland. Native plants had higher average density and species diversity than invasive plants in three of the four habitats, and native species accounted for more than half of all plant observations. This indicates that ongoing invasive management and restoration efforts are encouraging the re-emergence of native species to form a robust, healthy ecosystem. However, invasive species including Japanese knotweed, buckthorn, and honeysuckle remain a persistent presence across the four habitats, so further management will be vital to keep making progress.
VEGETATION MONITORING DASHBOARD of HELL’S HALF ACRE, 2024
Explore this dashboard created by Joseph Cangemi, one of our CREW stewards and vegetation monitors, for an interactive map of plants that have been observed in Hell’s Half Acre. You can select by species & habitat type to visualize the plant distributions based on their ground coverage throughout 2024.
Questions? Email us at volunteer@thecharles.org.