The Operations Subcommittee of the MMOC issued this response to an urgent environmental concern on March 11, 2026.
INTRODUCTION
Our communities, the region, and the state are faced with an unacceptable end-result of twenty years of restoration work on the Muddy River, our uniquely valuable historic public resource.
The citizen-led Emerald Necklace Muddy River Restoration Project Maintenance and Management Oversight Committee (the MMOC) is taking the lead on seeking and securing funding for a critical professional evaluation of the current conditions of the entire riverine park resource to enable development of workable and sustainable rehabilitative solutions.
The Muddy River, situated between the City of Boston and the Town of Brookline, is critical to the economic and social well-being of one of the most densely populated and culturally and medically important areas of Massachusetts, with social and economic implications felt well beyond the region. A vital linear connector in the Emerald Necklace system of parks that was created by legendary landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, it is a unique complex of parks and parkways intrinsic to America’s cultural legacy.
In the 1990s, the area was inundated by devastating major flooding, causing costly damage to the cultural institutions, hospitals, commercial properties, and residences located along the Muddy River. In response and after years of advocacy on the part of our communities, the Muddy River Restoration Project was developed and funded to restore the river and its park lands. This seminal project, launching a flood mitigation and historic parkland preservation effort, brought together the Commonwealth, the City of Boston, the Town of Brookline and federal agencies. The $92 million multi-decade rehabilitation project was the key to reclaiming the Muddy River as a historic environmental resource.
THE MMOC AS INDEPENDENT OVERSIGHT OF THE MUDDY RIVER RESTORATION PROJECT
In building a framework for the implementation of the project, key advocacy groups and individuals were invited by the Secretary of the Environment of the Commonwealth in 2002 to establish the MMOC as a permanent and independent citizen-led committee charged with independent oversight of the maintenance and management of the Muddy River Restoration Project. The MMOC represented and continues to represent a range of community-based environmental organizations as well as cultural, academic, and healthcare institutions, all located in proximity to the Muddy River landscape. Importantly, the MMOC includes independent citizen activists who have deep knowledge and concern for the health of this historic resource.
The goals of the restoration project over which the MMOC provided oversight included:
- Flood mitigation
- Water quality improvement
- Habitat improvement
- Historic landscape restoration
- Best management practices
Completion of this historic and remarkably consequential two-phase project was realized in Fall 2023.
II. THE MMOC GOING FORWARD
As a permanent committee, the MMOC continues to work in partnership with public agencies and with our collaborating advocacy groups to address the contemporary Muddy River issues of water quality improvement, landscape maintenance, sources of environmental degradation, historic bridge infrastructure deterioration and safe, accessible open space. Many of these persistent problems exist largely as an outcome of benign neglect due to inadequate budget appropriations. The MMOC meets as a body monthly and its working groups include water quality, landscape maintenance and historic bridge oversight. The MMOC convenes a “cabinet” of key institutions quarterly to address high level outstanding strategies and holds an annual meeting for the public to update and celebrate. The MMOC under the leadership of Fran Gershwin was a founder of the Fenway’s Muddy River Symposium held annually since 2011.
III. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: LOW WATER LEVELS/MUDFLATS
Many key aspects of the Muddy River Restoration Project are of tremendous value to the Boston and Brookline areas and to the region, particularly, increasing water flood storage capacity, protecting key infrastructure, and providing related environmental improvements.
But upon completion of the project, highlighted by the lengthy construction work of the US Army Corps of Engineers, the MMOC was left to grapple with the resultant abnormally low-water levels in the Muddy, an unanticipated, environmentally destructive and unacceptable outcome of what was supposed to be a process of rehabilitation.
Low water levels have serious negative implications for this open space and public health resource, serving multiple communities in Boston and Brookline, including several that are low income and historically underserved by open park spaces. (See Section V for detailed descriptions of negative implications.)
An overarching negative impact of the river’s low water levels are the newly exposed mudflats that are being colonized by highly invasive wetland plants, such as phragmites, which the Project was designed to eliminate at great expense to deter impaired storage capacity. Such plants have potential to rapidly overtake newly planted banks, which is wholly inconsistent with the project goals and plan.
Resultant water levels upstream are approximately 5” lower than originally designed. For some rivers, such a change of water level may not be significant. For the slow-moving, siltation-prone Muddy River, where the water depth is limited and the elevation drops less than a few feet over its entire three-mile length, such an alteration in the water depth profoundly affects the riverine aesthetic as an intended picturesque and environmental asset of the park system.
Currently, there are extensive shallow areas where the water no longer spans bank to bank, extending a considerable distance over the course of the river. Large areas of unsightly and possibly toxic mud are exposed, conducive to mosquito infestation, with serious implications to the intended attractive and healthy open space serving a dense urban population.
IV. THE MMOC SEEKS FUNDING
In partnership with the non-federal sponsors who are entrusted with maintaining the project (the City of Boston, the Town of Brookline and the Department of Conservation and Recreation), the MMOC is taking the lead to seek funding to assess conditions and evaluate timely mitigations of this issue, which threatens the integrity of the Muddy River, its parks and landscapes, and negatively impacts the experience for the many economically and socially diverse communities who visit.
As the first step to address this problem, the MMOC seeks funding for a high-level alternatives assessment study by appropriate experts to identify effective, impactful strategies that:
1. Mitigate the lowered water levels.
2. Eliminate mudflats in the Muddy River.
Such a study is critical to enable the MMOC and its public partners to fulfill our legislated roles: to educate and engage the public in the oversight, and to ensure ongoing monitoring and long-term protection of this historic resource.
We anticipate that collaboration with a highly qualified consultant will provide a key and consequential understanding of the causes and sources of the problem and will provide expert analysis of current conditions within the context of increased climate instability. It will enable the MMOC to identify resilient, sustainable solutions (following evaluation across several disciplines—healthy habitats, historic and cultural assets, historic stewardship, water quality, public access and economic impact).
Upon completion of the Alternatives Assessment we are committed to taking the next steps to act on the findings by engaging all existing partners and new partners as well, to secure the resources necessary in order to launch a low-water level mitigation project.
V. FURTHER IMPACTS OF LOW WATER LEVELS AND MUDFLATS
Low water levels negate the health of the Muddy River Parks in the following ways:
1. Reduced Habitat Function
a. Low water levels limit the habitat space for benthic and migratory aquatic species in the Muddy River, in particular the blueback herring.
b. Newly exposed mudflats are being colonized by highly invasive wetland plants, such as phragmites, which this project was designed to eliminate at great expense to deter impaired storage capacity. Such plants have potential to rapidly overtake newly planted banks, which is wholly inconsistent with the project goals and plan.
2. Public Health Risks
Lower water levels and less water flow contribute to difficulties in cleaning up the continually problematic water quality. Newly exposed areas of mudflats provide breeding grounds for mosquitos and other disease vectors. Large new areas of previously underwater soils, which are likely to contain toxic river sediments, will be now accessible to public park users.
3. Increased Maintenance Costs and Burden
Large land areas that were previously covered with water are now exposed, resulting in degraded river edges inconsistent with the project goals and plan for the rehabilitation of this historic landscape. These edges will now require continual remedial treatments (see 2 above) with cost implications for maintenance. Exposed river edges may require planning rehabilitation to regrade and replant, again with additional cost implications for sustaining bank stability (see 1 above). The lower water level will have serious negative impacts on the new plantings and restoration areas realized by the Army Corps project.
4. Inconsistency with Historic Landmark Designation
Degraded and unappealing river conditions with large mudflats for the Muddy River component of the Emerald Necklace would be inconsistent with the designation of this linear park system as a National Historic Landmark of international significance. This would be especially deleterious if the low water level conditions cause the Muddy River to be downgraded to “intermittent” status, classifying it as a watercourse that flows only during certain times of the year. (Unlike perennial rivers that flow year-round, intermittent rivers may have no surface water during dry seasons.)
CONCLUSION
The outcome of the Emerald Necklace Muddy River Restoration Project as represented by the current conditions of the Muddy River is not what was expected at the completion of this lengthy and costly project. The MMOC cannot wait to address these issues—time will only exacerbate the environmental damage to this historic open space and community resource.
The time is now to:
- Identify and analyze the causes of the low water and resultant mudflats.
- Develop affordable and resilient solutions to recapture the health of this iconic riverine park.
- Work closely with its diverse abutting communities as well as municipal and Commonwealth resources to sustain a resilient rescue project that will return and sustain this historic landscape’s health and beauty.