The World's Greatest Marsh Cleanup Crew

 Mr. Farnsworth and some of his students and former students spent the morning pulling debris out of the marsh.

Karyl Stoia Celebrates Earth Day at Belle Isle

George Rainville and John Booras pitch in.

Belle Isle Reservation's Ranger Geoff Wood and Lorene Melvin found tires,

 wood and styrofoam debris in the marsh next to Excel Academy.

DCR Ranger Matt Nash, Warren MacPhail, John Forbes and Chris Farnsworth

The Friends of Belle Isle Demolition Crew hard at work on a dock that washed up over the winter.

Our new neighbor on Chelsea Creek is the 600 kW wind turbine at Forbes Park, Chelsea,

 the site of the former Forbes Industrial Park which included Forbes Lithograph.

 Forbes Park includes the brick and white buildings on the far right across the Creek from the Logan 480 Office Park

(the large white building)  and McClellan Highway in East Boston, seen in the foreground.

Belle Isle Marsh Reservation is located in East Boston, Revere and Winthrop, Massachusetts.

This 350 acre former Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) reservation, now the Department of Conservation and Recreation, was acquired from the Massachusetts Port Authority in the late 1970s and was opened as a public park in 1985. The largest surviving salt marsh in Boston Harbor,  it showcases plants and wildlife now rare to the Metropolitan area.  During the 1600s the marshlands were used for sheep and cattle pasture with the salt marsh harvested for salt hay. By mid 20th century a few homes, business/light industrial structures and a fuel tank farm were built on filled-in marshland as was the Belle Isle trotter track, now Suffolk Downs, and subsequently the Suffolk Downs Drive-In theater. In 1986 the MDC reclaimed a major section of Belle Isle Marsh as a reservation, and began a substantial wetland reconditioning program.  The Friends of Belle Isle Marsh, a grassroots environmental organization, was formed in the early 1980s to help preserve the marsh and publicize its importance as an urban natural resource. 

• Our Mission                  

Friends of Belle Isle Marsh is a volunteer organization dedicated to the preservation of this marsh. We believe that protection ultimately depends on public awareness of the value and beauty of this natural resource. Our focus, therefore, is mainly educational. 

• Membership  

FBIM is a non-profit corporation.  To join, send dues to:  FBIM, PO Box 575, East Boston, MA  02128.  

$15 (Family), $10 (Individual) and $5 Seniors/Under 16) Contributions are tax-deductible.

Thank you for your continued support.  Monthly meetings are held the fourth Wednesday at Eliot House in Revere which is the large white house located at the rotary at the southern end of Revere Beach.
 

2008.03.02 Belle Isle Marsh

11:30 am - 1:30 pm est

Soheil Zendeh

Visit last year's reports

Belle Isle Bird List - October 14, 2007

Belle Isle Bird List - September 23, 2007

Belle Isle Bird List - September 16, 2007

Belle Isle Bird List - August 26, 2007 

Belle Isle Bird List - August 5, 2007

Belle Isle Bird List - July 23, 2007

Belle Isle Bird List - July 8, 2007 

Belle Isle Bird List - July 1, 2007

The following photos were taken by John Kilmartin in January of 2008 at the Belle Isle Cemetery pathway.  Several years ago the Town of Winthrop authorized $500,000 to prevent erosion at this former dump site, but problems exist.  This series of photos show the erosion along the path, the stone dust that has been washed into the wetland, the erosion of the hillside and the filling in of the marsh.  If these violations continue, the marsh will eventually be filled in and the wetland will be lost forever.

Click on these small images to enlarge them. To return, click on the "back" command.

See Photos from the 2007 Harvest Festival

See Photos from the January 2006 Astronomical High Tide

See Photos from the 20th Anniversary of the Dedication of Belle Isle Reservation

See Photos of the erosion at the Belle Isle Cemetery in Winthrop

See Photos of the source of Belle Isle Creek near the Logan 480 building on McClellan Highway

See Photos from our 2007 Spring Cleanup

 Check out the Flights over Belle Isle

right now! Belle Isle is to the upper right

of Logan Airport on the map, approximately under the Route 145 symbol.

Click here to see the Chelsea Creek Action Project Slide Show

Belle Isle Heron Census                                                                                                

This is the 27th year of Belle Isle heron censuses.  Our primary focus has been on "southern herons" (snowy and great egrets and glossy ibis) as they come to feed at the marsh when high tide and sunrise occur fairly close together.

See the most recent Bird Sighting Reports by Soheil Zendeh,  FBIM founding member

Belle Isle Bird List - October 14, 2007

Belle Isle Bird List - September 23, 2007

Belle Isle Bird List - September 16, 2007

Belle Isle Bird List - August 26, 2007 

Belle Isle Bird List - August 5, 2007

Belle Isle Bird List - July 23, 2007

Belle Isle Bird List - July 8, 2007 

Belle Isle Bird List - July 1, 2007

See past Reports by Soheil Zendeh

2007.10.14 Isle Marsh

Time: 9:30 am - 1:30 pm dst

Observers: George Cumming, Matthew Garvey, Geoff Wood, Soheil Zendeh

High tide: 1:25 pm dst

Sky: clear, puffy clouds

Temperature: 60°F (10°C)

Wind: w 8 - 20 mph (13 - 32 kph)

Visibility: perfect

Tide: mid to high

Notes:

The early part of the cold morning was full of butterflies. Aside from the usual gaggle of Monarchs (at least a dozen migrating through during the day) there was a Red Admiral. I don't have a previous record of one for Belle Isle. A surprise in mid-October--or is it? The other odd butterfly was one of the Ladies--Painted or American, I couldn't tell. It moved too quickly. Early on there was a fallout of migrant birds. I saw a number of sparrows, mostly Savannah, but some others as well, around Palermo Street. Geoff Wood said he saw a sapsucker and and a number of Hermit Thrushes and Ruby-crowned Kinglets around the Park entrance. Later on Matthew Garvey went traipsing

all over the salt marsh and kicked up a large number of sparrows, of which many were Savannahs, but he felt sure many others were sharp-tails. 3 definitely teed up for him and he identified them as Nelson's Sharptails. I too went chasing after them, but the only one I got any looks at was turned away from me. I saw a very dull orangy-brown face and not much else. Thin grey lines down the back. The strong wind contributed to a very uncooperative bunch of marsh sparrows.

The raptor activity was best around 9:30 (EST) and then dropped off sharply. Most of the tidal pools in the Reservation have been filling up regularly when the extra high tides occur (spring tides). But the fresh water ponds are dry. The one we call the Muskrat Pond was completely dry last week. I walked across it without getting wet. A little bit of rain over the past week has given us a smidgen of water in that pond again.