Thanks to our Generous Supporters

Speaker of the House

Robert A. DeLeo

State Representative

Serving Winthrop and Beachmont

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Thanks to Marc Wallerce  

and everyone at the  

Winthrop Marketplace

35 Revere Street
Winthrop, MA 02152
(617) 846-6880
Fax (617) 846-6003

Email info@winthropmktplace.com

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East Boston Savings Bank

FBIM thanks you for your annual support

of our Harvest Festival

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Mayor Thomas Menino

City of Boston

Thanks for your support

for our 2009 Cleanup on April 25th at

Saratoga Street

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State Representative

Carlo Basile

East Boston

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Century 21 Mario Real Estate

Thanks for your support of the

Endangered Species Fund

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Thanks to our long-time

member and supporter 

John Ribeiro, 

Owner of 

Jonquille Diner

 on Furlong Drive in Revere

near Suffolk Downs

Thanks for your generous support!

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ACE Hardware

65 Main Street, Winthrop, MA  02152

Thanks to Paul Leavy

and all the Helpful Hardware people

for their generous contributions to our

Annual Spring Cleanup

and the Harvest Festival

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Save the Harbor -

Save the Bay

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Kathi-Anne Reinstein

State Representative

Revere

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Belle Isle Marsh Reservation is located in 

East Boston, Revere and Winthrop, Massachusetts.

This 350 acre reservation, administered by 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. 

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. 

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 house located at the rotary at the southern end of Revere Beach.  Please call to confirm date and time of meeting.

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. 

  Click here to see the Chelsea Creek Action Project   Slide Show

Piping Plovers are an Endangered Species. 

 Learn more about Endangered Species

  Learn about the Massachusetts Endangered Species Program.

  Learn more about Piping Plovers from the

 U.S. Fish and Wildlife website.

Belle Isle Bird Lists  

- by Soheil Zendeh

Visit the MassBird website

Visit Soheil Zendeh's Photos

Visit George Cumming's  photos

Former FBIM President Liz Regan and Former Governor Michael Dukakis at the 20th Anniversary of the Park in 2007

Salt Marsh Herons

by Joe Pike

great blue and great white

stalking gracefully in golden light

who tells you the green crab

comes in on the tide

and silver fish flash

when they pass by?

great blue & great white

stalking silently in fading light           

who teaches you to coil and to strike

with your spear of a beak     

and to find your way home

in the dark to Chelsea Creek?

Joe Pike  

Winthrop, MA

The Marsh

     by Meg Dolan     

   Many marshes big and small

   Have one special thing in all

   They remind us we should never litter

   Or grassy landscapes will get bitter.

   The one I know is Belle Isle Marsh

   And all the litter is just too harsh.

If you see it, you could say

   This is beautiful in a way.

   But sorrow, sorrow, truth be told,

   The marsh's pollution is too mush to hold.

   Something else I have to say,

   Is Belle Isle Marsh should be here to stay.

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 from the 2008 Spring Cleanup

See Photos from the 2007 Harvest Festival

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

See Photos from the 2007 Spring Cleanup