by Marty Green ·
Friday, June 28, 2024
People in Massachusetts have a long history of filling in wetlands—think of the Back Bay, the Fenway, much of South Boston, and Logan Airport. Only recently have people begun trying to preserve and even recreate wetlands.
This summer, that’s what giant earth-moving machinery has been doing at 203 Ayer Road, owned by developer Lou Russo and located across from Harvard Lanes. Workers are creating a wetland at one end of the property to replace (or replicate, in official terminology) a wetland that is being filled at the other end to make a place for buildings.
According to permits granted last summer, plans for the southern part of the site include a 33,000-square-foot badminton facility and, at a later date, two smaller buildings with commercial space and apartments. But, under the terms of Harvard’s wetlands protection bylaw, construction on those buildings can’t begin until the wetlands replication is complete.
Why replicate a wetland? The Conservation Law Foundation calls wetlands “our most important tool against climate change.” Wetlands help prevent flooding by soaking up water from the violent rainstorms that have become more frequent. The thick plantlife in wetlands stores carbon. And wetlands filter the water that soaks through them, cleansing it before it joins the groundwater that supplies our wells.
The small wetland on the Ayer Road building site was isolated—that is, not connected to any other body of water. Isolated wetlands are not protected under state law, but Harvard’s bylaw does cover them.
Since early May, the Matthew Marro Environmental Consulting company has excavated an area alongside another, existing wetland at the northern end of the property. Marro is an environmental scientist hired by Russo under terms set by the Conservation Commission. The detailed specifications laid out in the bylaw require a berm around the new wetland, to prevent water from draining out.
Conservation Commission Chair Eve Wittenberg noted that replication is a slow and expensive process for the developer. “It’s a challenging process that requires a high level of oversight and expertise,” she said. “We want them to do a good job. And they are.”
At 23,900 square feet, the new wetland will be slightly larger than the old one, which measured 23,731 square feet. Ordinarily, replicated wetlands are required to be 1.5 times the size of the ones they replace. But the Conservation Commission made an exception in this case because of the limited space on the site and the proximity of Ayer Road.
After excavating the new wetland area, the next step was moving soil from the old wetland to the new one. Wittenberg pointed out that the wetland soil was easily identifiable—darker and more organic than the surrounding soil.
This week, according to Conservation Agent Liz Allard, Marro’s workers have begun moving wetland plants into the new area. The Southborough consulting firm Beals and Thomas, which is advising the Conservation Commission on this project, worked with Allard and ConsCom member Jessie Panek to identify native trees that would be suitable to transplant from the old area to the new. Dogwoods, willows, and red maples were among the trees selected. Other plants will be moved or purchased, based on an approved list that includes arrowwood, winterberry, spicebush, and native ferns. Marro is required to continue checking the new wetland and to replace plants that die.
A second ConsCom requirement for the site is also a challenging one: the removal of a large stand of invasive Japanese knotweed. This fast-growing, persistent plant must be dug out to a depth of 6 feet, Wittenberg said. Then the soil is sifted to remove all particles of the plant that might regenerate. Those particles are sent to a hazardous waste site, while the old soil itself is buried 5 feet below the surface, with a special type of impermeable barrier between it and the new layer of soil above. That project, too, must be completed before building work can begin.
Multiple excavators move soil to recreate a wetland at one end of the property at 203 Ayer Road. The new wetland will replace one being filled in so buildings can be constructed. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)