By Ana Tavares Leary
Nestled between the cities of Boston, Revere, and Winthrop lies a natural barrier to climate change, the 359-acre Belle Isle Marsh. A salt marsh is a low-lying, coastal area that mostly comprises grasses that are frequently flooded by ocean tides.
This wetland protects coastal areas from flooding, destructive winds, higher tides, and increasingly intense storms. Plants in salt marshes help buffer the coast and reduce the impacts of storm surges, such as those generated during hurricanes. The Marsh delivers essential ecosystem services, which are important to help reduce climate change impacts caused by rising sea levels and severe weather events. Belle Isle Marsh provides critical habitats for wildlife—including the 271 species of birds which have been documented there—and recreation areas for local communities.
On April 19, 2023, Governor Healey visited Belle Isle Marsh during Earth Week. The first governor’s visit since Michael Dukakis’ in 1990, Governor Healey chose this ACEC, or an Area of Critical Environmental Concern, to announce the continuation of the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) 2.0 program with Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper. The MVP program has supported multijurisdictional environmental challenges; cities and towns across the Commonwealth have updated and improved their climate resiliency projects under this pilot program. While the first phase of this program was dedicated to planning, MVP 2.0 is focused on putting these plans into action.
The largest remaining salt marsh in Boston Harbor, Belle Isle Marsh plays an important role in preventing flooding in surrounding, vulnerable communities, and was the focus of an MVP planning project. The Marsh is one of the most threatened in the state and needs the continued, close collaboration of the three municipalities—East Boston, Revere, Winthrop—along with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Friends of Belle Isle Marsh, the Mystic River Watershed Association, and the Nature Conservancy. In addition, we are encouraged by ongoing engagement with our stakeholders in this project—the MBTA, Massachusetts Department of Transportation, North Suffolk Office of Resilience and Sustainability, and HYM. Therefore, it is a hopeful sign that this collaborative process is being championed by Governor Healey.
What was refreshing to hear from the Governor is that while resiliency is often framed as mainly protecting communities and infrastructure, it is equally important to elevate the protection of our natural systems. The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and the Governor can utilize the Belle Isle Marsh multistakeholder MVP project as a template for holistic thinking and for future projects, especially since the Marsh is on the front line of combating climate change.
When thinking about protecting and adapting communities, infrastructure, and our natural environmental systems, we will undoubtedly be faced by those who want quick solutions and lower cost approaches. That restrictive thinking will fail to meet the challenges of the moment. We must be aspirational and demonstrate to other communities how to achieve balanced outcomes.
Allowing the Marsh to migrate and survive while protecting communities and infrastructure will require a rethinking of real estate development plans, a reexamination of techniques for raising the MBTA’s blue line and major roadways, and a review (as the Boston Water and Sewer Commission is doing in the Fort Point Channel) of the potential for sea gates and for creating underground water retention.
We are delighted that Governor Healey and Secretary Tepper are on the scene. We are heartened by their commitment to continue the MVP program and support “team†solutions. We are inspired by their bold stance as we enter an era that humanity has never faced before.
Preserving Belle Isle Marsh—an essential coastal resource—contributes to a more climate resilient Boston, Winthrop, and Revere.
We are the Friends of Belle Isle Marsh, who have fought off proposals for oil fields, landfills, harmful development, and other threats since our formation in 1983. We stand ready to continue to do our part.
Ana Tavares Leary is the Conservation Program Manager for Friends of Belle Isle Marsh.
