dams – Belmont Citizens Forum

Beth Lambert: Restoring Rivers and Wetlands

Environment, January/February 2026, Water Quality Comments Off

Dec 172025

Beth Lambert: Restoring Rivers and Wetlands

By Jeffrey North This article is part of the Belmont Citizens Forum’s series on environmental leadership in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration (DER), part of the Department of Fish and Game (DFG), works to restore and protect rivers, wetlands, and watersheds across the commonwealth. From removing aging dams to revitalizing salt marshes and wetlands, DER supports projects that strengthen ecosystems, improve climate resilience, and reconnect communities to nature. The Belmont Citizens Forum spoke with Beth Lambert, director of DER, about the division’s statewide restoration priorities and her vision for the future. Jeffrey North conducted the interview. BCF What [READ MORE]

Let The Charles River Run Free of Defunct Dams

March/April 2023 Comments Off

Mar 012023

Let The Charles River Run Free of Defunct Dams

By Julia Hopkins For more than 400 years, the Charles River has been altered, controlled, and dammed to bend to the will of industry and profit. The river we know today is not free. Instead, a river radically changed by the long history of human intervention. We dammed its waters to power industry, leaving a legacy of toxic pollution in our wake. We straightened its gentle meanders, buried its tributaries, and hardened its shores, constricting its natural flow. We drained and filled its wetlands to free up more land and let our parking lots sprawl right up to its banks. [READ MORE]