On a foggy March 17th morning the Esplanade Community Group (ECG) joined the Charles River Conservancy (CRC) to celebrate the return of the Floating Wetland for its third summer. We snacked on coffee and pastries as we watched the Floating Wetland towed down the River from the MIT Sailing Pavilion where it winters. It was then attached to the blue ball mooring floating almost in front of the Esplanade. As it was being moored, the fog lifted and the sun came out to greet it in its summer home. We, at the Esplanade, are fortunate to be able to watch its progress throughout the growing season.

About the Floating Wetland: What is it? (See brief video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZseF2GTkHW8 )  Briefly, the Floating Wetland is a 700 sq. ft. human-made island planted with 19 different native wetland species and approximately 3,000 individual plants. The hypothesis is that the plants and their roots will provide refuge for zooplankton which eat the cyanobacteria or algae that, as Laura Jasinski, Executive Director of the CRC, says “can be toxic to humans and animals and is a sign of an impaired ecosystem. Our hope is that by adding a zooplankton habitat to the Charles, we are hoping to see an increase in size and quantity of zooplankton around the floating wetland and reduce the hazardous cyanobacteria.”  

Working with the CRC for the past 3 years is Max Rome, a Northeastern PhD student, who has developed this as a research project. He collects water (via kayak) surrounding the Wetland weekly between now and November when it will be towed back to its winter home.  The weekly samples provide data to guide future projects to safely and naturally clean the River. One concern Max had as he observed the wetland from the shore was a Canada goose swimming nearby. He worried “I hope they don’t nest there again. We have to leave them alone but they do disturb things!” For more information on this project see: https://www.esplanadecommunity.com/floating-wetland  and https://thecharles.org/floating-wetlands/

Write up and pictures by Jane Hilburt Davis