Alewife Brook Reservation - Description

Description

Alewife Brook Reservation is a 120-acre (0.49 km2) urban wild. A large proportion of the park is wetland, including the Little River, though there is also a wooded upland and meadow area. The reservation serves as a habitat for numerous indigenous and migratory birds. Common species include osprey, great blue heron and the woodcock, whose unusual mating ritual may sometimes be observed by visitors. Additionally, the park's ponds (Little Pond and Blair Pond) provide spring spawning grounds for anadromous herring, which migrate from the Atlantic Ocean via the Mystic River and Alewife Brook, a tributary which, in turn, drains the Little River.

The southern end and single largest part of the reservation is adjacent to the Alewife Station at the northern end of the MBTA Red Line in Cambridge. The Minuteman Bikeway terminates at the reservation and the Fitchburg Cutoff Path and Alewife Greenway run through it. The reservation includes Alewife Brook as it flows north through Cambridge, Arlington, and Somerville toward the Mystic River. Much of this corridor is fairly narrow, and contains only the brook, the Alewife Brook Parkway and modest buffer strips of land on either side and in between the brook and the parkway. North of Broadway the area between the brook and the parkway opens, and has been developed to include playgrounds, playing fields, and Dilboy Stadium. There are multiuse paths or sidewalks on at least one side of the brook for the entire length of Alewife Brook. These are being improved as part of the Alewife Greenway project.

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