Thank You Volunteers and Organizers

The Straits Pond Watershed – Weir River Watershed Associations’ 2022 Earth Day Pond and Estuary Cleanup Event was a great success thanks to the efforts of over 50 people..  We removed everything we could find including the kitchen sink!  It was a beautiful day for some dirty work and when it was over we gathered for a celebration with the return of our picnic.  Thank you Nona’s for your continuing support of this annual event.

To our surprise, the amount of debris we removed was less than years past because the Pond, Estuary, and surrounding streets are being cared for by numerous members of our community that pick up trash on a regular basis as they walk and run in the area.

The tidal portion of the Weir River Watershed is designated as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern by the State. The Straits Pond and Weir River Watershed Associations along with the Towns of Hingham, Hull, and Cohasset through the Weir River Estuary Park Committee take our responsibility to maintain the ecological viability and natural beauty seriously.

Outstanding issues facing the Pond and Estuary are excessive growth of algae in the summer months and periodic outbreaks of non-biting midges which can overwhelm neighborhoods in clouds of these noxious pests.  Excess nitrate in the Pond and entering the Pond are probably the driving force behind these problems.  Please keep this in mind when you are applying fertilizer to your landscaping.  To learn a little more about the problem, visit our Nitrate page.  To do a little more to help solve it, visit our Healthy Lawns page.