About the Project
The Green Boston Harbor Project For Coastal Ecosystem Stewardship
at the Center for Governance and Sustainability at UMass Boston
Mission: To enhance the coastal ecosystem stewardship through research, education and outreach projects. Goal: To establish a “green urban harbor” – a harbor that lives within ecological and human limits. Where: In Your & My Back Yard. When: Every day. Why: To be healthy, wealthy and sustainable
GBH director Dr. Anamarija Frankic, with her undergraduate and graduate students, started the Green Boston Harbor Project in 2008 with the goal of establishing the first green urban harbor - a harbor that lives within its ecological and human limits. GBH seeks to support coastal ecosystem stewardship through effective education, outreach, research and monitoring activities with local communities and harbor users here in Boston, in Wellfleet, and in a growing national and international network of green harbors.
The GBH project brings together researchers, policy makers, students, boaters, swimmers, native peoples and other local community members interested in supporting a healthy harbor and the communities that depend on it.
Our restoration efforts strive to recognize and incorporate the traditional ecological knowledge of native communities, both locally and globally. The GBH methodology - a holistic view of coastal stewardship extending from the uplands to the Boston Harbor islands to Stellwagen bank - is based on a 1500 year old Native Hawaiian practice of Ahupua'a . This approach has included our participation in the building of an educational fish weir on Thompson Island in the spring of 2010. Thompson Island was historically a summer fishing site for the local native communities, at the meeting point of the harbor's three main rivers: the Neponset; the Charles, and the Mystic.
We understand traditional ecological knowledge to be holistic, including observations, stories, and ceremonies. This inspires our own work in establishing a more holistic science here at UMass Boston, and our dream for the restoration of shellfish, salt marsh and eelgrass.
Our initial vision, to be refined through these collaborations, is that a “green urban harbor” is a sustainable harbor - one that is managed within environmental limitations, recognizes strength in ecological and human diversities, and supports local and place-specific economic production within a regional and global context.
We have several research and community-oriented projects currently underway, and more to come. Our projects include salt marsh monitoring and restoration, monitoring of invasive species, monitoring harbor water quality, native shellfish restoration, green roofs development, and pumping out commercial boaters .
Please join us as we re-imagine a harbor teeming with lobster, boaters, swimmers, eelgrass, and native shellfish.