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Maynard Biodiversity Talks: Wetlands with Julia Flanary

Sarah Measures

Updated: Nov 4, 2024

The next time you go to Market Basket, take a short detour across the parking lot behind Dunkin’ Donuts to study a small but very interesting area of wetland. When the parking lot overflows with stormwater, this wetland fills up with water and protects businesses and homes from the floodwaters. 

 

I became aware of this wetland during one of our Conservation Commission meetings, when Julia Flanary—Maynard’s conservation agent, who’s responsible for administering the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, the Maynard Wetlands Bylaw, and the Maynard Stormwater Management Bylaw—talked with great excitement about the successful restoration of native vegetation in this unlikely location. After interviewing Julia about this parcel of land, I ended up seeing this parcel as a great example of the complexity of Julia’s job, as the permitting process creates the opportunity to educate and consult about wetlands as well as require compliance with environmental standards. This parcel also exemplifies her multilayered objectives as conservation agent, including mitigating anticipated climate change, preparing for floods, and cultivating biodiversity. It exemplifies Julia’s work in Maynard since 2021.   


Managing Stormwater at Maynard Crossing

 I learned from Julia that this 13,066-square-feet-area at 129 Parker Street was developed and designed to catch stormwater in the 1970s, which, over time, created a wetland (defined as an area containing wetland plants and wetland soils). The area later fell into disrepair.  

 

When Maynard Crossing was developed between 2016 and 2021, the human-made wetland area became integral to the plan for collecting stormwater runoff from the newly created huge acreage of concrete. It channels potential floodwater away from the shops and filters it before it reaches the aquifer that feeds our drinking water wells across the street.

 

Julia’s role is to make sure all projects within the jurisdiction of the Wetland Protection Act are legal. The owners of Market Basket were required to apply to the Conservation Commission for permission to alter this area because of its proximity to the wetlands. The permit was granted on condition that the store maintains this area as a natural wetland as well as maintaining its stormwater capacity. Ongoing certificates of compliance require conditions be maintained. 

 

Since 2012 Julia has worked with Goddard Consulting on behalf of the owners to ensure compliance with the Wetland Protection Act, Maynard Wetland Bylaws, and Maynard’s Stormwater Bylaws. Her aim is to restore the health of this piece of wetland so that it can fulfill its multiple functions in stormwater purification and mitigation as well as biodiversity conservation and heat reduction. 

 

When Julia gave me a tour of the area in April, she started by providing an overview of how this development copes with stormwater. She showed me the intermittent stream, which is also a stormwater spillway, connected to the stormwater system. Over several decades, this stream has created a wetland that captures much of the runoff from the shopping complex. It receives both surface water and water from underground systems. If you look around the shopping mall, you’ll see two main structures: green infrastructure (the flower beds and trees) and ponds that hold the water and recharge it under the ground. 


Long, narrow pond surrounded by plants

The underground systems in this area include stormceptors, which capture trash, debris, oil, total suspended solids, heavy metals, and nutrients from stormwater runoff, and Cultec systems, underground stormwater chambers that help clean the parking lot runoff in settling tanks before releasing it into the soil of the plant beds around Market Basket.

 

These plant beds will further clean the water via filtration through the soil. When the water from these flower beds overflows, it runs into the wetland behind Dunkin’ Donuts (it needs a name!). There are two different releases of water from this parking lot: 10 percent flows northeast towards School Woods and 90 percent flows into this intermittent stream and into the culvert, the large pipe carrying water. The water from this wetland will eventually run under the road, which feeds water into the aquifer from which we get our drinking water. 

 

Part of Julia’s job is managing stormwater outlets. She shares this responsibility with Maynard’s Department of Public Works. Part of the Conservation Commission’s responsibility is to review stormwater design on private property (it is not responsible for public property).

Aerial view of Maynard Crossing
The area of trees adjacent to Dunkin'. You can walk all the way around this wetland. (Click to expand.)

Removing Invasive Species & Restoring Wetland Health

Being a human-made area, some plants were planted in the 1970s and 80s, such as the mulberry and lime trees. Many other species, both native and non-native, made their own way here, including the pines. There are a lot of pines, and while they are not wetland plants, they are mature native species and beneficial. Trees that threatened powerlines or walkways were removed, but others have been left to enrich the ecosystem and will replenish soils when they fall and decompose. When we walked around the area, we saw an abundance of other native trees, including willow, birch, dogwood, staghorn sumac, sugar maple, and nannyberry. 

 

Some of the plants that made their way here are invasive and destructive to the health of the wetland. Julia pointed out areas where the wetland was at one point seriously impacted by these plants. Since 2021 extensive invasive removal has been done in phases. Bittersweet vines (these have been left to rot) had already killed a lot of trees, and more were at risk of dying.

 

The owners prioritized getting rid of the bittersweet to save as many remaining big trees as possible. Bittersweet eradication was difficult, and removal involved a lot of pulling and digging by hand. Julia pointed out that the areas cleared of bittersweet have made space for the arrival and establishment of mostly native plants. 

 

The next priority was to get rid of the Japanese knotweed. Knotweed is a rhizome, and pulling it is ineffective because a very small particle remaining will regenerate into a new plant. An herbicide injection into each stem of the plant is the only real way to eliminate knotweed. This method is time intensive and requires a permit from the Conservation Commission but is effective in the long term. CC approval was given on nearly all of this area. The beauty of stem injection is that it targets only one plant, whereas herbicide sprays remain in the soil and kill everything. Today, the parcel hosts extensive areas of the native jewelweed (valued by butterflies, hummingbirds, and bumblebees) and ferns. The only area that did not permit for herbicides is closer to the main road and the aquifer, which feeds our drinking water. In this area they cut the knotweed to keep it in check. 

 

In some cases, Julia advises planting after invasive removal, but in this case a healthy ecosystem is regenerating naturally with native species. It’s a great example of nature doing its own thing.

 

This invasive removal will be ongoing. Julia says the owners will soon apply for a certificate of compliance for the work done. Their certificate of compliance will require annual inspection by a wetland scientist to ensure it stays compliant. This kind of project takes a lot of work, money, and monitoring to ensure that it remains healthy in perpetuity. 

 

[On 6-25-24 the Conservation Commission issued a partial Certification of Compliance at 129 Parker Street for the buffer zone mitigation and wetland replication area, with the condition of continual mowing of small patch of Japanese Knotweed.]

 

We also observed good-sized populations of skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) and broad-leaved cattails (Typha latifolia), both of which are obligate (OBL) wetland species (i.e., found 99 percent of the time in wetlands). We also saw jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) and sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis), both of which are facultative (FACW) wetland plants (found 67–99 percent of the time in wetlands). [Scroll to the end to see a slideshow of plants.]

 

Educating Maynard on the Importance of Wetlands

Julia stressed that the more wetlands we have in Maynard, the more floodwater can be contained and the safer the town is. Maintaining the sponge-like quality of wetlands reduces flood damage while protecting and enhancing biodiversity. During intense hurricane and storm seasons, we will get more run-off from this shopping center. We have stormceptors that trap some sediments, but they do not catch everything. We rely on plants to clean that water before it’s recharged—infiltrates the ground and replenishes underground aquifers—and goes into our water supply. The more we can clean it through plants, the less the water treatment will have to do. With the coming of climate change and increasing turbulence in weather patterns, the role of this small wetland to keep us safe is exponentially important.

 

Julia sums up by explaining, “Part of my job is to help homeowners in town understand why wetlands are important. I try to make it local: this wetland helps clean your water when you turn on the tap. Plus, there are climate benefits like reducing heat and cleaner air—all the things that help the environment in our generation. So, I ask them, if you fill in this wetland, where will the water go? ‘Oh, into the house!' Exactly.

 

Often I hear the argument that if you put leaves and twigs into the wetland, it’s natural and will decompose into compost, so why does it matter? If we help them understand the importance of wetlands, then they start to say, ‘Oh, that’s why you don’t want to fill it up with leaves—because it will turn into earth, and that will fill it in!’ There are ways of composting responsibly, but we want to avoid composting on a wetland. 

 

A huge part of my job is going to people’s homes and explaining where the wetland is, why it’s important, and what’s allowed. The most important is explaining the why behind it—the reason why the state does not want you to do this. One wetland at a time.”

 



 

 

 

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