Leonard's pond will be a good area for site interventions, the large peninsula of land I will probably remove to allow for more water area, and the houses that surround Leonard pond had an interesting relationship to the area but we all fenced in separated from the water.

The river between the transfer station and condo development was relatively wide and had steep banks. When in the condo development the river was barely visible, so I would like to alter the river plantings and change the wide areas of lawn that run up to the banks, for wildlife and so people that live here can enjoy the river.

revisiting the highschool fields made me realize just how large they are, there is a definite possibility to daylight the river and still have sports fields. I plan to daylight the river and make vast meadow lands for wildlife (and have the possibility to leave some sports fields if need be!)

now that foliage is down and bittersweet berries are in season it was easy to see how much they have taken over, every site I went to had bittersweet all over all shrubs.

The Davidson Park wetlands were much easier to see now that the foliage is down along the water. The existing wetlands space is pretty significant but seeing how large the open space(below) between the wetlands and houses there is a definite possibly to expand the wetlands.

Walking to the southern side of Davidson park I was surprised how much open space is there between the river and houses, and the amount of houses that lined the park. It was interesting to see how the houses connected with one another and the park.

Final Problem Statement

The Aberjona River was once the center of attention within the town of Winchester and provided sustenance for its people. Today the rivers watershed area has been taken over by urbanization and become contaminated by urban runoff and surrounding industrial areas. The over urbanization of the Aberjona has also lead to a lack of open space and forest area surrounding the river, preventing habitation of native species. Many native plant species have been forced out of the area due to the invasion of exotic species like purple loosestrife, phragmites and glossy buckthorn. The overall moving, straightening and channeling of the river have lead to unnatural banks not suited for denning or burrowing sites for mammals, reptiles of amphibians. Residential development and urban parks that have maintained lawns that run to the edge of the river have limited the inhabitants to warm water species because of the lack of shade cover. These aspects will be the focus of the flood mitigation projects along the Aberjona River. The flooding issues will be apprehended using sustainable approaches such as flood water collection and reuse strategies. In the end the Aberjona will become the center of attention once again in the town of Winchester, and become a viable riparian habitat connecting to surrounding wildlife areas.