April 18, 2025 By Anita Bapooji Ryan
Hingham is rich in history! As we approach Town Meeting and a vote on the location of the new $35 million dollar senior center, I wanted to re-visit some of Hingham’s environmental history to protect Bare Cove Park. As many of you know, the US government conveyed a parcel of land along the Back River to Hingham in 1972 as part of its Land to Parks program. Recognizing the environmental significance of this land, Hingham and Weymouth residents formed the Back River Committee in 1978 to further understand and protect this watershed and its surrounding ecosystem. That work led to a nomination in 1982 to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs for designation of the Back River and its surrounding land as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern (“ACEC”). The ACEC designation is for locations in Massachusetts that receive special recognition because of the quality, uniqueness and significance of their natural resources. There are only 30 ACECs in the state and Hingham is blessed to have two of them – Back River ACEC and Weir River ACEC.
In doing its work over a 4-year period, the Back River Committee engaged in considerable study and discussion before selecting the area to nominate as an ACEC. The parcel selected was the “most critical or sensitive to development pressures.” The ACEC nomination was championed by the Town of Hingham’s Select Board (chair Eugene Bickford), Conservation Commission (chair Robert Beal Jr.), Planning Board (chair Richard S. Cook), and Bare Cove Committee (chair John P. Richardson). In the official designation of the Back River ACEC signed by the then Secretary of Environmental Affairs, John Bewick (husband of Martha Reardon Bewick), himself a Hingham resident, he pointed out that “the resources of the Back River, its surrounding lands and portions of its water shed have remained largely unaltered despite the generally urban setting” and that it “remains a natural area in the midst of expanding urban/suburban development.”
Opening page of the Back River ACEC Nomination
The Back River Committee’s concerns in 1982 about development pressures were certainly clairvoyant.
- Since the Back River achieved ACEC status, the surrounding land has steadily been developed:
- Hingham Woods – 1985 (277 units)
- Conservatory Park – 1990s (over 85 homes)
- Adams Court – 2003 (14 homes)
- Baker Hill/Hill Top – 2005 (45 homes)
- Carlson Fields – 2007
- Hingham DPW – 2009
- Back River Condos – 2013 (27 homes)
- Taylor Lane – 2013 (8 homes)
- Hingham Light Plant – 2015
- Weathervane Court (23 homes) – 2015
- The Cove – 2020 (220 units)
All of these developments demonstrate a key fact – the Hingham residents who worked on the ACEC nomination were balanced in their approach and were not environmentally-greedy. They could have tried to get more undeveloped land in the surrounding area in Hingham to be part of the ACEC but they didn’t. Instead they were true to the mandate – protect the “areas of critical environmental concern.” Now the Town of Hingham wants to build inside of that ACEC as quickly as possible. Hingham’s proposed new senior center, covering a total of 128,000 square feet (28,000 sq feet building plus 200- space asphalt parking lot) will require the removal and disturbance of forest and conservation land within the Back River ACEC and within Bare Cove Park.
I am not providing this information because I am against the Town having a new senior center. I am concerned that we ended up proposing to destroy part of a densely forested and critical environmental area, when the Town previously worked so hard to advocate for its protection. There are alternative and more central locations for our senior center that don’t result in deforestation. I also don’t understand why we think it’s ok to construct in this sensitive area when the biggest threat to wildlife is habitat loss.
Tucker’s swamp used to be filled with Blue Heron and it isn’t anymore. I also find this habitat loss troubling considering there’s no synergies with the proposed senior center; it currently is for the exclusive use of those 60+ on Monday through Thursday. The remaining 40% of the week the senior center is closed, and if built, its 200-space asphalt parking lot would sit empty.
Supporting letters for ACEC nomination from Hingham Land Conservation Trust and Select Board:
I am also finding it hard to reconcile our Tree City USA recognition, with the deforestation that construction of this senior center would cause. This is the same Town that passed a passed plastic bottle ban, a plastic bag ban, developed a 2023 Climate Action Plan a core component of which is the preservation of natural resources, and at our upcoming Town Meeting, seeks to implement a specialized building code to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Simply put, are we fair-weather environmentalists?
The Town of Hingham’s 2023 Climate Action Plan is an important roadmap in our continuous stance against climate change. It warns us that buildings make up 68% of Hingham’s total carbon emissions. It warns us that transportation generates the second largest source of emissions. Yet we’re now proposing a senior center in the far north corner of Hingham (almost in Weymouth) necessitating most seniors to drive through or across town, which contributes to more carbon emissions. Accommodating 200 parking spots encourages single-driver car trips (while our 2023 Climate Action Plan presses us to “encourage carpooling/ride sharing because this is a long-standing means of removing vehicles from the roads.”). A more centralized location for the senior center would serve easier access (walking or biking) and less cross-town driving for our seniors, and our environment would benefit.
How do we get people to cherish what they take for granted? Environmentalists show people what they are losing and hope they’ll realize it before it’s too late. Time and time again, short term wants lose against long term needs. Our forebears in Hingham worked hard to show us the way and their hard work has protected the Back River ACEC — up until today. Let’s honor their legacy by not allowing it to be dismantled.
VOTE NO TO ARTICLE 15 AND SAVE BARE COVE PARK FROM DEVELOPMENT!
CONCUR 100 %
Mass Audubon’s recent report “Losing Ground” indicates that for every acre of land developed, 4 acres of surrounding land are disturbed. This includes both the direct impact of development on the built area and the indirect effects on the surrounding landscape, such as increased traffic, runoff, and the loss of habitat.
The proposed CAL center in Bare Cove Park, will, I believe, have a devastating effect on the vital ecosystem of wetlands along Beal St., Tuckers Swamp, and Hockley Run that supply fresh water to the Weymouth Back River supporting alewives (350,000+) that each spring migrate via the river up to Whitman’s Pond to spawn. These alewives, a keystone species in the marine food chain, feed the fish in Boston Harbor and the Gulf of Maine that in turn feed us! This 5 acre piece of land in Bare Cove Park acts as a critical buffer for this ecosystem—shielding it and its wildlife from noise, people, and traffic. I believe destroying it will cause irreversible harm to this most important section of Bare Cove Park.
MassAudubon’s report, Losing Ground, indicates that for every acre of land developed, 4 acres of surrounding land are disturbed. This includes both the direct impact of development on the built area and indirect effect on the surrounding landscape, such as increased traffic, runoff, and the loss of habitat.