Neponset River

A couple hundred people and several dozen pumpkins lined the banks of Davenport Creek in Dorchester's John Paul II Park late this afternoon for the annual pumpkin float. Two volunteers guarded the estuary to keep pumpkins from escaping into the Neponset.

The Dorchester Reporter goes on a tour of land along the river that might be used for a trail; notes issues, including fear by some Milton residents that a new footbridge would leave the town wide open to criminal elements.

Ed. note: As a Boston resident, I agree with the sentiment. The last thing we need is to make it easier for ammo-toting, punch-throwing, illegal trash dumpers to cross the river into Boston.

The Neponset River Watershed Association is once again looking for volunteers to raise galerucella beetles in their backyards so they can be released along the Neponset to cut the evil purple loosestrife down to size.

Mike Ball reports on a ride along what will someday be the Neponset River Greenway bicycle path in Hyde Park and Mattapan:

... Like so many of the Boston-area bike projects, this one is stuck out there, largely isolated from both other cycling/walking futures and the larger city. Yet, this is another neighborhood that will benefit. Plus, this is the Neponset River Greenway and they are building it not coincidentally where the river has always been.