Suburban and Urban Streams: Fish Hiding in Plain Sight

Straight as a bowling alley, dug down, walled in, and sans any canopy, It is no wonder people believed Cheesecake Brook to be fishless.

Roughly a year ago, I wrote about Native Fish Coalition’s fledgling work on suburban and urban streams in Massachusetts. At the time we had just scratched the surface in regard to these heavily altered, often overlooked, and long neglected waters.

NFC started its work on suburban and urban streams at Cold Spring Brook in Newton, Massachusetts. Less than 6 miles from downtown Boston, Newton is home to nearly 90,000 people. We chose Cold Spring Brook because MA NFC board member Jeff Moore and I grew up within a mile of Cold Spring Park, home to the streams headwaters.

Jonathan Regosin of Newton Conservators and MA NFC board member Jeff Moore seining for fish on a tributary to Cold Spring Brook. Photo: Paul Roell

Newton was settled in 1639. By 1664, a dam had been built across Laundry Brook— then called Smelt Brook after what was said to be a notable spring spawning run of anadromous smelt—to create Pearl Lake, now known as Bullough’s Pond. From that point forward, lakes and ponds throughout the city were filled, and streams were moved, straightened, dug down, walled in, and buried.

At the time of the first article, NFC had only confirmed the presence of golden shiners in Cold Spring Brook. While these fish are native to the Charles River watershed, we couldn’t rule out the possibility that they had gotten there as a result of discarded bait. However, additional visual sightings, trapping, and eDNA metabarcoding testing, showed that there were multiple age classes of shiners throughout the stream and its tributaries within Cold Spring Park.

A Golden Shiner from a tributary of Cold Spring Brook in Cold Spring Park.

In addition to golden shiners, NFC got two relatively strong eDNA metabarcoding hits for American eel in Cold Spring Brook. While folks were admittedly skeptical, and understandably so, we decided to take a closer look. Having personally worked with the eDNA data, while there were several suspect fish species positives, the eel hits were too close to the shiner numbers to ignore.

Unlike shiners, eels are not easily seined or trapped, especially in conditions like those found at Cold Spring Brook. And being very nocturnal, they are not easy to see. To try to confirm the presence of American eels, a catadromous species of fish born in the Sargasso Sea, we turned to Adam Kautza, Coldwater Fisheries Project Leader for Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.

Kautza, a new school biologist who understands the value of wild native fish, agreed to e-fish Cold Spring Brook to see what we could turn up. With help from NFC and Friends of Cold Spring Park, Adam and an assistant entered the stream at a small footbridge and pushed their way 100 feet or so upstream through 2 to 3 feet of decaying organic matter.

Members of MassWildlife and MA NFC e-fishing Cold Spring Brook in Cold Spring Park. Photo: Jeff Moore

While I couldn’t be sure, I felt strongly that eels were there and that e-fishing would bring them out of hiding. A half hour or so into the e-fishing exercise, I got a call from Jeff Moore telling me that they had just stunned an eel almost 2 feet long.

While the group was unable to wrangle the eel into the bucket for pictures and measuring due to undersized nets and a fish that doesn’t shock well, they did get some video footage that cannot be disputed. Fifty feet or so further upstream, the group encountered a second eel in the 14-inch range. This time they were able to get pictures.

MA NFC board member Jeff Moore with an eel shocked from Cold Spring Brook. Photo: Jonathan Goldberg

Looking to expand our suburban/urban stream work, NFC took a look at Cheesecake Brook. The stream runs through a heavily developed area. It is buried for much of its length, including beneath the busy Massachusetts Turnpike. The stream daylights through a greenbelt called Albermarle Park where it is straightened, dug down, walled in, and mostly devoid of aquatic vegetation, structure, and canopy.

Just upstream of the Charles River, Cheesecake Brook flows over a large, sloped cement slab which impedes fish passage. To understand what could be in the stream, NFC seined from the slab to the river. We were able to capture native white suckers, pumpkinseeds, redbreast sunfish, and American eels, along with nonnative common carp, fathead minnows, yellow bullhead, and amazingly, a wayward stocked rainbow trout.

Like most streams in the area, Cheesecake Brook upstream of the slab was believed to be fishless. And a preliminary visual inspection didn’t prove that wrong. To see if we could find any fish, NFC set a minnow trap beneath a road crossing. When we returned the next day to check the trap, there was a single juvenile wild native white sucker in it.

Adam Kautza and Brian Means of MassWildlife e-fishing Cheesecake Brook.

NFC again reached out to Adam Kautza about e-fishing the stream. Concentrating upstream of the slab, the group was able to capture 6 juvenile native white suckers, 6 native American eels of varying size, and 14 juvenile nonnative carp. We don’t know whether the suckers and carp are born in the stream or move up from the river, but they are clearly using the stream.

We returned to Cheesecake Brook with members of Charles River Watershed Association and Friends of Cold Spring Park to try some seining. People walking in the park stopped and watched, amazed to learn that there were fish in their stream. While the fish were tough to corral, we managed to capture a juvenile white sucker and a small carp.

Most importantly, as we worked our way downstream, we spotted several schools of a dozen or so fish of unknown species tucked away in harder to reach places. We wrapped up our fish survey efforts for the season with one more round of trapping. In addition to more suckers and carp, we captured a pumpkinseed, bringing the native fish species count to 3.

Members of MA NFC and Charles River Watershed Association surveying Cheesecake Brook at Albermarle Park while members of public look on.

The last stream we looked at was Laundry Brook. Laundry Brook begins at the confluence of Cold Spring Brook and Hammond Brook, another mostly buried stream. The two streams meet at the farthest upstream pond at Newton City Hall. After flowing through two other small manmade ponds, Laundry Brook goes under Commonwealth Avenue, the route of the fabled Boston Marathon, before emptying into Bullough’s Pond.

While most of Laundry Brook is buried, there is a short daylighted section of stream immediately downstream of Bullough’s Pond that looks relatively natural. Unfortunately, there is a small dam at the pond, one immediately downstream of the pond, and another just below that. And there is a sloped cement slab at the inlet to the pond. All of these impede upstream fish passage.

Other than a small dam, this section of Laundry Brook is relatively natural.

Laundry Brook empties into the Charles River just downstream of Watertown Dam. The area around the dam is home to a notable spring spawning run of anadromous river herring. NFC made a couple of trips to the mouth of the stream during the herring run to see if fish were entering the stream. Like Cheesecake Brook, there is a large, sloped cement slab on Laundry Brook 100 feet or so upstream of where it empties into the river.

While monitoring the slab, NFC was able to video river herring trying to move upstream, albeit unsuccessfully. Having historically been called Smelt Brook, after what is now a remnant spawning run of anadromous smelt in the Charles River, it would be fair to assume the herring used the stream as well. And maybe they still do. NFC will monitor next year’s run to see if any fish are able to make it past the cement slab.

A large cement slab on Laundry Brook that impedes fish passage. Photo: Jeff Moore

NFC also looked at five small, manmade ponds located in Newton Cemetery and Arboretum. Three of the ponds are impounded sections of Cold Spring Brook, and while not part of the brook, two are fed by water from the brook. While fish were known to live in ponds, no one knew anything about them in regard to species, size, and abundance.

NFC was able to confirm wild native fish in four of the five ponds. The pond farthest away from the stream held a school of koi, likely released pets. Interestingly, cemetery staff informed us that they had seen an eel in the pond when it was drained for maintenance. It is likely that the eel was sucked up into the pond when water was pumped from the stream to fill it.

The four primary ponds had between one and three native species of fish. Pumpkinseeds were confirmed in all four ponds, yellow perch were captured in the middle two ponds, and golden shiners were caught in the two farthest downstream ponds. NFC was only able to confirm pumpkinseed sunfish in the farthest upstream pond, but in very high abundance.

A respectable wild native yellow perch from a small pond in Newton Cemetery and arboretum. Photo: Jeff Moore

The last place NFC looked for fish was a series of three manmade ponds at Newton City Hall. This is where Cold Spring Brook and Hammond Brook end and Laundry Brook begins. The two streams enter the farthest upstream pond through large cement box culverts. They had been drained and dredged just a year ago, so NFC was only able to confirm pumpkinseeds, and in expectedly low abundance.

Currently, NFC’s work on suburban and urban waters is about fish, not fishing. It’s about identifying what is where and doing what we can to make life a bit easier for these amazingly resilient fish which have endured everything man has thrown at them. It’s about informing and educating the masses regarding fish and the important role that they play in aquatic ecosystems.

A wild native pumpkinseed sunfish from Newton City Hall ponds. Photo: Jeff Moore

Whether NFC’s work on urban streams will result in opportunities for kids growing up in the suburbs and cities to fish is unknown. But they will at least be able to see fish and know that they are there. And any improvements regarding fish passage, a notable problem in suburban and urban streams, would increase spawning habitat for river dwelling fish such as white suckers as well as anadromous species such as river herring, both of which provide important forage for gamefish.

NFC’s work on Newton’s suburban and urban streams was spotlighted on a webinar hosted by Newton Conservators.  It was also written about in The Heights, a paper serving Boston College. Newton Conservators also announced that NFC will be the recipient of their 2026 Charles Johnson Maynard Award.  The Charles Johnson Maynard award recognizes efforts “to improve biodiversity, habitat reclamation, and natural resource protection.”

Bob Mallard is the former owner of Kennebec River Outfitters in central Maine and a Registered Maine Fishing Guide. He is writer, author, fly designer, and Executive Director for Native Fish Coalition. Look for Bob’s books, Fly Fishing Maine: Local Experts on the State’s Best Waters, Favorite Flies for Maine: 50 Essential Patterns from Local Experts, Squaretail: The Definitive Guide to Brook Trout and Where to Find Them, , 25 Best Towns to Fly Fish, and 50 Best Places: Fly Fishing the Northeast. Bob can be reached at BobMallard.com or [email protected]