Laura Kiesel tends to some goats.
UPDATED: The Arlington-based Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) has honored town resident Laura Kiesel for her environmental advocacy at the organization’s annual meeting. In addition, the environmental group recognized six other volunteers from surrounding communities for their efforts to protect and restore the Mystic River watershed.
Kiesel received the Ripple Award, which celebrates an individual or organization whose work with MyRWA ripples out and affects the broader community. Kiesel was recognized for her work on raising awareness about rat poisons and their far-reaching impacts on local wildlife.
Love for nature
The poisons, known as second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, or SGARs, not only kill the intended target – rats and mice – but can sicken and kill other animals who feed on the rodents, such as birds of prey, as well as any mammal who ingest the poison.
Kiesel said her work came out of her love for nature in her urban cityscape, and her observation of rat poison traps being used in her housing and around Arlington. In 2018, she introduced the first bill to address the dangers of SGARs in the Massachusetts Legislature, causing a ripple of other organizations and individuals in recognizing the dangers of the poisons.
In her soon-to-be published book, Poisoned (Island Press), she writes about the often tragic impacts of SGARs, including the death in 2023 of a bald eagle, known as MK, that nested at the Mystic Lakes. Kiesel founded the organizations Save Massachusetts Wildlife and Save Arlington Wildlife.
Others recognized
Also at the October annual meeting, Mengting (Coco) Guo of North Reading and Myles Wilde of Charlestown were named as Volunteers of the Year for their work in watershed parks.
Four volunteers were honored for reaching their 15th anniversary of monitoring water quality monitor for the MyRWA: Michael Fager of Somerville, Michael Moros of Medford, Vasiliki (Vaso) Tsakraklides of Lexington and John Roland Elliott of Medford.
3 added to board
The association has also announced the addition of Karen Colón Hayes, William “Pepper” Denman and Beatriz Gómez Mouakad to its board of directors. These new members are active volunteers at MyRWA and their community, as well as have expertise in social science, health, board leadership, urban development, municipal leadership and strategic planning.
Hayes, of Malden, is a city Councillor-at-large She is the first Puerto Rican to hold this position. Her degree is in social science and psychology and she has over 25 years in leadership and director-level positions including Psychiatry Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Director of Human Services and Community Outreach for the City of Malden.
Denman, of Winchester, has lived in the Mystic River watershed for almost 35 years and has become an avid herring counter, tree planter and litter remover. He practices medicine at MGH and is part of the med-tech ecosystem, having been involved in multiple established and start-up companies.
Mouakad, Somerville, has more than 25 years’ experience in construction, urban development, strategic planning and project management. Trained at Brown University (BA in urban studies) and Harvard (master of architecture), she has led affordable-housing developments at Just A Start Corp. and served as a senior project manager and land use planner at Massport, helping shape agency priorities.
At the annual meeting, Erga Pierrette and Julie Ing Stern also reelected to second terms on the board.
Read the full news release from MyRWA.
The watershed association, whose offices are in Arlington, at 23 Maple St., behind Town Hall, works to improve the lives of the residents of Mystic River communities through its efforts to protect and restore water quality, natural habitat, and open space throughout the 76 square mile watershed. Arlington is one of the 21 communities that are in the watershed.
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This news summary was published Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, based on information from the Mystic River Watershed Association. YourArlington freelance editor Grace Carpenter helped prepare the copy. It was updated Nov. 19, to add information about new directors.
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