A River Runs Through It: The Charles River and the Conservancy.

The Charles River is synonymous with Boston and Cambridge. From the earliest days of European arrival in the 1620s, the river has played a fundamental role in the history of those two cities and of the broader region. Originally a tidal wetland, the first miles of the river have changed character significantly over time. For much of the past 150 years, the river was treated as an industrial sewer that flushed urban waste out to the ocean. It’s only in recent decades that the health of the river has taken precedence. The Charles River Conservancy was founded to support the river and Laura Jasinski, the executive director, talks to unPlanned about all the work they have been doing to activate this historic resource and help steward its public spaces.