Please see attached letter from the U.S. Board on Geographic Names accepting our proposal to make official the name, Marys Brook (apostrophes are not allowed) for the perennial stream that flows from Main Street in Acton, through the Acton Arboretum, joining with Coles Brook near Taylor Road and Route 2 (map attached).
The brook is named for Mary S. Michelman 2/14/1960 – 12/17/2010, Acton citizen, former president of Acton Citizens for Environmental Safety (ACES), founder of Acton Stream Teams, and assiduous environmental activist who fought for clean water in Acton.
Mary gave hundreds of volunteer hours researching and urging EPA and W.R. Grace to clean up the industrial pollution at the Acton W.R. Grace Superfund Cleanup site.
Mary died of cancer in 2010. The non-profit organization Green Acton has taken up the cause of environmental protection and conservation of local resources.
Marys Brook signs and a small plaque can be seen on Minot Avenue near the Conant School, and affixed to a trail boardwalk over the stream that now bears her name in the Acton Arboretum.
In 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency New England Region honored Mary Michelman (posthumously) with an Environmental Merit Award. The EPA wrote: “Mary played a critical role in protecting Acton, Massachusetts’ drinking water and streams… In her role as the non-governmental organization technical liaison for Acton, … she applied her scientific background and her attention to detail in providing comprehensive and important comments to the EPA and the town to ensure remedial actions were protective of Acton’s drinking water…” The full citation is here: https://semspub.epa.gov/work/01/596060.pdf