Fowl Meadow is a buffer of wetland, tall grass, and forest on either side of the Neponset River, stretching from Paul’s Bridge in Milton to Canton.
It represents the largest wetland and floodplain areas in the Neponset River basin and has been designated a National Enviornmental Study Area by the National Park Service. Roughly 2330 acres are owned by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, and managed as part of the Blue Hills Reservation.
Amazingly, Fowl Meadow was almost paved over when in 1967 the state proposed to extend Interstate 95 straight into Boston. A citizen lawsuit stopped the proposal, hinging only on the fact that the transfer of designated conservation land for development requires authorization from the state legislature. In other words, a legal procedural technicality is all that stood between the wetlands you see here and another eight-lane highway.
Today, in addition to providing critical wildlife habitat (deer tracks everywhere!), Fowl Meadow serves as effective flood control barrier for the Neponset.
christopherlink.com 
That’s no small technicality, actually. Forcing the legislature to undo a conservation designation for the sake of eminent domain is a good way of ensuring a political firestorm… it should be thus.
And let’s have a round of applause for Frank Sargent!