Minutes
of the Winter 2006-7 Meeting
Friends of Fresh Pond Reservation
January 12, 2007
Attenders:
Susan Agger, Suzanna Black, Lance Drane, Anne Guenzel, Nancy Guppy,
Lore Levitt, Herb Pearce, Rebecca Ramsay, Margie Richardson, Jean Rogers,
Barbara Strell, Elizabeth Wylde
At the start
of the meeting people shared their recollections of events from the
past year's FFPR activities. They described planting wetlands plants
in the Little Fresh Pond shoreline, enjoying the evening insect program
with Neville residents, going outside in a downpour during the "Quintessential
Biodiversity Walk," and observing the enthusiasm of people making
their own twig charts.
Elizabeth listed
this year's new activities that were suggested by participants during
the previous two members' meetings. Included were "The Indoor Naturalist,"
an evening of nature readings attended by Friends and Neville residents;
the Biodiversity Walk with Peter Alden; evening tours of the Water Purification
Facility; the evening moths program; a program about where animals go
in winter (which Jean will lead on January 20), a gift of $300 to the
Maynard Ecology Center that Susan plans to use to have the floors polished;
the purchase of books including mushroom and butterfly guides; creating
a lending library (an idea that needs to be reworked so that loaned
books are returned), and linking the FFPR website to Tom Murray's website
of nature photos. She also mentioned that the purple loosestrife biocontrol
project was initiated by a tip from Susan Redlich, who attended a program
in July.
Barbara presented
the book she made for the 2006 Ecology Project, a monthly exploration
of three habitats on the Reservation. The three participants in the
project recorded weather conditions, plant and animal observations,
and changes over time; and kept a photographic record of the areas they
studied. The book, titled 2006 Ecology Project, is available
for reading in the Ranger Station.
Ideas for the New Year
Members then suggested the following ideas for new programs and new
approaches to current activities.
- Another Nuts, Seeds, and
Fruit program
-
Have more
bird walks on Saturday mornings
-
Program:
Identifying trees by their bark
-
Program:
Conifers…and other evergreens
-
Program:
Soils
-
Program:
Geology of Fresh Pond-the impact of the glaciers, reading geological
maps
-
A program
in which all participants have researched aspects of the topic in
advance, and share what they have learned with the group
-
A reading
group: initially brainstorm about what books to read e.g. Martin Wells'
Civilization and the Limpet
-
Program:
Fish
-
Program:
What do birds eat?
-
Program:
Changes in an organism over the seasons, e.g. one tree
-
Program:
Bird migration
-
Geocaching
or Letterboxing, if it could be made educational
-
Program:
Favorite places at Fresh Pond-Participants share theirs
-
Program:
A self-led walk to visit the above favorite places
-
Program:
An informational walk using Jill Sinclair's book on the history of
Fresh Pond
-
Program:
Tree flowers
-
Involve
high school students in the purple loosetrife biocontrol project.
Ideas for
the Future
The final issue discussed was how to help the Friends group grow into
the future, including eventual changes in leadership and the involvement
of more people in decision-making. So far, Elizabeth and Jean have done
the bulk of the planning and organizing, with other people leading some
of the programs. Elizabeth distributed an outline she made of all of
the dimensions of the Friends group, and the tasks involved in keeping
them current.
It was noted
that this group attracts mostly people who have limited knowledge of
the natural world and want to learn more. These are often people who
have busy schedules and not much time to give to the organization. We
need learn how to find people who are willing to take more responsibility.
Ideally, that would include current members.
A number of
ideas were suggested:
-
Encourage
people to assist as a backup person during a program. Offer a training
program to show them everything they need to do to help make a program
work, ranging from distributing parking passes to pouring juice. Participants
would not need to be knowledgeable about the subject of the program,
and would be able to learn along with the other people attending.
-
Offer a
program about how to lead a walk, a kind of "docent training."
Participants could research a topic to share with the group.
-
Offer more
programs for children. Susan Agger observed than many school children
come to the Reservation with the help of bus money donated by the
Friends group. We could offer more family programs if we had more
people to lead them.
-
We have
not made it apparent to people that we need help. We could list on
program flyers the tasks that need to be done this month, such as
stuff envelopes, assist a walk leader, write a letter etc.
-
Create a
planning committee of 4 or more members to decide how to implement
these and other ideas. Thissuggestion resonated with a number of people.
When asked if anyone would care to take part in such a committee,
seven people volunteered.
The volunteers
are Susan Agger, Suzanna Black, Anne Guenzel, Lore Levitt, Jean Rogers,
Barbara Strell, and Elizabeth Wylde
The first meeting
of the committee will be at 3:30 on Monday, February 5 at the
Maynard Ecology Center, basement of Neville Place, 650 Concord Avenue,
Cambridge
Any member who would like to participate is invited to come! Please
contact Elizabeth at friendsoffreshpond@yahoo.com or call Jean at 616-349-4793
and leave your name and phone number.
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