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The
Year in Review In its third year, Friends of Fresh Pond Reservation continued to experiment with new programs and new ways of reaching out to the community. We started in January with two "Whole Tree Identification" programs during which participants looked at specimen trees on the golf course, then, using photos of those trees, made posters for the Ranger Contact Station and the Maynard Ecology Center. Two other winter programs, "Insects in Winter" and "Animal Tracks at Fresh Pond" gave kids and their parents an opportunity to discover together some of the Reservation's inhabitants. With Spring in the air, many families turned out on March 21 for the "Birdhouse Building Workshop." Older participants constructed four wooden nesting boxes for tree swallows, while younger ones made milk-carton bird boxes to take home for their own back yards. The goal of the Tree Swallow Nest Box Project was to replace nesting sites lost during the removal of dead trees from the Reservation. It was a splendid success. In early April the boxes were mounted on metal poles with predator guards and placed near Black's Nook and Little Fresh Pond. Within a month, all four boxes were inhabited by swallows. A few brief looks inside the boxes revealed eggs at the end of May, young birds by mid-June, and empty nests on June 25. We estimate that 20 to 24 young swallows were fledged from the boxes. Progress reports were posted on the Reservoir fence near the most visible box, and quite a few people responded to our invitation to call in sightings of the birds. Spring also brought the return of migratory birds and their binocular-toting followers. The Friends group led 14 bird walks on the Reservation this year, including the annual fall family program called "Duck, Duck, GOOSE!" At the end of our walks we enjoyed coffee and muffins provided by Neville Place while we recorded lists of the birds we saw. In January we asked the Cambridge Water Department if we could put up a bird sightings board in the Ranger Contact Station; CWD responded by purchasing and mounting for us a white board and a permanently attached dry-erase marker. The board is updated by anyone who wishes to report sightings. Birders are also invited to add their sightings to a permanent record book that sits nearby. Sightings from bird walks and individual birders are also posted on the Friends of Fresh Pond Reservation website Bird Sightings page. Phenology is
the study of the changes in plants and animals in response to the changing
seasons. In an effort to help people develop an awareness of the interactions
of living things on the Reservation, FFPR launched a "Phenology
Project" which invited anyone who observed natural phenomena at
Fresh Pond to write down and submit their observations either on paper
or by e-mail. Only a few people participated. Their observations throughout
the year were posted on To show our support for Massachusetts Biodiversity Days, which this year lost its funding from the State, we offered nine Biodiversity Days programs in early June. We used the opportunity to find out whether weekday events would attract people, and found that they did not. The average attendance for three mid-week programs was 5, including leaders. The other six programs were well attended. Data collected from bird counts, plant inventories, and pond programs are available on the website. Volunteers attending FFPR's stewardship programs this year made records of a variety of life forms on the Reservation, and worked hard to keep the land in good condition. They had a choice of events ranging from wildflower inventories to leaf raking to erosion control and mulching. During the leaf-raking program, participants scattered native wildflower seeds on the Weir Meadow hillsides as part of a plan to allow these areas to grow naturally instead of being kept as a lawn. Members also gathered information about the nesting behavior and fledge times of birds near Little Fresh Pond for the Water Department to use in planning the scheduling of restoration work to be done in that area. The Friends group website at www.friendsoffreshpond.org now includes the phenology calendar with photos and reports of natural phenomena, up-to-date bird sightings, reports from our semi-annual meetings, updated plant listings, and regular algae updates from Little Fresh Pond, as well as program publicity, a printable map and bird checklist, membership information, and links to other websites. An inventory checklist of the trees, shrubs, vines, wildflowers, ferns, grasses and water plants on the Reservation is available by e-mail or in printed form. Contact Elizabeth. FFPR continued to make printed material available to the public. We supplied the Ranger Station and the information boxes around the Pond with Reservation maps, specimen tree maps, bird checklists, wildflower checklists and program announcements. We also sent monthly e-mail notices to about 450 people on our e-mail list, to the list-serve for the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) and to the online Cambridge Civic Journal. Occasionally the Boston Globe and the Cambridge Chronicle publicized our programs. About 517 people attended the 48 programs the Friends group offered in 2004. Our membership grew from 106 in 2003 to 120, including 35 family memberships, our bank account from $1719 to $2570. From $2300 of income in membership fees and donations we provided bus trips to the Reservation for three Cambridge Public School classrooms at a cost of $129, spent about $90 for nesting box materials, donated $300 to Neville Place to help cover the cost of the snacks they provide and birdseed for their bird feeders, and spent about $920 for supplies, postage, photocopies, and the website. We are grateful to Chip Norton, Cambridge Watershed Manager, and the Cambridge Water Department for ongoing support of our activities and the use of their photocopier; to the staff at Neville Place for welcoming us and providing us with snacks; and to the Cambridge Public Schools for the use of the Maynard Ecology Center for our programs. The heart of the Friends group is the members who share their time, effort and knowledge in planning and leading projects and programs. These are the people who made it happen in 2004: Susan Agger
organized and led "Insects in Winter" and " Pond Mucking,"
a We look forward to another year of learning and sharing our experiences and knowledge with people who want to delve more deeply into the nature of Fresh Pond Reservation and the natural world. We welcome anyone who would like to join us in this effort. Elizabeth Wylde
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