The Year in Review
Friends of Fresh Pond Reservation
2005

The year began for the Friends group with our annual potluck supper and members' meeting on January 7, attended by 21 members and guests. Ideas generated during this and all of our semi-annual meetings have provided useful guidelines for future programs and other activities on the Reservation.

One suggestion at this year's meeting initiated events that resulted in three very well received programs. Louise Sullivan offered to approach Porter Square Book Store, asking if they and the Friends might work out a joint relationship around nature books. Working with Margie Richardson and Jen Audley, she learned that the bookstore was having a reading on February 11 by John Hanson Mitchell (editor of Mass Audubon's "Sanctuary" magazine) from his book Looking for Mr. Gilbert. An e-mail announcement was sent to Friends group members, several of whom attended. During conversations after the talk, we met Lawrence Millman, a mycologist, who offered to lead a mushroom walk for our group. On October 15 Larry led a "Mushroom Special" walk with 17 mushroom enthusiasts who braved pouring rain to attend his program.

Inspired by their meetings, Margie and Louise decided to approach Janet Heywood, Vice President of Interpretive Programs at Mount Auburn Cemetery with the idea of offering a joint Friends of Mount Auburn/Friends of Fresh Pond program. The result: Chris Laehy's "Natural History of the Cambridge Region" on October 16, a program held at Mt. Auburn Cemetery's Storey Chapel and attended by about 60 members from both groups.

In September FFPR representatives were invited to attend a lecture/slide show on the history of Fresh Pond at the Cambridge Water Department given by Jill Sinclair. Jill accepted our request that she give a similar talk for the Friends group. Thus in December we had a second joint program by Friends of Mt. Auburn and Fresh Pond, held in the Maynard Ecology Center and attended by 50 very enthusiastic participants.

Two other new program leaders joined us this year. Tom Murray led "Insects and Other Critters." Tom also gave the friends group a book of his beautiful insect photos, copies of which can be seen in the Ranger Station and the Maynard Ecology center.

John Pickle from Friends of Menotomy Rocks led "Using Cameras to See Time," during which he showed and described for us ways of using technology to study the environment. Beforehand, John worked with Robert Forrester, who built and put in place two "picture posts" that can be used as a camera bracket for taking identical photos of one scene. The octagonal brace on top allows the camera to be pointed in 8 directions, giving a set of images in 360 degree. One post is at Black's Nook, the other next to the fence around the Weir Meadow bio-swale. Photos taken from the posts can be viewed on www.pictureposts.smugmug.com. Anyone interested in adding pictures to this collection should e-mail Elizabeth at friendsoffreshpond@yahoo.com for instructions.
The Friends group offered six Biodiversity Days programs this year - on ponds, birds (2), insects, trees, and wildflowers. Data from these programs was submitted online to the statewide database. Massachusetts Biodiversity Days were reinstated this year after funding cuts eliminated the state program in 2004.

Our 15 bird programs this year were consistently well attended, with a "Summer Solstice Bird Walk" attracting an astonishingly large crowd of 34 people. In February "Armchair Birding at Neville Place" brought 41 people to the Neville living room where we described common yard birds and saw live videos of birds at Neville's backyard feeders. During the "Chickadee Nest Box Workshop in March" participants assembled 4 wooden bird boxes that were later put up on posts in the area in back of Neville Place. In May, Herb Pearce led a group of 20 on a "Birding by Ear" walk. Finally, in November, our annual "Duck, Duck' GOOSE!" program offered youngsters and their parents an opportunity to see migrating waterfowl resting on the Pond.

Reservation stewardship has been an important part of the Friends group's mission. During our Invasive Plants Removal day and on about six other occasions, a group of members pulled out garlic mustard from the hillside near Black's Nook. Keeping the area free of invasive plants will be an ongoing challenge. Also this year, Jean oversaw two cleanup days for trash removal and one trail building workday with People Making a Difference through Community Service (PMD).

Starting in September, Jean began leading monthly "Welcome to Fresh Pond" walks with the goal of helping people get to know the Reservation. Those attending have been very pleased have a guided walk around the Pond while learning about the natural and social history of the area.

Of the 58 programs we planned this year, six were canceled due to bad weather. The total attendance including leaders at the other 52 programs was 632, an average of about 12 people per event. Our membership increased from 123 to 125, with a small increase over last year in additional donations.

Volunteers from the Friends group once again maintained the flower and vegetable gardens on the Neville Place patio. This year, in addition to tomatoes, we grew miniature cantaloupes that the residents enjoyed eating, and miniature pumpkins. We also ordered and planted $100 worth of spring bulbs, using money donated by a Neville resident. We continue to keep the bird feeder stocked year-round for the enjoyment of the residents and staff.

Our nesting box program continued this year with mixed results. Three of the four tree swallow boxes were used by tree swallows, the fourth, by house sparrows. One of the boxes was later used by house wrens that built their nest on top of the abandoned swallow nest. None of the chickadee boxes were inhabited. We hypothesize that they were put up too late for these early-nesters. This winter the boxes have been left in place, ready and waiting for early tenants.

The Friends group also purchased and installed name labels on many of the large trees surrounding Neville. Like many other projects we do at Neville Place, this one is intended to help the people who live there maintain their connection with the natural world.
The group also paid for seven one-way bus trips to or from the Reservation so that classes of Cambridge Public School students could take ecology classes at the Maynard Ecology Center. This year Eastern Bus Company doubled their rates for one-way trips from $45 to $90. This increase will reduce the number of trips that we can offer next year, probably to about 5.

We continued to do inventories of wildflowers, birds, and pond plankton; and during our insect and mushroom programs we created lists of insects and fungi. We are still finding surprises. This spring we discovered a large patch of trout lilies (Erythronium americanum ) in plain sight near Black's Nook. Birders this year were delighted to see a great horned owl, a dickcissel, a brant, two common loons, and 12 redheads-all unusual birds for the Reservation.

This year the Friends group was honored at the Ninth Annual Mystic River Herring Run to receive the 2005 Award for Leadership in Education given by the Mystic River Watershed Association, the City of Somerville, the Alewife/Mystic River Advocates, and the Boys and Girls Club of Middlesex County. We were given a framed certificate of recognition, which we bring to events.

Many people, both members and non-members have generously given their time and shared their knowledge to help make our activities successful.

We thank the following non-members who have helped us:

Sue Bowdridge - Activities Director at Neville Place, distributed publicity to residents and made sure refreshments were provided for our programs.
Vince Falcione - Fresh Pond Reservation Site Supervisor, helped Bob Forrester put up the picture posts, helped us plan our invasives removal project.
Bree Harvey - Public Programs Coordinator at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, worked with Elizabeth Wylde in the planning of Jill Sinclair's lecture/slide show.
Janet Haywood - Vice President of Interpretive Programs at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, worked with Margie Richardson in the planning of Chris Leahy's lecture.
Charlie McNeeley - the new Fresh Pond Ranger, helped set up and clean up the Ecology Center after the "Shifting Patterns" lecture.
Chip Norton - Cambridge Watershed Manager, supported and encouraged all of the Friends group's activities on the Reservation.
John Pickle - Museum of Science staff member and Friends of Menotomy Rocks board member, shared his collection of interesting technologies, including ultraviolet and infrared lens filters and time-lapse photography. He designed and implemented the Picture Post project, and led the program "Using Cameras to See Time" to introduce his ideas to the public.
Richard Rourke - BBN Technologies Facilities Manager gave us permission to use the BBN parking lot for "Shifting Patterns," and put up signs to direct participants into the lot.
Jill Sinclair - Described the history of Fresh Pond in the 19th century to a rapt audience during her lecture/slide show titled "Shifting Patterns, Shifting Significance."

Below are listed the Friends of Fresh Pond Reservation members who made 2005 a success, with highlights of their contributions. Bravissimo!

Susan Agger - Co-led "Exploring a Pond', shared with the Friends group the resources of the Maynard Ecology Center where she is now Coordinator.
Jen Audley - Updated the Friends group Directory for 2005. Jen has moved to western Massachusetts, and we miss her very much.
Janet Burns - Worked independently and with the Friends group to remove invasive plants from the Black's Nook vicinity.
Susan Coolidge -Led "What Happens to Insects in Winter?" "Animal Tracks at Fresh Pond" and "Family Bug Hunt." Co-led "Exploring a Pond."
Diana Donahue - created a shade garden outside the back door of Neville Place.
Lance Drane - Helped lead bird walks with Nancy Guppy, maintained and loaned binoculars to bird walk participants. For the past three years his binocular loans have helped many a novice discover the joy of birding.
Lisa Duffek - Primary designer and organizer for the January 2005 Potluck Supper.
Doris Engelman - Edited written material for Elizabeth.
Bob Forrester - Designed, built, and installed two "picture posts" for the Reservation, brainstormed with us about ways of using technology to study the environment and lead the committee in discussions about phenology with members of Friends of Menotomy Rocks Park and the Museum of Science.
Nancy Guppy - Led 13 bird walks, helped lead "Armchair Birding at Neville Place" and the "Chickadee Nest Box Workshop."
Sheila Kennedy - Greeted participants, and helped set up and clean up for the "Shifting Patterns" program.
Janet Kovner - Helped lead Biodiversity Days "Family Bug Hunt."
Lore Levitt - was a dedicated garlic mustard eradicator.
Lawrence Millman - led the "Mushroom Special" walk, started an inventory of Fresh Pond fungi.
Tom Murray - Led the "Insects and Other Critters" walk and created a book of photos of insects that can be found at Fresh Pond, and presented it to FFPR.
Herb Pearce - Led "Birding by Ear."
Squizzle Plekavich - Led "Under the Surface", a program about freshwater plankton, did monthly plankton surveys of Little Fresh Pond. The survey results can be found on the Friends group website.
Rebecca Ramsay - Helped with "Shifting Patterns", helped put up tree labels.
Janet Randall - Helped check the tree swallow boxes with her daughter Noa.
Margie Richardson - Initiated contact with Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery, which resulted in two jointly sponsored programs.
Jean Rogers -led four "Welcome to Fresh Pond" walks, four Fresh Pond ecology walks, four tree identification programs, three Reservation stewardship programs, and Seasonal Adaptations of Animals to Winter, and co-led Duck, Duck, GOOSE!
Karen Seo - Helped arrange for parking at BBN Technologies for people attending "Shifting Patterns."
Barbara Strell - Co-led "Winter Tree Identification", Biodiversity Days "Tree Identification", "Winter Wildflowers" and ecology walks. Worked with Elizabeth on the design of a year-long ecology program.
Louise Sullivan - Initiated contact with Porter Square Bookstore.
Betty Wright - Co-led the "Weir Meadow Wildflower Inventory.
Elizabeth Wylde - led six wildflower identification programs, helped with all bird programs, coordinated publicity, membership, program planning, website, and educational materials, gleefully pulled out garlic mustard.
Carolyn Young and Frank Yulling - Helped led "Armchair Birding at Neville Place."