2017 YEAR-IN-REVIEW

at Fresh Pond Reservation

Friends of Fresh Pond Reservation and the Cambridge Water Department

Hello friends and stewards of Fresh Pond Reservation, and Happy New Year!

This is the time of the year where we simultaneously reflect on 2017 and look forward with hope to the new year. I am reminded again of how fortunate we are to have such a rich green space in the midst of our urban environment. Some of my favorite memories at Fresh Pond in 2017 include: glimpsing a coyote at a kids walk last January; listening, awe-struck, to a symphony of bullfrog song at Moth Night; the hubbub of a rare sighting of a prothonotary warbler early one morning on a bird walk... Did you have a favorite moment at Fresh Pond last year? If so, consider sharing it on our Facebook page or Instagram feed.

As many of you know, our mission is one of education and community building, with the intent of inspiring stewardship and fostering the caretakers of our land for future generations. We partner with the Cambridge Water Department to offer educational programs for adults and children, hoping to deepen their connection with the green space and with each other.

2017 was a good year!

This year we, along with the Cambridge Water Department, ran 131 programs, up from 95 programs last year. Of these programs, 53 were for children.

Almost 1,500 people attended our programs, up almost 100% from 800 participants last year. And of this number, 331 were children.

A big shout out to our volunteers! This year folks gave over 1200 volunteer hours, 700 of which were dedicated to the woodland restoration project, where communities of native plant species have been cultivated to create habitats for native animals including birds, mammals, amphibians and insects. To all the volunteers out there, we thank you!

We offered a wide variety of programs this year, from monthly bird walks to weekly kids’ walks, mushroom walks to pond explorations, bike fests to solstice walks. Did you have a favorite program? Or suggestions for a program you’d like to see? Please take our very brief survey and let us know your thoughts!

Our programs are not only fun and educational, but also serve to collect citizen science data, which contributes to Massachusetts counts and also helps inform managers of Fresh Pond. Interested in the data we collect? We invite you to visit the following links:

Our web site for comprehensive lists of birds, insects, plants, plankton, lichens, fungi, moths, and more.

eBird for bird counts at Fresh Pond by us and others.

iNaturalist for data collected on plants and wildlife during Biodiversity Days in June

Want to support the work we do? Please consider a donation today! We are an all-volunteer organization and all donations go directly to program materials and honoraria for speakers and presenters.

$20 buys a new book for our kids’ walks

$60 replaces one of our bird boxes

$80 funds materials for a kids program

$100 funds an expert-led walk

Thanks to all who donated last year! In addition to individual contributions, we were lucky enough to receive a grant from the Harvard/MIT COOP again this year - $1,000 towards programming. Thank you Harvard/ MIT COOP!

Looking for additional ways to get involved?

Volunteer. (Email Ranger Tim at tpuopolo@cambridgema.gov)

Attend a program, bring a friend or two, and share our events with your local networks. Email friendsoffreshpond@yahoo.com to sign up for our mailing list.

And of course, please donate!

And finally, we’d like to express our deep appreciation to all of you who work to care for the Fresh Pond Reservation. Special thanks to those at the Cambridge Water Department, the Friends of Fresh Pond Reservation Planning Committee, the Maynard Ecology Center, all of our volunteers, and those who contribute to Fresh Pond in a myriad of ways. The Fresh Pond Reservation wouldn’t be the same without you!

Catherine Pedemonti

January 22, 2018