Boston Flora

Tag: Boston Parks & Recreation

  • Wednesday, November 15, 6:00 pm – Back Bay Fens Pathways Community Design Meeting, Online

    Please join a community design meeting on November 15 with the City of Boston Department of Parks and Recreation. The project scope includes rehabilitation of pathways at the Back Bay Fens to improve accessibility and site conditions. This historic park is under the jurisdiction of the Boston Landmarks Commission. The project includes the assessment and prioritization of pathway work, as well as Boston Parks standard project design work. The project will also include items along and adjacent to pathways, such as site furnishings, utilities, and plantings. Read more at https://www.boston.gov/departments/parks-and-recreation/improvements-back-bay-fens-pathways

  • Tuesday, February 28, 8:30 am – 3:30 pm Eastern – Community Tree Conference: Community Forestry in Changing Times, Climate, Sustainability, and Environmental Justice, Online

    The University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment will host a one day webinar on Community Forestry in Changing Times: Climate, Sustainability, and Environmental Justice. The event takes place February 28 from 8:30 – 3:30. Speakers include Yoni Glogower of the City of Holyoke on the Pioneer Valley Healthy Air Initiative, Liza Meyer, Chief Landscape Architect with Boston Parks & Recreation Department on the Boston Urban Forest Master Plan, David Meshoulam, Executive Director of Speak for the Trees on Bringing Tree Equity to Boston, and more. Complete agenda and registration link may be found at www.ag.umass.edu $75. You may also contact Ellen Weeks at weeks@umass.edu The event will not be recorded.

  • Emerald Necklace Tree Project

    The Garden Club of the Back Bay is a contributor to the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, and we thought you might be interested in knowing a bit more about where our dollars are going.

    Contributions from many donors to establish the Olmsted Tree Society last year provided close to $1 million to begin the important work of assessing the condition of trees in the Emerald Necklace and planning to ensure their healthy future. Undertaken in collaboration with the Conservancy’s public partners, Boston Parks & Recreation, Brookline Parks and Open Space and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the initiative intends to preserve heritage trees in these historic parks, some of which are more than 100 years old. In addition, the project will protect healthy trees with selective pruning and soil enhancement; plant new trees where needed in the Back Bay Fens, Riverway, Olmsted Park, Franklin Park, around Jamaica Pond and along the parkways of the Necklace. Even more important, the effort will help educate the public about the critical relationship between trees and a healthy urban environment in order to sustain ongoing support for the project.

    In consultation with the Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s public partners, the Olmsted Tree Society advisors hired Kyle Zick Landscape Architects in June to lead the team of consultants who have completed the initial stages of the work. In little more than six months time, the Boston-based firm has identified and reviewed previous studies of conditions in the historic parkland; inventoried more than 7000 trees and 200 acres of woodland; developed accessible and comprehensive mapping using the latest Geographic Information System technology; and begun development of a comprehensive management plan including implementation strategies, timelines and cost estimates for the work that needs to be done.

    The recommendations will be shared with the conservancy’s public partners, Boston Parks & Recreation, Brookline Parks and Open Space and the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation and work will be coordinated through those agencies.