Come visit the new pollination preservation garden at the park entrance between the driveway and tennis courts. What’s a pollination preservation garden? Plants have been chosen based on Dr. Robert Gegear, UMass Dartmouth’s research on plants needed to support bumblebees and butterflies that are at risk of local extinction. More than 85 percent of all plants require animals to pollinate them, a process essential for creating seeds and fruits and reproduction. Those animals, especially insects, are keystones in the food web that supports all the wildlife around us, and our own food supply. Bumblebees are our most important local pollinators. In Massachusetts, we have already lost two of 12 bumblebee…

Register for Newton Conservators events April 6, 7-8 pm, “Nibbling on Native Plants in Your Back Yard and Beyond,” Newton Conservators Webinar with Russ Cohen April 20, 7-8:15 pm, “Jumping Worms in Field and Forest,” Newton Conservators Webinar with Dr. Annise Johnson April 23, 9:30 am, Invasives Pull. Meet at the kiosk. May 1, 9:30 am, NewtonServes Day, Invasives pull. Meet at the kiosk. May 4, 6-9 pm, Newton Conservators Annual Dinner May 8, 8-11 am, Birding in Cold Spring Park, in-person, meet at the kiosk, with Pete Gilmore May 10, 1 pm, Invasives pull. Meet at the kiosk. May 11, 7-8:15 pm, Spring Warblers in Newton, Newton Conservators Webinar…

Thank you to the 110 people who took the time to respond to the survey emailed to our list and posted on our Facebook page. Below is a link to the complete results, including some excellent comments. While there was a wide range of views for next steps, we tentatively draw the conclusions below. From Zervas to Winslow & Wilber: A significant majority (58%) want to extend the Eagle Scout boardwalks, while 34% preferred a full size boardwalk. A number of commenters indicated, however, that they were ok with either option, or preferred a short-term extension of the scout boardwalks while exploring the wider option. The primary concern about the…

Or early summer. Working with the Department of Parks, Recreation & Culture (PRC), we will be restoring the stone dust surface of the Cochituate Aqueduct trail between Plymouth Road and Duncklee Street. Thanks to PRC for providing design and oversight services. Thanks for construction funding from: The Krieger Family Trust Friends of Cold Spring Park members like you! No more of this!

We hope that you are enjoying the restored stone dust surface of the Life Course trail from Duncklee Street to Zervas, and of the short cut from the Life Course to the dog park! No more muddy paws! (If your dog stays on the trail.) Thanks to everyone who donated, and to the Dept. of Parks, Recreation and Culture, especially Open Space Coordinator Luis Perez Demorizi, who managed the contracting process. The only thing better than the before and after shots are the real thing! Friends of Cold Spring Park is now a 501c3 charitable corporation. All donations are tax deductible.

Parks & Rec has now chosen a contractor and will soon sign a contract for the first phase of trail renovation! The first phase will restore from Duncklee Street north to the Beacon Street parking lot, and west to Zervas. It will also include the interior trail from the intersection of the main trail with the trail from Beaconwood to the dog park. We donated $12,368 to the City for the renovation, to complement $9,000 from Parks & Rec and $20,000 from the location fee from Defending Jacob (which premiers Apr. 24). Thanks to all of you who contributed! Our contribution still leaves us more than $12,000 toward the next phase…

Thanks to the 11 of you who showed up from our list and the Newton Conservators, we were able to clear a large part of the small meadow (at the intersection of the main trail and the trail between Braceland and the dog park) of heavily invasive ailanthus trees (Tree of Heaven), and some Japanese knotweed across from it. We hope to restore it to a native wildflower meadow.

Welcome to the beta edition of our web site, still largely under construction. Your feedback would be invaluable to us. Please use the comments link below, or email us at FriendsOfColdSpringPark.org