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FRIENDS OF JAMAICA POND and FRIENDS OF OLMSTED PARK
36 Perkins St., PO Box 300040, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130-0030 Gerry Wright, Founder and President Telephone: 617-524-7070 Email: FrederickLawOlmsted@yahoo.com TTY/MA RELAY 800-439-2370 |
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       'Let it be not for present use and delight alone, but let it be of such a work that our descendents will thank us for it." Frederick Law Olmsted |
Friends
of Jamaica Pond is a non-profit organization
dedicated to restoring and preserving this "gem" of Frederick Law
Olmsted's Emerald Necklace. Boston's Emerald Necklace is a series of
parks and parkways -- Franklin Park, the Arboretum, Jamaica Pond, the
Riverway, and the Back Bay Fens, which connects to the Commonwealth
Avenue Mall, the Public Garden, and the Boston Common to create a
seven-mile linked necklace of green spaces. Olmsted described Jamaica Pond as "favoring great
beauty in reflections and flickering half-lights." Jamaica Pond is a
60-acre kettlehole formed by an ancient glacier. Olmsted Park is named
in honor of the man who designed the Emerald Necklace. This park has
woodlands, meadows and three ponds: Ward's, Willow and Leverett. National Park Service reading and guide with maps and
photographs on the design of the Emerald Necklace http://www.cr.nps.gov/nR/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/86bostonparks/86facts3.htm Jamaica Plain Historical Society's web pages with history articles and photographs of pond HERE History and Annual Park Keeper Award Christine Cooper
was a Founder and Project Director for the Jamaica Pond Project for 21
years from 1983-2004. She was responsible for directing the Sailing
School, the Open Classroom, operation of the boat house concessions,
information specialist, coordinating the public row boating and sailing
programs, maintenance of the bathrooms, parklands clean-up project
coordinator, motivator for major restoration programs; collaboration
with the Boston Police, Boston Municipal Police, State Police for the
safety of citizens in the parklands, partnerships with the staff of the
Boston Parks and Recreation Departments, partnerships with teachers of
the Boston School Department, a friend of hundreds and greeter of
thousands who visited Jamaica Pond. And by her nature and on-going
study, a passionate voice and example of carrying forward the legacy of
Frederick Law Olmsted. Each year the
Friends of Jamaica Pond presents the Park Keeper Award to honor
Christine Cooper's legacy and the on-going stewardship required to
protect and preserve the park and environment. Charlie Hauck, was
a Founder and Executive Director for 21 years of the Jamaica Pond
Project and 36 years at Community Care Center. Charlie fits the
description of being a gentleman and a scholar more than anyone.
Charlies relized in his life the noble aspiration which was Olmsted's
mantra from Thomas Caryle: "Do the Duty which lies nearest thee." Each year the
Friends of Jamaica Pond honors Charlie Hauck's legacy with the "Annual
Walk with Charlie." Tenth anniversary
celebration of the Jamaica Pond Project 1993. Passages in the Life of an
Unpractical Man one-man
play by
Gerry
Wright Passages in the Life of an
Unpractical Man one-man
play by
Gerry
Wright "A hundred years after his death, America
continues to be challenged with issues of social justice and
conservation for which Olmsted was a most persevering, principled
pioneer." Gerry Wright has researched, written and produced a
one-man show honoring the life and work of Frederick Law Olmsted, the
father of landscape architecture. The play provides insights into
Olmsted's passionate vision as he played critical roles in the dynamics
of slavery as a writer, as an appointee of Abraham Lincoln during the
Civil War, and as the landscape architect and catalyst for New York
City's Central Park, Boston's Emerald Necklace, the US Capitol and
White House grounds, and advocate for National Parks. The Olmsted play has been presented at the Olmsted
National Historic Site in Brookline, Boston’s 375th Anniversary
Parade, Brookline’s 350th Anniversary Celebration, plus numerous
communities of the Commonwealth; along with performances in Volgoda,
Russia; in New York City for the 150 year anniversary of the
legislation for Central Park; Olmsted Parks Conservancy in Louisville,
Kentucky; and in Asheville, North Carolina. Expanded Program
Details HERE Photos by Renee DeKona
Environmental
Emerald Necklace Great Horned Owls Emerald Necklace Red Tailed Hawks Emerald Necklace Butterflies and Dragonflies
Emerald Necklace Great Blue Herons Emerald Necklace Fungi (Coming Soon) Nature's
Class Room: Environmental Education Projects
To learn more about albinism and gray squirrels click HERE Class
Room: Summer Emerald
Necklace Butterflies and Dragonflies:
A
colorful American
Copper, Tiger Swallowtailed, fluttering Cabbage White, Red Admiral
Butterflies, darting White Tailed and Eastern Pondhawk (young male is
green which latter turns blue) Dragonflies, Juvenal's Duskywing, secreative
Mourning Cloak,
Little Wood Satyr, a Monarch sipping nectar from Milkweed flowers, and an American lady
(see Nature's Classroom web page for additional detail and links to
online field guides HERE) Emerald
Necklace Wildflowers:
Yellow Iris (Yellow Flag), OxEye Daisy, Garden Phlox, Solomon's-plume (False Solomon's-seal) , False Indigo, Canada Hackweed, Daisy Fleabane,
Tansy, Queen Ann's Lace, Chickory, Bull Thistle (see Nature's Classroom web page for additional detail and links to online field guides HERE) Class
Room: Spring Spring Bird Migration:
Black and White Warbler, Yellow Rumped "Myrtle" Warbler, Eastern
Kingbird Visit
the next page to learn about the Spring Bird Migration. Click
HERE Class
Room: Winter Winter Moth -
Operophtera brumata (L) Insect Order: Lepidoptera, Family: Geometridae Visit
the next page to learn about the Winter Moth. Click HERE Class
Room: Fall Cabbage White
Butterfly, Spotted Sandpiper and Woolly Bear Caterpillar Visit the next page to
learn about the Cabbage White Butterfly, Spotted Sandpiper and Woolly
Bear Caterpillar. Click HERE Environmental
Research Projects Forestry
Protection Projects "Save the
Woods of Olmsted Park"Tuesday, July 11, 6:30-8:30 PM, 2006; Arnold
Arboretum, Hunnewell Building Public meeting to review the findings of
professional foresters who have been studying the health and conditions
of the Olmsted Park woodlands--the second largest urban forest in the
Emerald Necklace. The presentation will include historic research,
trees and shrubs, path conditions, invasive plants, and soils analysis. Emerald Necklace Conservancy,
Two Brookline Place, Brookline, MA 02445, Telephone 617-232-5374 http://www.emeraldnecklace.org Emerald Necklace
Bird Club Complete List of
Parks, Field Guide of Emerald Necklace Birds, Sightings by parks and dates, plus Emerald Necklace Map Details HERE Volunteer
Stewardship Program:Help renew and restore the parklands! Volunteer
stewards might help with anything from trimming plants on the banks of
the pond, pruning trees, and helping to control invasive plant species,
to planting a new landscape, reseeding a lawn, or repainting benches
and light posts. The opportunities are as varied as the views around
the pond. Jamaica Plain -
Brookline Pop Warner Football Team did a Jamaica Pond Clean-Up on
October 7, 2006 Annual Earth Day Celebration Jamaica Pond April Annual Lantern Parade October Annual Butterflies Over Boston September Calendar
and Meetings and Press THINK
AHEAD FIFTY YEARS! Act Now! Become A Friend of
Jamaica Pond! Your donations will help Whether
you donate $5 or $1000, we thank you for supporting work to improve
Boston's green spaces. By joining the Friends of
Jamaica Pond, you'll not just be strengthening a park, you'll be
strengthening a community. Donation Form and
Details HERE
Class Room:
Education
Projects
We hope
to follow up this test with an on-going volunteer monitoring program of
the entire Emerald Necklace watershed.
American-Russian
Forestry Association, a program of the New
Horizon Project, in collaboration with the New England Governors
Confrence and Institutions in the Tomsk Region of Siberia, Russia.
Contact: Gerry Wright, Executive Vice-President, 238 Main Street, Suite
401, Kendall Square Station, Cambridge, MA 02142-0003 Telephone
617-524-7070 Email gwright@new-horizons-project.org Web: http://www.new-horizon-project.org
Join the Emerald
Necklace Bird Club and explore this landscape and natural wonder each
season -- spring, summer, fall and winter. Add bird sightings to both
the Emerald Necklace Bird Club master list and your own life list.
Support the conservation of natural habitat and become a steward of the
earth. The Emerald Necklace is the urban oasis for much of the natural
world in Boston. Both migrating and long-term resident birds find the
Olmsted Parks a haven. Frequent visits will slowly reveal a landscape
full of life and wonder from the soaring flight of
a Red-Tailed Hawk to the statute-still Great Blue Heron to the
busy Massachusetts state bird --the Black Capped Chickadee.
to preserve the legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted's Emerald Necklace
May 14, 2008 from 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m
Tours of the Kelleher Rose Garden, Museum of Fine Arts Japanese Garden
and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Courtyard Contact: Emerald
Necklace Conservancy http://www.emeraldnecklace.org 617-232-5374
Longwood MBTA "T" Stop, "D" (Riverside) branch of Green Line.
Information: Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, 617-566-1689
http://www.nps.gov/frla/
Sounds & Scenes Family Festival at Olmsted Park
A celebration of music and landscape in the Emerald Necklace with
musical performances, food, and fun activities for all ages. Olmsted
Park's Allerton overlook on Pond Avenue. This is on the Brookline side
of Leverett Pond. Presented by: Brookline Adult and Community
Education, Brookline Parks and Open Space Division, Frederick Law
Olmsted National Historical Site, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and
the Boston Parent's Paper.
