Fresh Pond Reservation Newsletter
October 2026
| | Stay in the know regarding all our events including walks, runs, educational activities, and other relevant Cambridge events. This newsletter is brought to you by the Cambridge Water Department's Rangers Amanda and Omar. Let's all congratulate Ranger Amanda on recently graduating from the Animal Control Academy of Massachusetts! | |
Meet You Neighbor: A Mindful Nature Gathering
Wednesday, October 21st
Ranger Station
250 Fresh Pond Pkwy
Come join Stefanie Haug, LICSW and local nature guide and Ranger Amanda Garms as we connect with the people and green spaces around Fresh Pond Reservation. With the City of Cambridge's Meet Your Neighbor initiative as inspiration, we will explore what it means to be a neighbor not only to one another, but to the trees, birds, waters, and landscapes that surround us. Through mindful offerings and nature highlights, shared experiences, and time outdoors, we’ll create space to connect with nature and with one another. Meets outside the ranger station at 250 Fresh Pond Parkway, Cambridge MA Registration is not required but appreciated at tinyurl.com/FreshPondEvents
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Volunteer Stewards
Thursdays through fall
10:00am-12:00 noon
Meets at the Tool Trailer outside the Ranger Station
250 Fresh Pond Pkwy
May through October, give back to the place you love by becoming one of our volunteer weed warriors! This is a weekly, open opportunity to volunteer. We have the tools, we have the training, we just need the hands! Every week is a different target area and a different task depending on the natural calendar’s seasonal needs. To learn more, contact omejia@cambridgema.gov.
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Fresh Pond Biodiversity & Climate Citizen Scientist Volunteering with Earthwise Aware (EwA)
EwA invites volunteers to contribute to national research on how climate change is reshaping the life cycles of plants, insects, and other organisms. We provide training, and no prior experience is needed, only an interest in the natural world. Using a smartphone app, log phenology, insect surveys, and species interactions to document how species shift in response to a changing climate.
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Ongoing Volunteer Opportunity:
Garden Work Date
Tuesdays through Fall
10:00am-1:00pm
Meets at the Habitat Restoration Area off the perimeter road between the parkway community gardens and Lusitania Meadow.
250 Fresh Pond Pkwy
Come learn from expert naturalists how to restore our native communities by doing hands on work! Help transplant plants, weed invasives, mulch restoration areas, and learn about how a once invasive buckthorn forest has transformed into a native wildlife refuge in just over a decade. Started by the Friends of Fresh Pond in the late 2000's, the area has been transformed to a special hidden refuge and has been carefully curated ever since. Wear closed toed shoes & clothes ready to work in the garden! Drop by and stay for a bit or the whole time.
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Fresh Pond Nature Walk
Collins Branch Library
Wednesday, October 14th
10:15 to 11:30 am
Meets at the Ranger Station
250 Fresh Pond Pkwy
Join us for a short walk of Fresh Pond Reservation with Ranger Amanda Garms and Library Associate Michael Roberson. We will observe seasonal changes in our environment, enjoy the fresh air, and get some exercise in nature. This walk is not on a paved path. We will walk on uneven terrain, down hills, and over roots. The meeting location for this walk will be at the Fresh Pond Ranger Station at 250 Fresh Pond Parkway. Registration is required for this event.
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Walter J. Sullivan Water Purification Facility Tour
Monday, October 5th
Monday, November 2nd
6:00-7:30pm
250 Fresh Pond Pkwy
Meets at the Water Treatment Plant Front Door
Come learn how the Water Department purifies drinking water for your tap after it’s conveyed from nearby Fresh Pond into our facility. You’ll have the chance to speak with water treatment staff, see the equipment in action and check out our water quality lab! No registration required.
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Fantastic Fungi
A walk with Lawrence Millman
Sunday, October 18th
2:00-4:00pm
Ranger Station
250 Fresh Pond Pkwy
Join expert mycologist Lawrence Millman in a walk around Fresh Pond to identify mushrooms. In the last 20 years, he has documented 389 fungal species at Fresh Pond - perhaps we can make it all the way to 400! Meets at the ranger station under the clock tower. Registration is required and caps at 15. This walk is sponsored by the Friends of Fresh Pond Reservation. For questions or concerns, please contact agarms@cambridgema.gov.
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Buckingham Browne & Nichols Upper School Cross Country Race
Saturday, October 3
Saturday, October 10
1:00pm-5:30pm
An anticipated 200 highschool students will be running around the pond on Saturday, October 3 and Saturday, October 10. Please make considerations planning your visit on these days.
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Fall Guided Nature Walk with Jeff Adams
November 22nd
10:15am - 12:45pm
Ranger Station
250 Fresh Pond Pkwy
Please join Jeff Adams for a Guided Nature walk at Fresh Pond Reservation. Our focus will be Plant ID on a selection of native species with some non-natives too. We’ll identify by observing characteristics such as leaves, galls, branching patterns, overall shape and maybe smell and touch too. We’ll also discuss select natural history, folklore and science.
Jeff is an avid outdoor enthusiast & naturalist who’s been enjoying the natural world for 50 years. He’s a member of the Friends of the Fells, The Trustees, Mass Audubon, Sudbury Valley Trustees, Acton Conservation Trust, Arlington Land Trust, Essex Greenbelt, Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions, The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Tufts University, Newton Conservators, Friends of Fresh Pond, Cape Ann Trail Stewards, Wells Reserve at Laudholm Farm and The Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Inc.
Register here by selecting this event on the dropdown list: Fresh Pond Event Registration. Registration caps at 16!
** Please do not register unless you can absolutely attend this walk. We often have waitlists and would like as many people as possible to be able to attend **
Steady rain or stormy winds cancels.
Contact: Ranger Amanda at agarms@cambridgema.gov with questions
Dogs: While we love experiencing the outdoors with our dogs, this program is not suitable for dogs. We ask that you please leave your furry friends home while attending this program.
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Spot Repairs on Perimeter Road
DPW is targeting the week of 10/19 for spot repairs to the perimeter road near the Little Fresh Pond pump house, towards Black's Nook. There will be directional signage and road closures during this time, so please plan your visit accordingly.
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Do not transport wildlife
Any animal trapped on private property must either be released immediately at the exact site of capture or humanely euthanized. This is to control spread of disease & stop invasive species from establishing.
Ranger Omar recently stopped a visitor from releasing this native blue crab at Black's Nook. Black's Nook is a freshwater pond and a blue crab needs at least brackish or salt water. This little guy was likely purchased at a supermarket and released at Danehy park, where a well meaning visitor found it and wanted to release it in Black's Nook.
However, if species released into new water bodies are not native, they might establish and take over its new habitat, becoming invasive and a detriment to the health of the ecosystem. Even if that isn't a concern, the animal may carry diseases not currently found in the new habitat. This has happened with the non-native koi fish you might see in Black's Nook, which are a detriment to the ecosystem, likely released from someone's tank or backyard pond.
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Volunteer Recognition Week
Neville Place awarded the Fresh Pond Rangers with a thoughtful plaque in recognition of all they do to keep the community safe. Pictured left are Rob Holden, Neville Place director of community relations, Neville Place resident Paul, Fresh Pond Ranger Amanda, and Neville Place executive director Francesca Mei. Not pictured is Fresh Pond Ranger Omar.
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Timeless Tech Innovation Project
Four local kids are on a mission with Timeless Tech at Fresh Pond Reservation to engineer, build, and program a robot to solve a pressing environmental issue: invasive black swallowwort. This week they learned how to identify the plant, tell it apart from native milkweeds, and spent some time removing it while they develop their innovative idea!
| | From left: Jay, Savannah, Oscar, Ananyaa, Ranger Amanda. | |
Harvard Volunteer Group
A group of Harvard employees came through the Lusitania woods recently to pull invasive buckthorn with weed wrenches. This is heavy manual labor, and this crew did an amazing job in just a few hours. Over several decades, many areas of Fresh Pond have transformed from invasive buckthorn forests to bastions of native flora and fauna. Examples include Huron Pine Grove and the restoration habitat just before Lusitania.
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Osprey at Black's Nook
This incredible shot of an Osprey mid-catch at Black's Nook was taken by local photographer Brian Twombly. The spring and summer breeding cycle has ended and they will continue to migrate south through October, after packing on the pounds to tide them over the long journey south.
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Winterberries have ripened and add a shock of red to the landscape in fall. Once the berries soften later in winter, they will serve as an important food source for birds. Winterberries belong to the Holly genus, but interestingly are deciduous and will lose their leaves in winter.
The shrubs with berries on them are female, and the ones without are male. See if you can spot the males!
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Bittersweet berries have a yellow-orange capsule (above) that splits open later in fall to reveal bright red berries. These pretty fall berries belong to a rather nefarious plant - Bittersweet vine is a noxious invasive plant that climbs, strangles, and smothers native trees.
Every year, people try to harvest this plant to make holiday wreaths. Besides being against the rules, this is also a danger because disposing of it in the compost will spread the invasive plant. Never transport invasive species!
| | Spicebush berries are fragrant and beautiful this time of year. Early European settlers would crush the berries up and use them as a replacement for allspice, where the plant gets its name. The berries are very high in calories and great food for birds, as well as being a very important host plant to Spicebush Swallowtails, Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, and Promethea Silkmoths. | |
Fall Migration
Fall migration has picked up and unfortunately that means our resident green herons (affectionately known as greenies) have taken flight. We hope to see them next year!
Other recent sightings include Blackburnian and Nashville warblers, and Eastern wood pee-wees.
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Other birds choose to stick around for the winter and form flocks. Robins are currently finding safety in numbers amongst themselves. The Black-capped Chickadee, Downy Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse, and White-breasted Nuthatch will form mixed flocks that forage together, collaborating to most efficiently find food while keeping an eye out for predators.
Chickadees sound their alarm call "chick-a-dee-dee-dee" with a varying number of dee's according to the danger level. Even though it's not their language, the others in the flock understand this warning call. They get through winter together despite their differences!
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Full Hunter's Moon
The full hunters moon, so named because the bright evening light allows hunters to track game longer into the night, will peak on the night of October 26 at 12:11am. For generations, this was the season to hunt, preserve meat, and lay in a store of provisions to sustain families through the long winter months ahead.
Indigenous traditions also recognize this moon as the Drying Rice Moon, Falling Leaves Moon, Freezing Moon, and Migrating Moon. Also keep an eye out for the Orionid meteor shower peaking on the night of October 21.
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Foliage Report
The leaves are beginning to turn, including the sugar maples, poison ivy, and black tupelos at Fresh Pond, and it is quite the sight. We can expect peak viewing of one of the best foliage years in a decade within the coming weeks!
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The water in your body is just visiting. It was a thunderstorm a week ago. It will be the ocean soon enough. Most of your cells come and go like morning dew. We are more weather pattern than stone monument.
Naming the River - Jarod K. Anderson
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