Notes From the Field – Fall 2025

Community porcelain berry and buckthorn removal at Bellevue Pond.

Trail Adopters

Since July 2025, our Trail Adopters have submitted over 1,200 individual reports about trail usage, downed trees, missing trail blazes, erosion issues, and more. That’s an incredible amount of data! We use this data not only to help inform DCR about issues that need attention, but also to determine where to direct our volunteer efforts in future project areas and needed repairs.

Interested in becoming a Trail Adopter? Learn more here!
Volunteers hard at work to remove Japanese Knotweed at Bellevue Pond!

Invasive Plant Management

In September 2025, our environmental consultants, SWCA, sprayed a foliar spray on the Japanese knotweed at Greenwood Park and Bellevue Pond. The treatment is proving to be effective so far, and we will keep an eye on it during the 2026 growing season to determine if another treatment is needed next year.

We continue to monitor and manage invasive plants at both of these sites during our weekly workdays on Fridays. This allows us to keep a close eye on how the sites are responding to our invasive plant removal activities and to keep up with the demands of the space. If you’re interested in joining one of these events, check out our calendar here. We are currently removing Glossy buckthorn, Common buckthorn, Asiatic bittersweet, Porcelain berry, and Multiflora rose at both locations.

If you’re interested in getting more involved and doing this kind of work on your own time, please contact Maddie here.

 
Led by Charlie, the Fells Trail Crew worked on clearing and restoring clogged culverts along the Mountain Bike Loop (Green), the Reservoir Trail (Orange) and adjacent trails.

Our trail projects continue to grow with additional work on culvert clearing and maintenance, led by board member and lead volunteer, Charlie McCabe. Charlie has been leading volunteers to a variety of locations throughout the Fells where culverts need to be cleared and unburied to prevent trail flooding, widening, and additional erosion. Volunteers can join these events on a monthly basis on Saturdays by registering on our calendar here. 
Hikers gather around to learn about local flora at a Bellevue Pond hike led by long-term hike leader, Boot.

Hikes

Volunteer hike leaders have guided over 20 outings across the Fells since August. The hikes have explored the changing seasons at Bellevue Pond, Long Pond, and Greenwood Park, and connected community members to enjoy the forest as we transition to the winter season. Check out our full lineup of more events later this fall and into winter here. 

 

Thank you!

We’d like to thank the following groups who have joined us since late summer and have made a big impact in helping us remove invasive plants, pick up trash, and work on trails:

 

Bevi

Braskem

Buckingham Browne & Nichols School

Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR)

Earthwise Aware (EwA)

Gay for Good

Patagonia

Sierra Club

Team Rubicon

Tufts FOCUS

University of Virginia Boston Alumni

 

Interested in assisting these efforts? Apply to volunteer here!

 

Want to volunteer with your group, company, school, or team? Learn more about our group volunteering opportunities here.

 

Reach out to friends@fells.org if you have any questions or if you’d like to get more involved in these efforts.

Flowering witch hazel

The days are now much shorter, and the leaves have mostly departed their branches as we enter the beginning of winter. We have seen much more rain over the last few weeks than we have all summer, and the plants and wildlife are benefiting. 

What are all the colors you’re seeing from our trees? Great question! Maybe you’re seeing the vibrant reds of our Red maples. Or maybe you’re seeing the bronze of our Oaks. Possibly it’s the golden yellows of our Witch-hazels or American basswoods. There is even a splash of green from our evergreen White pines and Eastern hemlocks, and those pesky few invasives who tend to hold onto their leaves a bit longer into the season (think Common and Glossy buckthorn).

Our last native flowering tree of the season, the Witch-hazel, is showing off its beautiful and vibrant yellow flowers to match its now fallen leaves. Sound like a familiar name? Commercial Witch-hazel is an alcohol extract of the tree’s bark.  It’s used to treat burns, rashes, and insect bites. Witch-hazel can get up to 20 feet tall and typically flowers in October through November in this area, providing a vital pollination resource for flies and small bees that are still active here.

Cedar waxwing

Our year-round inhabitants will now become prominent as our seasonal visitors have left the area for warmer weather and more plentiful food sources. Keep an eye out for chatty flocks of Cedar waxwings, who are on the hunt for berries and fruits, their specialty and pillar of their diets. American robins will continue to dot the forest floor in search of worms and remaining fruits, while Blue jays and Cardinals will keep the vibrant colors of summer and fall going year-round as they seek out acorns and other seeds.
Fisher

Maybe you’ll get lucky and catch a glimpse of a White-tailed deer or a Fisher scampering around under the cover of the forest. Fishers are one of the few known predators of porcupines and were once used to help manage porcupine populations for New England loggers. Porcupines often munched on tree saplings, which made them unfavorable to the timber industry.

We hope you enjoy the remaining fall colors and are getting excited about seeing the Fells blanketed in snow, hopefully soon! Remember to send friends@fells.org photos from your Fells adventures for a chance to be featured in future blog posts. 

We look forward to seeing you out on the trails!

Resources:

Friends of the Fells is excited to welcome Andrea Robles, our new Terracorps Land Stewardship Coordinator, to the team!

Andrea grew up in Northern California surrounded by redwoods, farmland, and the coast. Her appreciation for nature led her to study Environmental Systems and Ecology at UC San Diego, and pursue work as a seasonal biologist in Oregon, California, and Massachusetts. Her work has included bird banding, leading environmental education and public outreach efforts, and monitoring piping plovers.

Andrea is ready to tackle new community-oriented projects during her 11-month service term, saying, “I’m excited to join Friends of the Fells because I love connecting people with nature and helping care for the places we share. I’m looking forward to working with the amazing Fells community to protect the ecosystem through invasive plant management, care for the trail system, and build connections with local Indigenous communities through the Native Lands Learning Series.”

Andrea looks forward to learning more about forest ecology and conservation in the Fells. In her free time, she enjoys salsa dancing, bird watching, and exploring tide pools.

“Andrea brings a great energy and enthusiasm to the Land Stewardship Coordinator role, and we are looking forward to having her join and lead projects to address trails, volunteering, and increased programming.”

– Field Programs Manager, Maddie Morgan

Interested in joining Andrea, FOF staff, and volunteers in caring for the Fells? Check out our Eventbrite for invasive plant management removals, trail work days, and more!

Campers spot a deer while hiking in the Fells.

By Youth and Development Director Liz Cohen

This summer, over 600 children explored the Fells while attending Fells Forest Camp. Campers spotted deer, went in search of snakes and dragon flies, removed Japanese Knotweed with vigor, and got a close look at insects, frogs, and turtles. One of my favorite moments from this summer happened during lunch when someone noticed a spotted fawn. Campers and staff quietly huddled together, remaining calm and still, and as a group, we witnessed the sweet innocence of a baby deer. It was a beautiful moment that everyone experienced together, and for me, was a standout moment of the summer!

The goal of Fells Forest Camp is a simple one: to connect kids with nature. We hope that as our campers get older, they will fondly remember the friendships they made at camp, the animals they encountered, and the wonder they felt when discovering something new about the forest for the very first time. We hope that as our campers grow and mature, their joyful experiences at camp connecting to nature become lasting memories and spark a genuine desire to protect and advocate for the forest and all of earth’s natural environments.

Nurturing this connection to nature comes in many forms. We offer programs where kids use  scientific observational skills to explore the forest and learn more deeply about ecosystems, habitats, insects and the interconnectedness of all living creatures. We offer art programming where campers use nature as inspiration for creating art. We also provide less  structured programs  where children spend time in the forest exploring and discovering the wooded trails on their own terms with the support of nurturing counselors. This unstructured time in nature is by far our campers’ most beloved aspect of camp. Even our most science-minded campers’ favorite part of the day is when they have time to explore and play in the forest. It is when the light bulbs go on, and children’s creative energy is sparked.

 One counselor said, “My favorite part [of camp] was getting to see kids be creative and come up with their own games outside in the woods, because that’s exactly what kids their age should be doing.”

This summer, children built basketball hoops and seesaws from branches and sticks, designed makeshift storefronts where they sold and traded materials like acorns, and invented a sushi restaurant with written menus, waitstaff, and the cutest maki rolls I’ve ever seen, made from rocks, sticks, leaves, and rolled moss. When a group of children come together in the forest completely unplugged from technology, they play uninhibited, let their guard down, and become a part of something uniquely special.

“The Fells Forest Camp strikes the perfect balance between thoughtful programming and unstructured exploration. Our kids come home reconnected to nature and their local environment and with renewed confidence and independence.”

– 2025 Camp Parent

We also had a few “firsts” this summer.

We introduced camper t-shirts for the first time! It was incredibly cool to see campers arrive to camp in their colorful tees! As a bonus, selling the t-shirts via the fundraiser enabled us to keep the cost of the t-shirts down and we raised $683.85 for next year’s Camper Scholarship Fund. Overall, it was a huge success! 

This summer’s Camper Scholarship Fund enabled 15 campers to attend camp, the largest number of scholarships we have been able to award since the start of the fund in 2023. We truly appreciate the families who donate every year at registration. Without these donations, the Camper Scholarship Fund would not be possible. It’s never too early to donate! Please consider making a donation for the 2026 summer season.

We also celebrated our first graduate of our CIT (Counselor in Training) joining our staff as a full-fledged camp counselor this summer! He was the first former camper and CIT to step into the counselor role and did a fantastic job! 

We established the CIT program in 2024 with the goal of creating a pipeline for campers who have aged out of camp but who want to continue their journey as a counselor. The CIT program is designed to be a two-year leadership training where 13- and 14-year-olds learn the necessary skills to be a counselor at Fells Forest Camp. CITs participate in daily workshops and leadership activities, and spend time in camper groups, which provides hands-on learning opportunities and gives CITs a chance to practice the skills they have acquired. With the guidance of counselors and the CIT Coordinator, our CITs gain the skills, confidence, and a deeper understanding of what it takes to be a camp counselor. We are looking forward to deepening our camp culture and traditions next summer when more former campers, turned CITs, will become official counselors at Fells Forest Camp!
We had a wonderful summer this year filled with nature, laughter, learning, and friendship and I am already counting down the days for the start of the 2026 summer season! Camp registration will open this year on Saturday, February 7th at 9:00am. Subscribe to our newsletter and  follow us on Facebook for updates!
A trail crew hard at work repairing a footbridge. The data collected by Trail Adopters helps us identify areas of need and prioritize new trail work projects!

Trail Adopters

Our Trail Adopters have submitted 460 individual reports this year about trail usage, downed trees, missing trail blazes, erosion issues, and more. DCR has been hard at work responding to these issues and cleaning up the trails, especially after our more frequent microbursts and brief heavy rainfalls. For the Trail Adopters who have reported the large, leaning, and fallen tree in Lawrence Woods by B5-11, DCR is working with an outside contractor to strategically and safely remove that tree. Thank you for all your reports!

Interested in becoming a Trail Adopter? Learn more here!
Volunteers pose beside a giant pile of Japanese Knotweed they removed at Bellevue Pond!

Invasive Plant Management

Volunteers finished prep-cutting the Japanese knotweed at Greenwood Park and Bellevue Pond in June. In September, a DCR-licensed contractor will administer a foliar spray to the regrown knotweed. The spray is applied during a window called the “FFFF” or “final flower, first frost” window. This is the most effective time to apply herbicide to the plant, for this is when the plant pulls its energy and resources back into the rhizomes to prepare for winter. The prep-cut is critical because it reduces the height of the plant and allows the contractors to apply herbicide at a safe height and not above their heads.

 
Volunteers and staff members uproot a large bittersweet vine near Botume House.

Buckthorn, bittersweet, multiflora rose, and porcelain berry continue to be removed at multiple sites. These four plants tend to be targets year-round for our volunteers, as they are easier to identify without their leaves and easier to access in the winter. Volunteers have made significant progress against porcelain berry in Greenwood Park and by the Tudor Barn. You can check out our progress over at Tudor Barn over the past year by viewing our slideshows here and here.

Hikers enjoying the view of the Boston skyline from an overlook near Wright’s Tower.

Hikes

Volunteer hike leaders have guided over 15 outings across the Fells so far this summer. The hikes have explored wildflowers at Long Pond, birds at the North Reservoir, and the length of the Cross Fells Trail. Check out our full lineup of more events later this summer and into fall here. 

 
A trail closure sign at Greenwood Park.

Trail closures

The three unofficial trails that were closed at Greenwood Park in December of 2024 remain closed! We are thrilled with the success of these trail closures and look forward to continuing this work at other locations across the Fells. Three more unofficial trails will be closed near the Bear Hill Parking Lot later in the fall. Pre-closure signs have been posted with a survey link to ask trail users their thoughts on the trail closures. 

Why are we closing these trails? To reduce our impact on the Fells and to restore sensitive habitats for our plant and wildlife species. Learn more about unofficial trails and our work here. We want to hear your thoughts about closing unofficial trails. Tell us here!

Thank you!

We’d like to thank the following groups who have joined us since the early summer and have made a big impact in helping us remove invasive plants, pick up trash, and work on trails:

 

AMC 20s and 30s Group

Be Biopharma

Cadence & Goodera

Church of Ladder Day Saints North Shore Youth Group

Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR)

Earthwise Aware (EwA)

Gay for Good

Google Serve

Team Rubicon

 

Interested in assisting these efforts? Apply to volunteer here!

 

Want to volunteer with your group, company, school, or team? Learn more about our group volunteering opportunities here.

 

Reach out to friends@fells.org if you have any questions or if you’d like to get more involved in these efforts.

Sweet Pepperbush

As you explore the Fells, you’re most likely seeing (or smelling!) our native Sweet Pepperbush. You’ll typically see these lining wetlands or damp areas, as they enjoy wet feet and neutral to acidic soil. Bumblebees love these late-summer flowering shrubs and their sweet scent. Be sure to check out Greenwood Park or Long Pond to see some of these patches for yourself.

Jewelweed

In similarly damp areas, you’ll also see Jewelweed or “touch-me-nots,” a slightly translucent stemmed green plant with bright orange or yellow flowers with fruit that will “pop” if you poke them. It has been found to be one of the few plants that can successfully compete with the invasive Garlic Mustard. Jewelweed’s sap can also relieve the itching and painful symptoms of poison ivy, hives,  and stinging nettle.

Joe Pye Weed

That tall, gangly, pink flowered plant you’ve seen in meadows and at the Botume House Visitor Center pollinator garden is Joe Pye Weed. Next, you can expect to see our yellow goldenrods begin to bloom in open fields and meadows, and our white wood asters will dot the forest floor (check out the Botume House Visitor Center’s Spot Pond).
Grey Catbird

Our birds continue to be active each day, whether on land, air, or water. You may see the Great Blue Herons on the Great Island in Spot Pond, or even flying above Bellevue Pond. The classic screeching “meow” call of the Grey Catbird is prominent alongside the Blue Jay jeer. Mallards and Canada Geese dot the various reservoirs in the Fells, and you may event be able to spot a Barred Owl or hear it’s melodic “who cooks for you” call. 

As we approach late summer, we encourage you to get outdoors to appreciate the natural beauty of the Middlesex Fells and all who call our beloved park home. Remember to send friends@fells.org photos from your Fells adventures for a chance to be featured in future blog posts. 

We look forward to seeing you out on the trails!

Resources:

Visit the Fells
Explore with Us
Get Involved