Photo Credit: Jeff Buxbaum

Late last year, we reached out to more than 4,000 Fells enthusiasts to gather feedback via an online survey. We asked you to share with us what you think we should be working on and how we can improve in our efforts to protect and enjoy the Fells.

We were thrilled to receive feedback from more than 500 Fells supporters, and appreciate the thoughtful responses to our questions.

Now, we’re using the survey responses, as well as input from interviews with members, donors, volunteers, elected officials, and partners, to plan Friends of the Fells programs and initiatives for 2021 and beyond in a Strategic Plan to be released this spring.

We’re eager to complete our planning and share it with you soon. In the meantime, I’d like to share with you some of the key takeaways from the survey.

Your Top Priorities

When we asked you what our priorities should be, the three most popular were:

Engage communities in hands-on stewardship activities in the Fells;
Work with DCR to improve compliance with the rules intended to protect natural resources and improve visitor experiences in the Fells;
Engage people in under-resourced and diverse communities to increase their knowledge of and comfort in using the Fells.

Expand Volunteerism

A very modest percent of our survey respondents volunteer with us. Only 13% volunteer annually or more often, which means we need to get busy cultivating more volunteer leaders and enhance our efforts to recruit, support, and celebrate volunteers who want to help.

Embrace Diversity

We are not a diverse community. Survey respondents are mostly white (90%), and mostly over the age of 30 (94%). It’s clear that we need to focus more of our attention on diversity, equity, and inclusion so our organization is more reflective of and supports the diverse communities that can benefit from what the Fells has to offer. Our Strategic Plan will have more to say on this topic.

Build Community

One key theme ran through many of your comments. There’s a hunger to be part of a community of people who share an appreciation for the Fells and come together to enjoy and protect it. To me, this may be the most important advice of all, since building a stronger Fells community will result in a more impactful Friends of the Fells, and thus better protection and care for it.

Over the coming months, I look forward to a brighter, “pandemic-recovery” future where we invite more diversity into our organization, meet up in the Fells, and work side by side to make it a better place for nature and people to thrive. I hope to see you there!

Chris Redfern
Executive Director
Friends of the Middlesex Fells Reservation

This post was written by Bryan Hamlin and Walter Kittredge. Above: Indianhemp Dogbane – Apocynum cannabinum.

The Fells has a surprising diversity of plants for its size; so much so that in a nine year survey we found 868 species of ferns, conifers and flowering plants! In 2012 we (along with Betty Wright and Don Lubin) published the results in the botanical journal Rhodora (available on our Merchandise page) entitled “Changes in the vascular flora of the Middlesex Fells Reservation from 1895 to 2011”. We explained the high number of plants as due to the varied geology, topography and habitats in the Fells, but also to an increase in the number of non-native weeds and escaped garden plants. This steady arrival of non-native species will continue indefinitely. It is remarkable though that the number of native plants has remained constant for over a century, although the composition has changed somewhat as the forest has matured.

We’ve continued to survey and document the Fells flora, resulting in finding quite a few more species: 21 in 2012, then 17 in 2013, and now seven more this year. Most significantly twenty of these species are native to the area. There surely has to be a limit to this sort of thing.

Scientific names are always a little bit arcane, but this year’s crop of new finds has some fun common names.

[column size=half position=first ]Common Name

Cockspur Hawthorn*

Common Yellowcress

Indianhemp Dogbane*

Quickweed

Ridged Goosefoot

Sweet Autumn Clematis

Tumbleweed[/column] [column size=half position=last ]Scientific Name

Crataegus crus-galli

Rorippa palustris var. palustris

Apocynum cannabinum

Galinsoga parviflora

Dysphania pumilio

Clematis terniflora

Amaranthus blitoides[/column]

* Indicates a native species

Cockspur Hawthorn – Crataegus crus-galli

The Indianhemp Dogbane (at top) was reported in the original survey of the Fells published in 1896, so it was great to finally re-find it. The Cockspur Hawthorn (above) is the third native species of Hawthorn in the Fells, which have become uncommon due to the fields growing back into forests. Our new findings are getting fewer and fewer each year. This may be because we’re getting older, or more likely that we’re getting closer to finding most things, although in over 3,000 acres it is well-nigh impossible to be sure of finding everything. But it’s that slim possibility of coming around a corner and finding a rarity that hasn’t been seen for 100 years that keeps us excited to continue exploring the wonderful flora of the Fells.

Without Bryan and Walter’s involvement with the Friends of the Fells, these long lost species would never have been rediscovered in the Fells. Right now, your contribution to the Friends will be tripled by a generous donor, helping us provide a new generation with the love of nature that drives Bryan and Walter. Please consider making a contribution now.

We listened, and this is what you said

Photo Credit: Jeff Buxbaum

This post was written by Bryan Hamlin and Walter Kittredge. Above: Indianhemp Dogbane – Apocynum cannabinum.