Thank you to our 2023 Volunteers!

Our volunteers are incredible!

This year, we saw a massive increase in volunteers helping out at the Fells. Over 600 volunteers participated in our Trail Adopter program, led hikes, removed invasive species, picked up trash, collected data, conducted trail maintenance, assisted in communications efforts, and helped with community outreach. We also worked with 24 generous businesses, schools, and organizations on a variety of projects throughout the Fells.

In total, volunteers donated over 1,100 hours of their time to support the Friends and the Fells. In Massachusetts, that’s $43,109 in dedicated work at the Fells. We cannot thank our volunteers enough for all their hard work and dedication to keeping our Fells beautiful and safe for years to come!

Read more about the amazing work our volunteers have done below:

Volunteer and Trail Adopter, Mike, helps paint new trail blazes.

Our Trail Adopters submitted over 200 reports this year to keep the trails looking sharp. They covered more than 285 miles and contributed over 350 hours to clearing trails, removing and reporting downed tree limbs, picking up trash, clearing culverts, and other special projects. They removed 34 bags of trash, cleared 23 culverts and waterbars, and addressed issues with seven trail blazes or markers. Three volunteers helped paint dozens of new trail blazes to keep the trails well marked.

Interested in becoming a Trail Adopter? Complete the application here!
Laurie leads a Hike ‘n’ Seek for toddlers and their families.

Our volunteer hike leaders offered a wide variety of guided routes throughout the Fells. There were a total of 119 social and educational hikes, over 50 Babes in the Woods hikes, and seven Hike ‘n’ Seeks. More than 700 people attended FOF community hikes this year.

Want to join a hike? Check out our calendar here! Want to lead a hike? Let us know by contacting Community Engagement Manager, Maddie Morgan, at maddie.morgan@fells.org

Thank you DCR!

A huge shoutout and thank you go to the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the DCR Fells team. We could not do these volunteer events without the generous support, guidance, time, and tools of the Fells team. Join us in thanking the DCR Fells team for keeping our park safe, clean, and enjoyable for years to come!

Community volunteers cut and removed bittersweet and multiflora rose.

Friends of the Fells offered 11 open volunteer days in 2023 and our dedicated volunteers showed up ready to make a difference. We worked with 324 volunteers to remove 161 bags and 13 big piles of invasives from the Fells. We tackled black swallowwort, bittersweet, garlic mustard, multiflora rose, Japanese knotweed, buckthorn, and porcelain berry. Volunteers also removed 56 bags of trash at these events.

2023 was an incredible year thanks to the hard work of our wonderful volunteers. We look forward to working with you all again in 2024!
Volunteer with us!
If your company, school, or organization is interested in partnering with Friends of the Fells in 2024, please contact Maddie Morgan at maddie.morgan@fells.org.

Thank you to our 2023 partners and volunteers!

Acera School
Alexion Pharmaceuticals
ALKU
American Tower
Analog Devices
Arc’teryx
Braskem
Cambridge Running Club
Eastern Bank
Farrington Nature Linc
Fortis Life
Gay for Good
GoogleServe
Idle Hands Craft Ales
Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation
Medford Boy Scouts Troop 416
Mitre
National Grid
New England Mountain Bike Association
New Ecology
Patagonia
Sana Biotech
Sublime Systems
Tufts FOCUS
Tufts Leonard Carmichael Society
Verizon
Winchester Girl Scouts
Winchester High School Fells Club

Scroll to see photos of this year’s volunteers and their hard work!

You’re the best!

This was an impressive year for volunteering in the Fells! Over 175 volunteers participated in our Trail Adopter program, led hikes, removed invasive species, picked up trash, collected data, and helped with community outreach. Our volunteers donated 737 hours of their time to support and engage with the Fells. We cannot thank our volunteers enough for all their hard work and dedication to keeping our Fells beautiful and safe for years to come!

Read more about the amazing work our volunteers have done below:

Boot Boutwell leads one of his famous hikes around Long Pond.

Our 34 Trail Adopters were busy out on the trails this year. They covered more than 72 miles of trails and contributed 134 hours to clearing trails, removing and reporting downed tree limbs, picking up trash, clearing culverts, and other special projects.

Our hike leaders lept into action this year to lead free public hikes for the community. There were a total of 183 social and educational hikes, 40 Babes in the Woods hikes, and seven Hike ‘n’ Seeks. Altogether, hike leaders donated 365 hours to lead hikes and build community in the Fells. A total of 1,111 people attended the community hikes this year.
The Cambridge Running Club helped us remove three bags of trash from around Spot Pond and Flynn Rink.

Friends of the Fells offered 11 open volunteer days in 2022 and our dedicated volunteers showed up ready to make a difference. 113 volunteers donated 245 hours of their time to participate in trash clean-ups, invasive species removals, and community outreach events.

We held three trash clean-ups at Sheepfold Dog Park and Flynn Rink. 50 volunteers came out to the Fells to pick up trash and help keep the forest clean and healthy.
Medford Boy Scout Troop 416 helped us remove two massive piles of multiflora rose and bittersweet.

Volunteers also tackled Asiatic bittersweet, multiflora rose, Japanese knotweed, black swallowwort, and garlic mustard at Crystal Springs, Virginia Wood, Medford High School, and the Botume House. The hard work that the 53 volunteers put into removing these invasive plants has a visible and tangible impact on the Fells ecosystem.

We attended the Stoneham Fair, Melrose Victorian Fair, Medford Farmers Market, Tufts University Community Day, and Malden Summer Festival in 2022 and had seven wonderful volunteers table with us to offer a friendly face and provide information about the Fells and FOF to community members.

This year was an exceptional year for volunteering, and we look forward to more fun volunteer events and hikes in the Fells in 2023!
Volunteer with us!
Photo by Jess Garton

In a bid to better protect ecologically sensitive habitats and rare and endangered species, the Friends of the Fells has asked the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to designate portions of the Middlesex Fells as patch reserves. 

“The Fells is home to a remarkable diversity of life, including many unique and uncommon plant communities, dozens of vernal pools, and rare species that depend on these patches of habitat,” said Chris Redfern, Friends of the Fells Executive Director. “Establishing patch reserves to protect these sensitive resources is our best chance to ensure their survival.”

Patch Reserves are defined landscape areas that require special management practices for biodiversity conservation. Patch reserves reduce the potential for habitat fragmentation and degradation and increase ecological resilience by improving connectivity among habitats (for example, protecting the upland habitats of vernal pools for invertebrates and amphibians). These reserves could also reduce recreational impacts through management actions such as installation of educational signage, adding boardwalks, and rerouting and/or removing trails as needed.

An opportunity to request the establishment of patch reserves in the Fells came about when DCR requested public comment on a 10-year review of their Landscape Designation Management Guidelines. Friends of the Fells submitted extensive comments, founded on more than a decade of field research by Fells advocates. Our advocates’ comprehensive understanding and documentation of the presence and location of sensitive habitats and rare and endangered species make the Middlesex Fells a particularly suitable and attractive park unit at which to pilot a new patch reserve designation.

To learn more, read our full comments here.

Our YouTube channel started last spring, inspired by continuing our programming during lockdown since we couldn’t offer our usual guided walks, volunteer projects, and other in-person opportunities.  Over the past months, we have continued to produce informative and educational video content for the community through this platform.

The latest addition to our YouTube offerings is “Introduction to the Friends of the Middlesex Fells Reservation.”  This video discusses our mission, the value of the Fells, and gives a brief overview of our programs and offerings.  The video also features excerpts from Executive Director Chris Redfern and ‘Babes in the Woods’ program leader Diana Lomakin.

This project was produced by Paige Colley, one of our 2021 video production interns.

And just a reminder:  our “My Middlesex Fells” video feature series is still seeking participants:

We want to hear about your unique relationship to the Fells!  If you’re interested in sharing your own personal experiences with our community, contact us.  We also welcome your own submissions to the My Fells Project we launched last year, featuring your own artistic interpretations of the Fells.

Click the icon below to visit our YouTube channel for much more content!

Friends of the Fells launches new “My Middlesex Fells” video feature

Each of us has our own distinctive relationship to the Fells, and every experience we have visiting the Fells can be completely unique from the last.  This new video project from our intern Dexter Fadness attempts to capture some of the diversity of those experiences.  

The first video in the series features Friends of the Fells board Chair Jeff Buxbaum, who talks about his own realization of this diversity and the joy of getting lost in the Fells.

 

We want to hear about your unique relationship to the Fells!  If you’re interested in sharing your own personal experiences with our community, contact Dexter at dexterfadness@gmail.com.  We also welcome your own submissions to the My Fells project we launched last year, featuring your own artistic interpretations of the Fells.

The Friends of the Fells are pleased to welcome our 2021 Video Production Interns Dexter Fadness and Paige Colley to our staff this summer.  Dexter and Paige both bring media production experience and a love of the outdoors to the positions, and we are very excited to work with them over the next few months!

Dexter Fadness

Dexter Fadness

“When I was younger, I spent countless hours wandering the Fells with my Great Dane, Thea. Living in Winchester, just minutes from the reservation, we were in there every day, and when she died we scattered her ashes along her favorite trail. It is that connection and intimacy that I bring as the Friends of Fells’ new video intern. As a recent graduate from Bard College with a degree in Film and Electronic Arts, I have cultivated knowledge of writing, directing, editing, and producing video content. Those skills, and my experience working with veteran filmmakers such as Kelly Reichardt and Charles Burnett, will be put into action developing the Friends of the Fells video presence and sharing what makes the Fells so special.”

 

Paige Colley

Paige during the 2019 Concord Cheese parade posing in front of a 1,000 pound wheel of cheese.

“Hi everyone! My name is Paige and I’m looking forward to working with Friends of the Fells this summer. I’m originally from Anchorage, Alaska, where I enjoyed all sorts of outdoor activities from hiking to kayaking to skiing. I did my undergrad at NYU studying physics, although I have an appreciation for all things science, from astronomy to biology. I recently finished my journalism MS at BU, and am looking forward to staying in Massachusetts for a while and getting to know the Fells better.”

 

The first project that the interns will focus on this summer is a “Community Highlight” series featuring personal narratives from individuals with a love for the Fells.  And for this video series, we need your participation:

What does the Fells mean to you? COVID mental health walks? Pet exercise? Fun with friends? A biological laboratory? Whatever your answer, we need YOU for a new video series. We are seeking on-camera participants who highlight the diversity of the Fells community, both in demographics (age, race, ethnicity, ability, sexual and gender orientation) and activity (biking, research, hiking, boating, restraining your dog from jumping in the reservoir). 😊 The Friends of the Fells welcomes everyone to this special natural resource.

We’re looking for an hour or two of your time to explore your Fells experience, filming content that will be edited into short videos.

If you would like to participate, or you know someone who would be perfect for this project, you can contact Dexter Fadness at 845-399-6662, or through email at dexterfadness@gmail.com.

We look forward to seeing this project come together, and to all the new content that they produce this summer!

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