There will be no regular meeting in July.

The Friends' 2009 Summer Picnic Meeting will be helod Tuesday August 4. The DCR will supply tables, benches, and grills. Karen Osborn-Shanley has again generously agreed to provide music.

The next regular meeting will be Tuesday, September 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Emerson Community Center on Pettee Street. For directions, click here. Agenda items will include:

• Status of picnic tables for the Stone Building.
• Summer picnic review
• Stone Barn Windows Update
• Scheduling the fall cleanup
• Adelgid update
• Tree planting to shield the south side of the property
• Echo Bridge Railings
• Hannah Raffa Sherman and Sarah Hannah memorial possibilities

To read the minutes of the June, 2009  meeting, click here

Echo Bridge in Spring

Special "Tree" Events in May

1. Community Meeting on Tree Pests

There will be a public meeting to discuss pests threatenting local tree populations on Monday May 18, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in the Druker Auditorium of the Newton Public Library. The discussion will be led by experts from the Arnold Arboretum and elsewhere. Pests include the hemlock woolly adelgid, the winter moth, and the Asian longhorn beetle.

2. Forum on the Forests of Massachusetts – Forest Futures Visioning Process

As you may have heard, DCR is currently undertaking a public involvement process to develop a renewed vision for stewardship and management of DCR forest lands.  This process, which will involve an open, interactive dialogue with experts serving on the Technical Steering Committee (TSC), an Advisory Group of Stakeholders (AGS) and the general public, will consider the public benefits and values of forest lands and result in recommendations on forest stewardship practices and strategies for continuing public involvement on those issues going forward.   For more information about this process, please see www.mass.gov/dcr/news/publicmeetings/forestryfvp.htm

In order to assist DCR and the members of the TSC and AGS in carrying out this visioning process, the Harvard Forest has graciously agreed to host a Forum on the Forests of Massachusetts which will be held on Monday, May 18, 2009 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  at the Fisher Museum at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, MA.    There are a limited number of seats being made available to members of the general public.

2009 Spring Cleanup: The 2009 Annual Spring Cleanup took place on April 25, a really gorgeous, warm spring day. We had an small turnout, but nonetheless an unusually larger amount of debris was collected. We also got to enjoy the restored lighting in the cool interiof of the Stone Barn. Congratulations to Site Supervisor Erica Aubin whose efforts made this happen.

We send a big Thank You! to Seanna, Bob and everyone at Dunn Gaherins, 344 Elliott St, Newton, MA (617-527-6271) for again providing a terrific lunch to volunteers at no charge to the Friends!

Click here for the photo album of the 2009 cleanups. For an index of pictures from many of our Cleanups (some dating to 1999), click here.

• Breaking News and Other News about us and our activities, especially the Echo Bridge Railings and the Stone Building Windows and Floor.
• Meetings and Special Events of the Friends
• Online Major Publications
• History
• Information about the preserving the Reservation and the struggle against the woolly adelgid
• Archive of Friends' activities
• Links to related sites
• A Map

• Directions to the Reservation

• Sound! Click to hear the Charles as it flowed over the Circular Dam on November 9, 1998.

• A Walking Tour of Hemlock Gorge by Ken Newcomb is available for printing.

• A trail map for printing will be posted soon.

Summer/Fall General News:

• The Winter 2009 issue of On the Earth, the magazine of the Natural Resources Defense Council, has a cover picture of a mosquito and story of the restoration of the Charles River with a wonderful picture of Hemlock Gorge.  It should be available on really good newstands  or from the publisher. See www.onearth.org .
   
• At the November meeting, Site supervisor Erica Aubin announced that the new windows for the  Stone Building  have been fabricated and are just awaiting installation! Congratulations to Erica and DCR manager Kevin Hollenbeck for bringing this long planned effort close to a successful conclusion. Thanks also to John Sangiolo and Amy Mah Sangiolo whose Charles River Neighborhood Foundation Trust, made a gift of $1,000 to the DCR in October, 2000 to help pay for new windows.

Adelgid News:

March, 2009

The issue of Science Daily accessible by the following link (it can also be reached via the current issue of American Forest) has a new story about the impending doom of the hemlocks in the lower Appalachian region and its dire consequences for the surrounding eco-systems, and further links to older stories about anti-hemlock fungi and the Japanese Beetles that we have used at Hemlock Gorge.    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090226122730.htm

November, 2008

DCR Forester Charlie Burnham visited Hemlock Gorge in November, 2008. Here are his two reports to the Friends:

I went to the gorge to evaluate it as a possible release site for a different predatory beetle, Laricobius nigrinus. I noticed that the hemlocks were in two very different states of health which I can’t explain. Some of the trees have full crowns and a nice green foliage color, exactly what a hemlock is suppose to look like. Other trees have a thinning crown; and are kind of off color. These two different states of tree health are in some cases right next to each other which would rule out site or environmental factors. As for the adelgid the populations are extremely low at least on the braches I could reach so the site  did not meet the needs of the new predator program. One other thing I notice is that there is an increase in the population of elongate hemlock scale which can cause tree decline and mortality especially when coupled with another stress factor like adelgid, drought, or soil compaction.

I would like to think the ladybugs are still present at the Gorge and for the past several years intended to do some sampling, but other things seem to be higher on the priority list, maybe next spring or summer.

The other predator is native to the Pacific Northwest, some of the insects we had available were collected in Washington and Idaho.  Virginia Tech is doing some lab rearing also.  We haven’t given up on the ladybugs but we just don’t want to have all our eggs in one basket.
As for the Asian Longhorned beetle given the fact that it has been in Worcester for 7 plus years I suspect it has been spread through the movement of infested wood without anyone knowing it but I hope for the sake of the New England forests it is contained in Worcester.

Charlie

2009 Fall Cleanup: Fall, 2009: Annual Fall Cleanup of Hemlock Gorge.  Volunteers should meet at Hamilton Place between 9:30 and 10 a.m. For a MAP showing the location, click here. Parking available at the Mills Falls parking lot. Spruce-up materials supplied and Refreshments provided for all volunteers!  Please dress appropriately for the work and weather (rain or shine). 

2008 Summer Picnic

The Friends' 2008 Summer Picnic took place under clear skies on Tuesday August 19. About 50 people came. Thanks to the  generosity of Karen Osborn-Shanley, we enjoyed a program of live jazz. Site Supervisor Erika Uramkin provided everything needed for our cookout, and a grand time was had by all.

A highlight of the evening was the unveiling of a memorial bench dedicated to the memory of Hank Lysaght.

Hank, was a long time member of the Friends, a personal friend to many of us, a community activist, and a gentleman. He was instrumental in helping the Friends to digitize and publish online historian Ken Newcomb's book, Makers of the Mold. We hope everyone will visit his memorial bench, which is located on the bluff that overlooks the silk mill. It will be a great place to come and look at Echo Bridge.

A photo album of the event is in process.

Stone Building News (February 2008):

Site Supervisor Erica Uramkin reported at the February meeting that electrical service to the Stone Building has been restored. Though her efforts, NStar Electric was persuaded to inspect the feeder lines to the building, and the fault was found and corrected. For other news from the February meeting, click here.

Adelgid News (May 2007):

The Friends had news on May 12 from State Forester Charlie Burnham in regard to the Hemlock Woolly Adelgids (see our Adelgid News Stories Archive) and our release of ladybugs. Here is what he wrote:

"I haven’t been there to look for beetles in a couple of years, but this past winter some of them showed up an another location where we hadn’t been able to find them since the release.  This caused an increase in interest on recovery, so this summer we are going back to all the release sites to see if they got established.  I have been in contact with Erica Uramkin and she want to come along when I do the looking.  Right now it looks like this will be in June.  I’ll let you know what I find.

Charlie"

Also: on June 10, 2007 The Boston Sunday Globe published an informative update on the woolly adelgid in New England, emphasizing the role global warming may play in the problem. Click here to go to the Globe article online at Boston.com. See below in our "Adelgid News" section for links to other articles. A July 17 story in the Newton Tab noted that the warm 2006-2007 winter (global warming?) has made the adelgid infestation this summer a particularly bad one

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Echo Bridge News

Our collection of contemporary news stories about Echo Bridge has been archived. Click here to read the archived stories. Click here to read the history of Echo Bridge as written by the late historian Ken Newcomb in his online book, Makers of the Mold, published by the Friends of Hemlock Gorge

On December 14, 2007 the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA)  announced that they will install new interim chain link fencing to replace the deteriorated snow fencing along the existing railings at Echo Bridge. It necessitated brief closure of the bridge. Click here to read the press release.

In early January, the interim fencing was in place. It is a substantial improvement over the snow fencing. As you can see the fencing is black and the open mesh allows one to see the original railings, which are still in place. See the photo nearby and click here to see additional photos.

The MWRA has compiled and released a detailed report on the Echo Bridge Railings. Some half dozen alternative approaches to repair and restoration are outlined in detail. Costs range from around $500,000 to $1 million. The report was discussed at length at our October meeting. There will be a public meeting to discuss the report and analyze options at Newton City Hall the evening of October 11. Details to follow. We will keep you posted. Click here to read or download the entire report.

The Newton Tab had an article in late 2007 on the problem of funding the Bridge repairs and restoration. Click here to read it.

Our 2007 Summer Picnic and Free Concert took place on Tuesday, August 7 at Hamilton Place from 6:30pm to dusk. It was a huge success. A good time was had by all! Click here to see the photo album.

We had Greg Burroughs, a 21 year old vocal performance major at Berklee College provide music for us. He is a talented singer and songwriter. His musical influences are vast; ranging from artists as far apart as Keith Urban and Brad Paisley to Frank Sinatra, and Tony Bennet; The Beach Boys to the Eagles and Billy Joel to Phil Vassar. See photo to the right of Greg (right) and his fellow guitarist Kenny Silva. Click here to learn more more. The entertainment was made possible by the generous support of Karen Osborn Shanley.

Friends' President in the News: Friends' President Brian Yates was featured in a front page article in the Boston Globe on July 26, 2007. Click here to see it.

• New DCR Commissioner

   

  May, 2007 On Wednesday, May 23, 2007 Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles named Richard Sullivan, currently mayor of Westfield, to be Commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). He takes office June 11. Click here to learn more about Commissioner Sullivan.

   

  Stone Building Floor Installed (March 7, 2006): As announced previously, The Friends of Hemlock Gorge succeeded in our application for a Public-Private Partnership with the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The Friends earmarked $2500 for a new floor and other repairs to the Stone Building, and that amount was matched by the DCR. On February 23, we were notified by the DCR that they were preparing to pour the floor "very soon," and that the Friends of Hemlock Gorge would be asked for input on design. That design input did not occur, but The Friends nonetheless are pleased to announce that as a result of the Public-Private Partnership we established with the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) a new concrete floor has now been installed in the Stone Building. Pictures and more information to follow soon.
  
  The pouring of a level concrete floor means that our long hoped for plans to make the Stone Building a great venue for Friends' activities is becoming a reality (see photo top right). The new floor will, hopefully, be followed soon by repair of the electrical system and the new windows, for which funds have already been generously donated by the Sangiolo Trust.

A picture of the new concrete floor in the Stone Building. Note there are no perimenter drains, as we had hoped for.

Lunch and rest for the weary volunteers in the Stone Building by the Circular Dam in 2004. The new floor was the first step in improving this important venue for our activities. New windows should be in place in 2009.

• 2006: The Friends of Hemlock Gorge succeeded in our application for a Public-Private Partnership with the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The Friends earmarked $2500 for a new floor and other repairs to the Stone Building, and that amount will be matched by the DCR.
   
• An optimistic Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Report from Forester Charlie Burnham. Click here to view the report. (And click here to see other adelgid news. And click here to see the photo album of the release of the ladybugs in 2001.)
   
• The Newton Conservators have a lovely page of photos of Hemlock Gorge. Click here to see them.
• Richard Kramer has also put up photos of Hemlock Gorge to share with us. Click here to see them.

The Silk Mill in 1905, before construction of the "Horseshoe" or Circular Dam. Note the lower water level. From a postcard recently found by Bonnie and Rick Pearson. Click for a larger image.

The Friends Honored by the Green Decade Coalition!

On Thursday, June 16, 2005, The Friends of Hemlock Gorge were recognized with and Environmental Leadership Award by the Green Decade Coalition.

Friends' Webmaster John Mordes had an opportunity to deliver a PowerPoint Presentation about the work of the Friends.

Green Decade is an organization of people living or working in Newton and neighboring communities, including representatives of community organizations, institutions and businesses. They work together to create sustainable solutions to environmental problems facing the city and the world.

Friends President Brian Yates addresses the Green Decade Coalition after receiving their Environmental Achievement Award. GDC Official Peter Smith and  President Beverly Droz is to the right.

To read the entire text, click on the small image and a larger one will appear.

Some 12 years age the Friends suggested to the MDC, now the DCR, that something to control off road traffic on the section of Quinobequin road just downriver from Hemlock Gorge would be desirable to prevent vehicles from degrading the riverbank. We initially suggested a wood railing, but later, after hearing from neighbors, we thought that some large stones might be nicer and serve the same purpose.

The Friends did not hear anything about this project for years, and then a guardrail installation was started in mid May--and then stopped a few days later! Neighbors had raised both safety and esthetic concerns.

A meeting was held on May 31, 2005 at Newton Hall attended by neighbors, Mayor Cohen, and representatives of the DCR. It was agreed that the DCR and community would work together to find a better solution.

In addition, at the annual meeting of the Waban Improvement Society on June 2, 2005, the Friends proposed that we work collaboratively with the WIS and DCR to assist in the design of parkland improvements on this section of the Charles River.

The Environmental Protection notice and small flags indicate where the guardrail would have been.

The rustic bridge by Artists' Point (see image below), connecting the Newton and Needham shores has been rebuilt. The photos to the right shows the concrete footings for the new bridge next to the deteriorated timbers of the old bridge, the bridge under construction, and the finished bridge as it was left in 2006. Click on the photos for larger images.

Footings in, October, 2005

Echo Bridge from the Ken Newcomb Memorial

Nearly complete, November, 2005

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Brian on the new rustic footbridge at the spring cleanup, April 29, 2006.  The steps to the bridge are arguably more primitive than rustic, one of many pieces of "unfinished business" in the Reservation.

Ken Newcomb Memorial Dedicated Summer 2003

On Tuesday, August 5, 2003 more than 30 Friends of Hemlock Gorge and members of the family of the late Ken Newcomb gathered for our annual summer picnic and to dedicate his memorial bench at Artist's Point.

To see more pictures of the memorial site, click here and to see a photos of the dedication celebration, click here.

The Late Ken Newcomb

Ken is remembered as an historian and longtime Friend of Hemlock Gorge and author of A Walking Tour of Hemlock Gorge and Makers of the Mold, a full-length illustrated history of the Newton Upper Falls community which borders Hemlock Gorge.

Several speakers, including Friends' President Brian Yates, recalled Ken's many contributions to the community, and the dedication concluded with the playing of Taps followed by dessert in the newly re-lit Stone Building.

To see a photo album of the event click here.

• Panoramic photos of Hemlock Gorge taken by Steve Clark from the top of Echo Bridge show well the splendor of the Reservation and comprise the Friends' Four Seasons of Hemlock Gorge collection. We are indebted to Steve for his generosity.
• Click on the small images below to see the Panoramas full size. Note: If you are using Internet explorer, you need to hover your cursor on the image to see it full size. An icon will appear. Click on it, and the image enlarges.

Spring 2000

Summer 2000

Fall 2000

Winter 2001, taken during the storm of March 5-6

Another collection of lovely photos of Hemlock Gorge is at Boston Online: Click here to see them.