Group works at preserving the Pond
Jamaica Pond is a popular recreation spot and important natural habitat: sometimes that makes for an awkward mix
By Ned Prickett
An Important Resource
Jamaica Pond has been an important resource for the community for over 200 years. With an area of about 68 acres, the pond is the largest body of water in the City of Boston. In Colonial times, the pond was considered a "great pond."
"In those days, any pond over 10 acres was considered a great pond," Marc Bulg of the
Jamaica Plain Historical Society explained. "That meant the public was allowed access for fishing and fowling and later for watering horses."
In the 19th century, the pond became a place for ice skating and holiday celebrations. A 1925 Boston Daily Globe article details how 50,000 skaters had to be evacuated when a crack was spotted in the ice.
While no longer used for watering horses and ice skating, Jamaica Pond has become an extremely popular spot for fishing and sailing. And the 1.5-mile trail that borders the pond is heavily used by runners and walkers.
Pond supporters estimated that almost 5,000 people walked by the informational tables on March 20th during the Spring Equinox celebration.
A Rough Patch
Despite being one of Boston's most popular parks today, that has not always been the case. In the 70's and 80's the park was languishing in disrepair and hardly used.
"People were drinking there and leaving broken bottles," Gerry Wright, a founding member of the Jamaica Pond Project said. "Trash wasn't picked up on a regular basis, the parks department was coming around once a week or every two weeks. The park had become this public space that no one wanted to use."
The Jamaica Pond Project was founded by a group of concerned citizens tired of the park being in such disrepair.
Stephen Baird, who got involved with the Jamaica Pond Project when he moved to the neighborhood in the late 80's, said the park was a disaster. "The Pond was in massive disrepair," Baird said. "It was practically an abandoned park before the Jamaica Pond Project got involved."
The group began organizing community clean-ups and worked towards building a sense of pride for the park within the community. The group refurbished the boat-house and restarted the long-dormant sailing program.
Wright said that it was important to get the city involved as well.
"I felt it was something that the city should be helping with so I wanted to start a two-way partnership," Wright said. "Because we had already started the work on our own, it showed the city that we had a sense of pride in this park and we would not leave all the work up to them."
The New Challenge
Today you would be hard pressed to find a single piece of trash or a broken bottle anywhere around Jamaica Pond. Despite it heavy use, the concerted effort by the Jamaica Pond Project to clean up the park in the 80's has kept it that way.
But the parks popularity has created new challenges.
"Trying to get the pond to be used is not a problem," Stephen Baird, now president of the
Emerald Necklace Bird Club said. "It's getting enough resources to accommodate all the use."
While the pond is an important part of the community, it is a constant struggle to find the funds for the park upkeep.
"There are a lot of competing interests in the pond," Baird said. "You get the dog walkers, runners, fisherman, sailors and cyclists."
Because of the need to maintain the park for several different uses the parks department is always looking for new sources of income. Baird is worried that one of the new plans, which would see a concession stand put up by the boat house, will have unintended consequences.
"I understand they need it to pay their staff," Baird said. "But as that becomes a more
While the popularity of the park is a good thing, it also presents dangers to the park as a natural habitat. Runners wear out the grass and embankments and fishermen empty the pond each year after it has been stocked. Removing the brush around the pond to make people feel safer there at night can rob the hiding places and homes of all kinds of creatures Baird said. Animals like turtles and salamanders can be tremendously affected by the simple removal of even the smallest bit of underbrush.
Despite the harmful effects to habitat many people who use the park feel comfort and security are more important.
"Honestly I support removing underbrush or bushes or whatever the parks department wants to do to make the park safer," Christine Sullivan said. "I would prefer the clearest sight lines possible since I am often running after dark."
Steve Leak, another runner who frequents the trail around the pond sympathizes with the desire to protect the parks natural beauty and plant and animal life but feels what is best for Bostonians should be the main focus. "I understand the park is home to a lot of different creatures and plant life," Leak said. "But at the end of the day Jamaica Pond is a public park created for the enjoyment of people."
Finding a Balance
Baird said it is easy for people to forget that the pond is an important part of a much larger chain of ecosystems.
"The pond is a major water source," Baird said. "Animals come from miles around the hot days of August. Water fowl even come from Franklin Park."
Because Jamaica Pond feeds other water sources around the city, when there are algae blooms- like those that exploded in the pond in 2007- or other problems in the pond, all of Boston's rivers and ponds in the area feel the effects.
"What's happening in Jamaica Pond is happening farther down the Muddy River, which happens to the Charles which happens to the harbor," Baird said.
The need to educate people about the importance of the Pond as more than just a place to run, fish or sail led Gerry Wright to start
The Friends of Jamaica Pond in 2004. While the Jamaica Pond Project has slowly become inactive, Wright saw the need for a group to educate people about the importance of the park to all the creatures and plants that live there.
"The central focus is on the natural," Wright said. "When the park is over-utilized it has these unintended effects and we want to educate the people about that."
Wright said that too many people forget to stop and admire the nature represented in the park, focusing only on the activities that they are doing there.
"It's about going out and just standing before a sycamore tree," Wright said. "I wanted to remind people to appreciate the natural world."
Steven Keleti, the president of Friends of Mary Cummings Park, a grassroots group based in Burlington agrees with Wright that it is important to educate people about responsibility to the environment.
"We have to reconnect people with nature so they have an understanding of what is being lost," Keleti said.
Like Wright, Keleti sees the necessity of educating people now before they forget to
cherish something that is truly important. He said people need to be reminded people that these parks are not just an asset for public use but a habitat.
"Our education is very disconnected since we have moved from an agricultural society to an industrial society," Keleti said. "Most people aren't necessarily in nature that much. There is just this sort of perception of the materials you can find there."
