Boston Nature Center and Wildlife Sanctuary

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The weather at the Boston Nature Center could not have been better for working outside to clean, clear, prune, and plant. The morning began with the boisterous arrival of about 60 City Year volunteers. And all through the morning more eager volunteers arrived—individuals, families, small groups of friends, and co-workers, and other organized groups of young people.  All were divided into work teams, given an orientation about the assignment to complete, and then taken to one of the many project sites. 

The City Year group gathered by the building for orientation, and shortly after 9:00 am they were deployed all around the sanctuary. For the next three hours their bright orange jackets could be spotted in fields and thickets as they picked up trash along the river, dug holes by the entrance road, and shook off the dirt from root balls as they planted hackberry, red maple, locust, and white oak. Around the sanctuary the laughter and animated conversations of these hard-working youths could be heard. Joining City Year was Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Eric Sebord and a representative from EarthWorks, an organization that has helped plant trees all around Boston. 

Boston Girl Scout Troop 9261 arrived shortly after 9:00 am. Led by young mothers Carlen and Trannee, the ten girls went right to the gardens and worked with Teacher-Naturalist Brian Lawlor to prepare several garden plots for planting. It was hard work with shovels and pitchforks. But, as Beverly, one young scout, said, “My uncle taught me how to use a shovel!”  Late arrival Yah yah, was seen in her scout uniform, filling the wheelbarrow with black loam for the garden.  She made up for the time she had missed, cheerful and focused.  After a few hours of work, the troop took a break for snacks at the picnic tables by the building. The scouts were exhilarated and flushed from their hard work. This was a morning they will remember and surely they will remember Brian and his energetic teaching.

Scout troop 9261 and the Bashir family—Hussein, Deb, and young Zak—joined Brian to work on the gardens around the nature center.  Hussein got right to work helping Brian and the scouts lay down mulch strips, while Deb stayed with Zak to help him in his work. Sometime after 10:00 am, three groups of Boston University “Day of Service” volunteers arrived—about 26 in all—to help with the cleanup.  Cheerful, dedicated, and eager to work, these young people received their orientation from Sanctuary Director Julie Brandlen and then went off to work with the City Year volunteers picking up trash along the river. 

Above the volunteers happily toiling in the garden and fields, and by the river, a pair of red-tailed hawks wheeled and hunted. One of them caught what looked like a large vole and flew low overhead with her prize. There must be chicks in a nest somewhere on the sanctuary.

Our group of hearty volunteers planted 30 orchard trees, cleaned out ten 20-foot by 20-foot teaching gardens, gathered 20 yards of trash, and spread 15 yards of compost.  All in all, it was a very productive day for our 200 volunteers—and it was fun!