Check out What's Happening at the Glover Outdoor Classroom- A New Brick Patio, New Shed and New Log Benches

Milton Close to Achieving Community Wildlife Habitat Certification from the National Wildlife Federation

Suffolk Resolves House Certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a Backyard Habitat

Milton Times, September 22: Habitat Stewards Complete Garden at Housing Authority Residences

Sixty Five Backyard Habitats Certified Already!

Fall Harvest Festival and Perennial Divide Oct. 1, 2005

Milton Certified as the First Community Wildlife Habitat in New England

As part of a townwide effort to teach children and adults about creating habitats for birds and butterflies, Milton, MA has been certified by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) as the first Community Wildlife Habitat in New England--the 14^th community in the entire U.S. to have achieved this honor. Click here to read more. Also, see Milton featured on the NWF website.

The Milton Outdoor Classrooms team is working hard to get Milton certified as a Community Wildlife Habitat with the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). Trained Habitat Stewards have been helping residents certify their backyard habitats, creating schoolyard habitats (outdoor classrooms), and certifying parks and public places that provide valuable habitat for wildlife. In order to achieve community certification, we need to:

*     Earn 250 certification points (each backyard habitat counts as 1 point, each public habitat counts as 3 points, and each schoolyard habitat counts as 5 points),

*     Complete educational activities designed to inform Milton residents about how to create habitats,

*     Perform community projects to improve and create habitats in our town, and

*     Track progress of the project and ensure that it will continue in the future.

We hope to reach these goals by the end of 2005!

Milton Historical Society Joins Townwide Effort to Achieve Community Wildlife Habitat Certification for Milton. Shown are Edie Clifford (President of the Milton Historical Society) and Anthony Sammarco (Suffolk Resolves House Resident Curator)

 Since May 2005, Milton Habitat Stewards have certified over 65 backyards with the National Wildlife Federation. Milton residents are eager to help our town reach our goal of 150 certified backyards by the end of this year. At that point, Milton will qualify to become the 1^st NWF-certified Community Wildlife Habitat in New England! Click here to see the list.

Fall Harvest Festival and Perennial Divide 2005

Saturday, October 1, 2005

10AM-2PM

City Natives Nursery, 30 Edgewater Drive, Mattapan Square

MAP

Plant Swap, Native Plant Sales, Garden Workshops, Children's Activity and More!

EVENT IS FREE

Perennial Divide 10AM-2PM
Head to the annual Fall Harvest Festival and Perennial Divide hosted by Boston Natural Areas Network.  Gardeners are invited to exchange, donate or simply take home perennial divisions and other plants.  (Please pre-divide plants into smaller pieces and bring containers to take your plants home).  Select native perennials and shrubs propagated at City Natives will be available for purchase, proceeds will benefit City Natives Nursery.  The plant swap takes place rain or shine.   BNAN Master Urban Gardeners will be on hand to give plant advice.

Planting Festival 10AM-2PM
Enjoy these workshops:  "Honey Harvest", "Planting Bulbs in Autumn", and "Harvest Your Plot".   (Click Here for further Workshop Details).  Take advantage of the gardener's market of honey and bee products, native bulbs, baked goods, and other products produced by community gardeners to help support their gardens.  Pumpkin painting for children, fresh apple cider, and music by "Two for the Show". 

The Fall Harvest Festival and Perennial Divide is staffed by BNAN staff members along with many skilled BNAN Master Urban Gardener volunteers. 

For more information about the Fall Harvest Festival and Perennial Divide call BNAN at 617-542-7696 or email info@bostonnatural.org

DPW Holds Evening Landscaping Workshop on September 21st

Ever wondered if there’s a way to have a beautiful landscape while reducing your use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers? Well, there is, and the Milton Department of Public Works (DPW) wants to tell you about it.  Due to popular demand, the DPW is holding its second workshop on Natural Landscaping Techniques on Wednesday, September 21st, from 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.  at Cunningham Hall, 75 Edgehill Road.  Anyone who works or lives in Milton is welcome to attend this free event.

The guest speaker will be Don Bishop, a professional landscaper who owns Gardens Are…, a Marlborough-based business that promotes organic landscaping to commercial and residential clients.  Gardens Are… offers its customers a range of services for both flower and vegetable gardens that are based on pesticide-free practices.  Mr. Bishop will make a presentation on natural landscaping, and there will be plenty of time for him to answer questions from the audience. There will also be a wealth of information on natural landscaping to take home.

Natural or sustainable landscaping stresses the use of native plants that are beautiful, hardy, and also benefit the local environment.  Native plants are especially good at preventing soil erosion, reducing flooding, sustaining wildlife, and filtering out harmful pollutants in the soil.  Natural landscaping offers residents a way to reduce use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers while introducing natural techniques that are safer for the long-term health of the community. Using compost to feed and protect plants is an important part of the sustainable landscaping technique.

Natural landscaping techniques are gaining in popularity.  Although conventional turf is lovely to look at, there is often a high maintenance price to pay for it.  Composed of cool season grasses like Kentucky blue grass, conventional turf often needs constant watering, can be dependent upon environmentally-damaging chemicals to thrive, and often needs outside landscaping services on an ongoing basis.

“Many years ago, use of chemicals on residential lawns was less of a problem”, says Carly Rocklen of the Neponset River Watershed Association.  “Housing was less dense, there were not as many chemically-based products to choose from, and chemical pesticides and fertilizers were not as widely used. Since then, chemical-intensive lawn care has become common, and this has had a significant negative impact on our local environment.”

Pesticides include weed killers, insecticides, rodenticides, herbicides, and fungicides. Milton residents use their share of these pesticides: at the DPW Household Hazardous Waste Day last year, residents turned in 1500 pounds—nearly 3⁄4 of a ton -- of old or leftover pesticides. 

Use of natural landscaping methods does not mean that you have to stop using synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. It does mean, though, that these chemical products should be used carefully and sparingly.

The DPW’s promotion of natural landscaping techniques complements the Town’s 10-year Stormwater Management Plan. One of the Plan’s goals is to reduce pollutants in stormwater runoff: two of the biggest pollutants are chemical pesticides and fertilizers. (Pet waste is the third most common pollutant). Milton joins communities like Newton and Wellesley, among others, that support efforts to promote sustainable landscaping among their residents, local institutions, and in municipal departments.

“Each household makes a plus or minus contribution to the fragile ecosystem of Milton,” notes David Colton, Milton Town Administrator.  “We are a community, and for better or worse what each of us does affects our whole environment. In the end, our community can be healthy only if our environment is healthy, too.”

By: REVA LEVIN, DPW Program Manager

617/696-5728

Native Plant Demonstrations are Free at both Garden in the Woods and Nasami Farm this fall. Our own Greg Lowenberg, Education Director, shows us the best way to plant trees and shrubs at 11 and 1 pm at Nasami Farm on September 10^th, and at 1 pm at Garden in the Woods on September 11^th. Join Nasami horticulturist Paige Keck at Nasami Farm on Saturday, September 17^th at 11 and 1, and Sunday, September 18^th, at Garden in the Woods, to learn how to create multi-season interest with native plants. The talks will be fun and free. For directions and fall hours for both locations visit http://www.newfs.org.

Fall/Winter Courses –  the NEWFS Fall/Winter Course Catalog (aka, New England Wild Flower) will be in your mailbox in September, but you can preview and register early for our  fine selection of fall/winter classes online starting Thursday, Aug. 25, at http://newfs.org/courses.html. This year, for the first time, the course catalog features a special index of regional offerings, with classes and programs throughout New England.

Janet MacNeil, a parent at Glover Elementary School in Milton, Massachusetts, shared the process of transforming an empty inner courtyard into an outdoor classroom. The design for this project was developed by Ruth Parnall and Virginia Sullivan, consultants with Learning by the Yard, a landscape design company specializing in school projects. After the design was presented to students and staff in 2003, a Giving Tree in the school lobby was hung with cards listing items the project team needed to get growing. Families made donations to the courtyard garden and helped build raised planters, install birdfeeders, and water newly planted shrubs and trees. Parnall and Sullivan studied the microclimates within the courtyard and designed the large space to include a wildflower meadow, hilltop grove with log benches, an arbor, a farm garden for growing pumpkins, a woodland edge habitat, and a clearing for large group gatherings. "The courtyard will function as a field laboratory for the school community," says Sullivan. "The structure illustrates the ecol-ogy of native plant communities and provides valuable wildlife habitat."

The success of the Glover Elementary School project has led to an initiative to create outdoor learning environments at all the public schools in Milton. "Encouraging young people to have frequent and positive interactions with gardens and the natural world is so important that good ideas and successful lesson plans like these should be shared as widely as possible," says Stephanie Jutila, AHS Education Programs Manager.

Each year, awards are given within the Milton Garden Club, a member of the Garden Club of America, for outstanding achievements in flower arranging, horticulture and conservation. In addition to the club member awards, the Milton Garden Club honors members of the community for their outstanding work in conservation and civic beautification. This year, the Milton Garden Club awarded two community members for their efforts. Janet MacNeil was awarded the Conservation Certificate of Acknowledgement, and Reva Levin received the Certificate of Appreciation for Outstanding Initiative in Civic Beautification.

Ms. MacNeil is currently the coordinator of the Milton Outdoor Classroom Project in which the school administrators, teachers, parents, students and community members are working together to create outdoor habitat/gardens at all of the public schools in town. The project also teaches Milton residents how to create natural habitats for birds and butterflies in their backyards, work places, parks and other public spaces. Ms. Levin was awarded for her effort in transforming an Interstate 93 overpass from an unattractive eyesore to an inviting outdoor space that enhances the beauty of Milton.

From the Milton Times 6/16/05

On June 21, collaborators on this greenway improvement and water purification project will introduce the nuts and bolts of the project. Senator Brian Joyce, Representative Walter Timilty, the Neponset River Watershed Association, the Milton Department of Public Works (DPW), the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the Pine Tree Brook Neighborhood Association, Cali Construction, Geosyntec Consultants and Milton residents will all celebrate the partnership between federal, state and local organizations.

These projects are reducing bacterial pollution in Pine Tree Brook. The bacteria originate from pet waste and garbage left on streets, paths and sidewalks. The rain washes that waste—along with fertilizers, oil and other pollutants—into catch basins along the streets. From the catch basins, the storm drain system used to carry the polluted water straight into the Brook, untreated. Now, along the north side of the Brook, between Blue Hill Parkway and Thacher Street, Cali Corporation of Natick has built three “bioretention cells”—depressions along the riverbank that are filled with highly absorptive soils and plants. Polluted water from the streets flows into these cells and soil, microorganisms and plants filter-out the pollutants. Previously, polluted street runoff ran straight into the Brook, degrading water quality with oil, fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and animal waste.

On the other side of the Brook, another large storm drain that once dumped polluted street runoff into the Brook has been diverted into Pine Tree Brook’s historic streambed. That streambed now filters the polluted runoff before it can reach the Brook.

All of this stormwater treatment work and the improvement of a pathway along the Brook has been undertaken through a joint effort of the Neponset River Watershed Association and the Town of Milton, using a major grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and additional matching funds from a variety of sources. In addition to this construction effort, there has been a parallel education campaign aimed at getting pet owners to clean-up after their furry friends, not only along Pine Tree Brook but also throughout the Town of Milton. As a part of this initiative, an informational canvass of the Pine Tree Brook neighborhood was done at about the same time that Milton adopted a bylaw making it illegal to leave behind pet waste, a year ago. Milton residents also have received information from the Milton DPW about pet waste pollution and chemical fertilizer use.

RSVPs are encouraged but not required. Contact Reva Levin at the Milton Dept. of Public Works (617-696-5729) or Ian Cooke at NepRWA (781-575-0354). Also visit the NepRWA website for more information.

After spending time researching the 4 elements of habitat and how to provide them, Brownie Troop 4161 have received NWF certifications for their backyards. Congratulations to troop members: Solana Czwakiel,  Isabelle Gray, Kendall Hall, Kimberly Herbert, Claire Hernon, Elsie Martinson, Kate Rosner, and Tori Zimmer! Thanks for helping Milton become a better place for birds and butterflies.      

 On April 30, 2005, twenty-six Milton residents completed their National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Habitat Steward training course (click here for a picture). During the training, they learned about creating habitat for birds and butterflies, sustainable gardening practices, how to certify backyards as NWF habitats, and much more. The Habitat Stewards are now ready to go out in the community and help Milton work toward our community wildlife habitat certification goal. Projects that the Stewards will be working on include:

• Assisting Milton residents to create habitats for birds and butterflies in their backyards.
• Helping create and implement outdoor classrooms at Milton High School, Pierce Middle School, Tucker Elementary School, Collicott/Cunningham Elementary Schools, and Glover Elementary School.
• Creating schoolyard habitats at Milton preschools.
• Working with local neighborhood associations to educate residents about creating habitats.
• Partnering with the town departments to create habitats at traffic islands, parks, and other public places.
• Compiling a list of native plants in Milton.
• Certifying local nature areas as NWF habitats.
• Working with local nurseries to provide sources of native plants.

May 11 at 7:30 PM

First Congregational Church, 495 Canton Avenue, Milton

On three consecutive Saturdays, April 23, 30 and May 7 (rain dates are Sundays), Joseph Emmanuel Ingoldsby's outdoor art installation "Anadromous Awakening" will blend art, science and technology to make an invisible event visible. Come view outdoor sculpture, video, banners and lectures that illustrate the annual passage of anadromous smelt, herring and shad through Boston's urban waters to the Neponset River. The art installations will change with the spawning cycles of each fish. Thus, the first art installation will represent smelt, the second - herring, and the third -shad. This Boston Cyberarts Festival (http://www.bostoncyberarts.org/) event will take place along the Neponset River at Milton Landing on Wharf Street, Milton, from 4-8PM, weather permitting. Exhibits will be open during the afternoon, and lectures will start at 5PM at the Milton Yacht Club, 25 Wharf Street. Activities are free and open to the public. Donations and volunteers are appreciated. For more information on the event or about volunteering, please contact Carly: 781-575-0354 or rocklen@neponset.org, or view the NepRWA webpage: http://www.neponset.org/AnadromousAwakening.htm.

NOTE:  Because rain and wind are expected during both 4/23and 4/24, art installations have been canceled for this weekend, though the lecture will take place as planned.

Celebrate spring in Quincy with a free nature walk from Wollaston Beach to the Neponset River. Participants will explore a little-known path along a salt marsh and find out about current efforts to clean-up the River and develop a walking path along it, while discovering the flora and fauna in this beautiful part of Quincy. Bring binoculars if you have them. The tour begins at 10AM at the parking lot on Quincy Shore Drive at the north end of Wollaston Beach (near E. Squantum Street and CVS). Rain date is 5/1 at 2PM. Call 617-472-0799 on 4/30, after 8:45 AM, if the weather is inclement For more information, contact Carly at 781-575-0354 or rocklen@neponset.org. Co-sponsored by NepRWA and the Quincy Park Department's Environmental Treasures Program. Free and open to the public.

Come explore Fowl Meadow or the Neponset River Estuary (depending on water level) by canoe. Trip guides will include staff from NepRWA and from the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Broadmoor Sanctuary. Swimming ability necessary. Please bring lunch and water. Wear clothes you don't mind getting messy. Open to the public. NepRWA registration fee: $25 per adult and $10 per child up to the age of 12. For more information, please contact NepRWA: 781-575-0354, rocklen@neponset.org.

A district-wide initiative that’s been over three years in the making is finally starting to bloom.

The Milton Outdoor Classrooms project, a teaching tool intended to enhance curriculum by creating outdoor classroom space for students to obtain hands-on experience, is up and ready at the Glover.

The creation of outdoor space at the Tucker and the high school is currently underway, as well. The goal is to eventually have outdoor space at all six schools.

Since the schools have been under construction, according to Janet MacNeil, co-coordinator of the project, this was the ideal time to shape the schools’ grounds into innovative learning environments to cover a variety of subjects.

The project team has raised about $36,000 since the program was first introduced - none of the money comes from the school department budget - with the hopes of raising even more to get the other school’s projects off the ground.

“We want to raise money to create space at the schools, but beyond that,” Ms. MacNeil said, “we want to raise money for teacher training so it’s a natural connection between the outdoor space and current curriculum.”

In addition, she said, they’d like to be able to create a resource shelf at the library, as well as achieve other related goals.

In Glover’s recently completed courtyard space, which was professionally designed by Learning by the Yard of Conway, students will get the rare opportunity in a science class to learn about birds, habitats and plants, while being surrounded by them.

They will write nature stories and poems; utilize math skills by graphing the types and numbers of birds that visit the outdoor classroom’s bird feeders; and art and music will be covered by creating nature drawings and conducting music class outside. An ampitheater of sorts has been designed in a portion of the space at the Glover, where students can sit on large boulders that have been erected on a hill, and the teacher can conduct class from below.

Students will also get the unique opportunity, along with teachers and parents, to participate in the maintenance of the outdoor space.

“Our whole goal is to teach children about our natural environment here in Milton so they can learn to love it and learn to protect it,” Ms. MacNeil said.

Another important component, she said, is to try and increase students’ MCAS scores by utilizing outdoor classroom space, and ensuring the outdoor space is a natural connection between current curriculum and learning how to protect the environment.

“Studies have shown that children, especially those with behavioral problems or learning disabilities, can focus more outdoors and learn better,” Ms. MacNeil said. “It goes with our point about demonstrating a commitment for providing an outstanding education for our kids.”

Outdoor Classrooms, in conjunction with the National Wildlife Federation, are also extensions of curriculum in other areas of the country. Milton is one of the only towns in Massachusetts with the offering.

In Milton, the program is the brainchild of Natalie Albers, a member of the Garden Club and co-coordinator of the project, who gained exposure to the project and its benefits while visiting her family in Virginia. She brought the idea back and presented it to school administration.

“We were in construction in Milton and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to introduce the outdoor classroom concept when the bulldozers were running in the backyards of all the schools,” Ms. Alber said. “Timing is everything and the timing on this couldn’t have been more right.”

She also said that the school administration has been completely supportive of the project and that it really wouldn’t have gotten off the ground without them.

Another component of the Outdoor Classrooms initiative - made possible by a $24,000 grant that the NWF received from the EPA - is a community-wide education program Ms. MacNeil, Ms. Albers and Mary Truslow, the third coordinator of the project, are working on implementing.

Above and beyond the school portion of the project, the team would like to teach residents how to create natural habitats in their yards, encourage private schools to adopt outdoor classrooms and, ultimately, become the first community in New England to obtain community wildlife habitat certification. The group feels this will encourage a sense of community and give the town a positive focus, while also beautifying the area and providing students and residents with an environmental education.

Ms. Truslow is running habitat steward workshops this spring so community members can get involved. Twenty-five people are already signed up - more are welcome - and will volunteer to help residents design backyard habitats, work at maintaining outdoor classroom space or participate in any number of initiatives.

“It’s not just reaching out to children, but to adults as well,” Ms. MacNeil said. “The kids are going to school to learn about the concept and then going home, so if their parents know about it as well, it completes the circle.”

From the Milton Times 3/31/05

Creating Schoolyard Habitats Workshop to Be Held in May

On May 2, 2005, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) will be providing a workshop on how to create and use schoolyard habitats (also called outdoor classrooms). The workshop is geared toward Milton Public School teachers and parents who are interested in becoming core members of the outdoor classroom team at their school. It is being provided in conjunction with Milton Outdoor Classrooms, which has been formed to create outdoor classrooms at all Milton schools.

By providing critical wildlife habitat components (such as food, water, shelter, and nesting sites), the outdoor classrooms will restore wildlife habitat and enrich learning opportunities for students, teachers, and the surrounding community. If you’d like more information on outdoor classrooms that are already being developed in Milton, go to www.miltonoutdoorclassrooms.com.

Topics that will be covered in the May 2^nd workshop include:

• The nuts and bolts of schoolyard habitats
• Schoolyard habitats across the curriculum
• The importance of pollinators
• Schoolyard habitat design and maintenance
• Overcoming barriers to teaching outdoors
• How to create wildlife habitat
• Hands-on outdoor activities