Allandale Woods gains 100 local trees thanks to volunteers
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Page 10 * The Bulletin * May 9, 2019
Allandale Woods gains 100 local trees thanks to volunteers
Jeff Sullivan
Staff Reporter
The Boston Parks and Recreation
Department, along with
the Boston Urban Wilds team
and a host of volunteers planted
about 100 trees at the Allandale
Woods in West Roxbury on
April 27.
The planting was part of
Boston Urban Wilds Manager
Paul Sutton’s initiative to try to
combat invasive species by taking
them out and replacing them
with native species so they do
not grow back.
“The scope of the planting is
100 trees, that’s our goal,” he
said. “However these are
smaller trees, what’s called restoration
trees. They are about
three or four feet tall. If we can
get all those planted that would
be amazing. We have 1:30 p.m.
to 4:30 p.m. for our slated time,
so hopefully we’ll get it out.”
Almost 60 volunteers and
members of Parterre lined up to
help out at Allandale. Sutton
said they try to plant at most of
the Urban Wilds every year.
“This is one of 35 Urban
Wilds, and we try to do plantings
each year,” Sutton said.
Parterre Ecological member
Gabe Segal said the group has
done a lot of work with Sutton
and the Urban Wilds.
“We do a lot of invasive plant
mitigation and native habitat restoration
and a lot of the work is
vegetation removal,” he said.
“It’s usually the worst of the
vegetation that has to go, so a
lot of rose and a lot of climbing
vines and briars.”
Sutton said members needed
gloves and sun protection during
the dig, and he also brought
a lot of water. Eventually, the
planting ended up being very
successful. They planted several
sites that Parterre had already
removed of invasive species.
Parterre Ecological Manager
Ryan Corrigan said the planting
is Phase 2 of the project, as they
had already worked to remove
many of the invasive species
there.
“Us and another tree company
came in and cut a lot of
those down, and they will be
treated with an herbicide later in
the year to kill them, but what
we want to do is to create mother
colonies of native plants that
will spread their seed and take
over from these invasives,” he
said.
Corrigan said that residents
needed to watch out for poison
ivy.
“We tried to locate the planting
areas away from any poison
ivy but, at the end of the day,
we’ve got a watering tank on the
back of our truck and we’ll get
everyone some soap on their
hands to wash up,” he said. “It
shouldn’t be a problem. It really
likes to grow along that busy
roadside, so it’s just important
that you wash your gloves and
wrists at the end of the day.”
Resident Sarah Freeman said
she wanted to help out.
“I’m on a lot of environmental
email lists and I really am a
Paul Sutton fan, what he does
for the Urban Wilds is remarkable,”
she said.
Residents Caiti Spares and
Sammy Karachi came out as
part of a volunteer program for
their company, Edrington,
which donates a planted tree
every time someone buys one of
the company’s Scotch Whiskey.
“We have bourbon called
Noble Oak and every time someone
buys a bottle, we plant a
Trees
Continued on page 11
About 50 residents came out recently to help plant new native trees at the Allandale Woods to combat
invasive species coming into the city's largest Urban Wild.
PHOTO BY JEFF SULLIVAN
tree,” said Spares. “We are all
about giving back to the community
and putting our time in,
and we thought this would be a
great opportunity.”
Residents and members of
Friends of Allandale Woods
Dave Newbold and Celeste
Walker said they wanted to help
maintain the woods on their
doorstep.
“We’ve been involved for a
couple of years,” said Walker.
“The Parks Department has a
budget for parks and playground
maintenance, but no budget for
Urban Wilds maintenance, so
we have to do what we can, and
we need volunteers.”
“It’s one of the biggest Urban
Wilds in Boston and it’s
important to us, so anything we
can do to help out,” Newbold
said. “We also take walks here,
so it’s important to us.”
Resident Sahsa Alvirez said
she wanted to do something special
for her birthday with her
mother, Salome Seoane, who
was visiting from Spain.
“I wanted to do something
special for my birthday and this
seemed great,” she said. “I’m
actually visiting from Quincy.
It’s something that is different
and something that I feel like
makes a difference.” “We’ve
never done something like this
before,” said Seoane.