Pablo Alvarez of Troop 6 Brookline was walking through Larz Anderson Park one afternoon and saw a lady (Ginnie) about his age (50s) pulling up vines, and stopped to help. She had been removing invasive vines for weeks in her free time! She was thrilled at the offer of Scout help, and contacted the Park Rangers on our behalf.

So we set things up and managed to get three good workdays in before the ground froze: over 140 hours of work, at least 25 different scouts, families and volunteers involved, and a cleared meadow ready for native species.

See thank you notes below from Ginnie and Park Service.
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Hi, Pablo, unfortunately you can’t fight the weather which appears increasingly harsh.

The Scouts and Scout Masters have been so incredibly helpful and productive in clearing invasive porcelain berry vines from the Larz Anderson swamp/meadow.  I have appreciated their help so very much and their good cheer as they ripped up vines, cleared area of debris, and raised huge invasive roots from the ground.

Perhaps there’s a chance for more work in the spring if that works for the Larz folks, you, and your scouts, but whatever happens, your scouts have been the major force in getting this area into the current condition, so thank you so very much to all!

Ginnie

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Hi All,

I wanted to thank you all for your hard work and effort with the invasive removal at Larz. It was a bummer that we were not able to fit in another day before the cold weather, but the work that you all have done has already made a huge impact on the park.

Ginnie and Pablo, thank you for initiating, coordinating and organizing this project with the Scouts. It was great to be a part of this project with such fun, ethusiastic, and dedicated folks!
Please pass along a huge a thank you to the Scouts (and their parents) from the Town of Brookline, for giving up several Saturday and Sunday afternoons to dedicate their time and hard work to improve the park. We are so very appreciative! We truly could not do it without you.

All the best,

Kiara Huntress
Park Ranger
Town of Brookline
Parks and Open Space Division