News Release

News from the Superintendent, January 2008

Date: January 31, 2008

Interpretation and Education

During 2007, our Harbor Connections staff worked in 13 Boston Public Schools, Weymouth Public Schools, and facilitated learning expeditions for schools in 9 other school districts. Program staff led more than 3,600 students on 88 learning expeditions to 9 Boston Harbor Islands.

The “Living in Two Worlds” Native American curriculum will gain new strength through a youth symposium that was held in summer 2007 on Thompson Island. Native American youth were trained on video production techniques to capture the oral history of their communities. The youth interviewed members of their communities and produced the stories from their own perspective.

Teachers’ Workshop – We presented the 2nd annual teacher’s workshop this past summer to invite teachers to use the Harbor Islands as their classrooms. We reached more than 200 teachers in 2007.

Camp Harbor View – Boston’s Mayor Menino and philanthropist Jack Connors raised $10 million, then built and opened a youth day camp on Long Island in the spring of 2007. Operated by the Boys and Girls Club of Boston the program served youth from 11-14 years old. There were two 4-week sessions with 300 campers in each session.

Facility Management

Design Award – The National Park Service 2007 National Design Project Achievement Award (Architectural) was presented to Boston Harbor Islands for superior accomplishments in advancing the concept of “universal access” within the National Park Service. The award stems from the design, construction, and installation of floating docks to serve visitors at three of the park’s islands.

Spectacle Island was open for the first full season in 2007. Visitation rivaled Georges Island, which has been the most visited island in the park. Various versions of an extremely positive AP Travel story on Spectacle Island was picked up and run widely: locally, nationally, and internationally.

Resources Stewardship

Our citizen science and volunteer stewardship programs continue to grow, under the leadership of Mary Raczko and Marc Albert. The programs were highlighted at the international conference of the Society for Human Ecology and featured in the April 2007 edition of Odyssey magazine.

In 2007 we concluded the first field season of our Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) sponsored nesting bird monitoring. During nine trips, volunteers secured more information about the status of shore birds in the park than ever before. We tested draft protocol in anticipation of instituting the long-term I&M program in 2008.

The all taxa biodiversity inventory, conducted in cooperation with Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology and others, continued in its third year of operation in 2007. Dr. E.O. Wilson’s new book The Creation: an Appeal to Save Life on Earth included information on the park and the all taxa biodiversity inventory.

A salt marsh restoration project was completed on Thompson Island. The project began in 2004. The restoration efforts on Thompson Island's small brackish pond will help it become a fully functioning salt marsh. With an improved tidal flow and a restored connection to Boston Harbor, fish will pass into the marsh, providing an important nursery and feeding habitat for species such as striped bass and winter flounder.

A Viewshed Assessment of the park was prepared by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning. The study will assist park managers in evaluating proposed development, within or from outside of the park boundary.