Interactive Qualifying Project 2000 Inventory of Boston’s Urban Wilds Boston Project Center D-Term 2000 Sponsored by: The City of Boston Environment Department Liaison: Richard McGuinness Project Group: Chris Brassard Bonnie Henderson Ryan Kilgore Clark Magnan WPI Faculty Advisors: Professor Steve Pierson Professor Fabio Carrerro May 5, 2000 This project is submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree requirements of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The views and opinions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Worcester Polytechnic Institute or the City of Boston Environment Department. Abstract Urban Wilds are crucial areas of natural land that are being lost to development. This project was designed to overcome the lack of communication and information currently undermining Boston’s protective attempts in order to minimize further loss. Data collected through visiting unprotected Wilds was used to determine each Wild’s importance and recorded in a database that included images and current ownership information for each Wild, thus creating a source of centralized information. 2 Acknowledgements As a group, there are many individuals we would like to thank for their invaluable assistance with our project. First, we express our gratitude to our liaison Richard McGuinness and the rest of the Environment Department staff for their constant support and guidance. We would also like to thank Tim Smith of the Boston Parks and Recreation Department for providing us with essential information regarding Boston’s open space plan. In addition, we would like to show our appreciation to the staff of the Boston Natural Areas Fund for allowing us access to their office and files as well as to David Lavelle for his aid in our Urban Wild ownership research effort. Finally, we greatly appreciate the guidance and diligence of our advisors Steve Pierson and Fabio Carrera. 3 Authorship Page Each of the four project group members equally contributed to the creation of the maps, graphs and information found in this report. In addition, each member diligently produced information and material that was presented to our liaison in addition to the report. ___________________ Christopher Brassard ___________________ Bonnie Henderson ___________________ Ryan Kilgore ___________________ Clark Magnan 4 Table of Contents ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. 3 AUTHORSHIP PAGE...................................................................................................... 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................. 5 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................................... 10 2. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................... 14 3. BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................... 16 3.1. NATURE IN CITIES .............................................................................................. 16 3.1.1. Ecological and Psychological Benefits of Urban Wilds ........................... 17 3.1.2. History of Nature in Boston ...................................................................... 18 3.2. RELEVANT BOSTON AGENCIES .......................................................................... 20 3.2.1. City of Boston Environment Department.................................................. 20 3.2.2. Boston Redevelopment Authority.............................................................. 21 3.2.3. Boston Conservation Commission............................................................ 22 3.2.4. Boston Natural Areas Fund ...................................................................... 23 3.2.5. Boston Parks and Recreation Department ............................................... 24 3.2.6. Department of Neighborhood Development............................................. 24 3.2.7. Boston Assessing Department................................................................... 25 3.3. BNAF 1990 SURVEY OF URBAN WILDS ............................................................ 25 3.3.1. Methodology of the 1990 Survey............................................................... 26 3.3.2. Results of the 1990 Survey........................................................................ 26 3.3.3. 1990 Recommendations by BNAF ............................................................ 28 3.4. METHODS OF PROTECTING URBAN WILDS......................................................... 29 3.4.1. Protection by Direct Ownership ............................................................... 29 3.4.2. Regulations................................................................................................ 30 3.4.3. Incentives .................................................................................................. 34 3.4.4. Information................................................................................................ 35 3.4.5. Management and Maintenance of Urban Wilds ....................................... 35 4. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................. 37 4.1. PREPARATION .................................................................................................... 37 4.1.1. Urban Wild Parameters............................................................................ 37 4.1.2. Field Form ................................................................................................ 40 4.2. DATA COLLECTION............................................................................................ 41 4.2.1. Agency Resources ..................................................................................... 41 4.2.2. Field Data Collection................................................................................ 43 4.3. URBAN WILD DATABASES ................................................................................. 43 4.4. URBAN WILD NOTEBOOKS................................................................................. 44 4.5. MAPPING URBAN WILDS.................................................................................... 45 4.6. ANALYSIS .......................................................................................................... 45 5 4.6.1. Urban Wild Overview............................................................................... 46 4.6.2. Importance................................................................................................ 46 5. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS ................................................................................. 48 5.1. URBAN WILD OVERVIEW ................................................................................... 48 5.1.1. Urban Wild Presence in Boston................................................................ 48 5.1.2. Condition................................................................................................... 55 5.2. OWNERSHIP........................................................................................................ 57 5.3. IMPORTANCE...................................................................................................... 59 5.3.1. Overall Importance................................................................................... 59 5.3.2. Importance by Individual Criterion .......................................................... 62 5.4. MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ..................................................................................... 73 6. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................ 74 7. APPENDIX.............................................................................................................. 77 7.1. BNAF 1990 URBAN WILD PARCEL SURVEY DATA........................................... 77 7.2. 2000 PUBLIC V PRIVATE FOR UNPROTECTED WILDS ........................................ 82 7.3. FIELD FORM ....................................................................................................... 85 7.4. FIELD FORM PROCEDURE................................................................................... 86 7.5. IMPORTANCE WEIGHTING.................................................................................. 88 7.6. THEMATIC MAPS................................................................................................ 89 7.6.1. Boston’s Urban Wilds ............................................................................... 89 7.6.2. Urban Wild Ownership ............................................................................. 89 7.6.3. Neighborhoods by Open Space Acreage................................................... 89 7.6.4. Neighborhoods by Urban Wild Acreage................................................... 89 7.6.5. Urban Wilds with Wetlands ...................................................................... 89 7.6.6. Urban Wilds with Rock Outcroppings ...................................................... 89 7.6.7. Urban Wild Dumping Rating by Neighborhood Income .......................... 89 7.6.8. Urban Wild Dumping Rating by Neighborhood Minority........................ 89 7.6.9. Urban Wild Dumping Rating by Neighborhood Poverty.........................