Dear Friends of Hemlock Gorge:

2014 has been a very productive year for the Friends.

• Our cleanups of the Gorge have discouraged visitors from leaving trash and allowed us to expand our activities. Our pruning crew has opened new vistas to the river.   (The one from in front of the Stone Building off Route 9 is particularly spectacular!) The crew also put a boat into the section of the river between the two dams and retrieved a large batch of trash (including a television set!) that was not accessible by foot. Congratulations to Even Weststrate, Jerry Reilly,  Lee Fisher, and Jeanne Dannenberg, and many others.
• Our cleanups  and other work  have inspired our neighbors to the north the Waban Neighborhood Area Council to form the Friends of Quinobequin and extend cleanup and cut back efforts to the Parkway  to the north of Route 9. We wish them luck and will continue offer help.
• We have participated in the Feast at the Falls organized by Jerry Reilly, Karen Osborn, and Seana Gaherin, who continues to be a major donor in support of our activities.
• As more people learn about the Reservation and it gets even more beautiful,  it becomes more attractive for community activities.   It’s worth noting that the first performance of the Newton Nomadic Theatre was held in the Evergreen Violins offices overlooking the Gorge.
• The Friends, the Gorge, and Upper Falls got a tremendous plug with a segment on Channel Five’s “Chronicle”. J.C. Monahan and her crew did a terrific job. View it at this website.

In 2015, we hope to build on the successes of the past. We will  pay most of the cost of new fences like those along the Eastern Raceway in front of the Stone Building.  Karen Osborn will continue to upgrade the landscaping in front of the Stone Building. We hope to add an informational kiosk there as well as well as upgrade the one near the parking in Needham at the other end of the Reservation.

In order to maintain this progress,  we need your help, in the form of contributions,   participation in our cleanups and our picnic,   and specialized work on everything from the designing, buying, and installing the fences, installing and tending the kiosks to exploring the use of goats to control poison ivy.

We meet the first Tuesday of every month other than July and August at 7:30 P.M. in the Emerson Community Center.   Visit www.hemlockgorge.org for news and updates.

We hope to get your return mail, and see you at our activities, and at our meetings. Thank you for all you’ve done for Hemlock Gorge and for all you do for it in 2015.

With best wishes,                                                         

Brian Yates, President

John P. Mordes, M.D., Membership Coordinator and Webmaster