OWNERSHIP
CONDITIONS
CONTEXT
HISTORY
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
DESIGN ISSUES
SOCIAL ISSUES
PLANNING PROCESSES
TESTIMONIES

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OWNERSHIP:
-- The land is owned by the City of Boston and was leased to Harvard University to be managed by the Arnold Arboretum under the same arrangement as the rest of the Arboretum land. 
-- Boston Water and Sewer and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) have access rights
to the land.
-- The public has the right to use the land from sunrise to sunset. 
-- The property was formerly owned by a combination of the Boston Natural Areas Fund, the City of Boston,
and Harvard University. The Stony Brook Conduit is administered by Boston Water and Sewer and the high
level sewer is administered by MWRA. According to Matthew Kiefer, president of the Arboretum Park Conservancy, Mass Highway contributed $60,000 for a fence along the Arborway connector.

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CONDITIONS:
The Bussey Brook urban wild is a 24-acre stretch of open land, some of which is upland and most of which functions as a lowland impoundment area for rainwater. The Bussey Brook parcel includes a pedestrian connector between the Forest Hills MBTA Station and the Arnold Arboretum, and a long, thin finger of land that extends southwest between the commuter rail and South Street. It also includes a rough footpath along the thin stretch of wild lowland. The formal footpath is lined with mulch and is easy to tread, but other sections of the property have a wild character and are alive with abundant wildlife.

According to Dr. Robert Cook, director of the Arnold Arboretum, foxes, wild turkey, and deer have been spotted at the site, and a recent census revealed that butterflies are great in number and species in the spring and summer months. The lowland area has weeping and black willows in the swamp, quaking aspen, black locust, green ash, and crab apples. The highland area has yarrow, purple vetch, milkweed, tansy, Jerusalem artichoke, and wild onion grass. Wild-growing irises, raspberry vines, and evening primroses also grow here (vegetation survey from the 1990 Boston Urban Wilds Report. Boston Natural Areas Fund).

The convergence of South Street and Archdale Street at the end of the Bussey Brook finger of land is a pressure point where Bussey Brook and the high level sewer converge. In the late 1990s, 400 feet of underground pipe were laid through the neck of the Bussey Brook property in order to channel surface drainage. The whole tail of the drainage area sometimes floods. A "trash rack" drops 12 feet at the end of the pipe near the intersection with Forest Hills Street. This is the last place that Bussey Brook is above ground. Soon afterwards it joins the Stony Brook.

There are several visible pipe systems that empty their water onto the Bussey Brook property. During dry times, Bussey Brook is hardly a trickle through the landscape. In the rainy days of spring the Brook creates a significant wetland area. During rare times of serious flooding, the permeable surface of the land processes the floodwaters and protects the surrounding neighborhoods from flood damage.

The Arboretum has recently invested in more intensive management of the lowlands, but the uplands near South Street remain trashy and in poor condition. The Bussey Brook parcel slopes sharply upward towards South Street, and in addition to the trash, the forested land has a superabundance of stagnating young trees, which some call "weed trees." Work begun by the Arnold Arboretum in 2002 to clear and improve the uplands was halted by the summer of 2002.

Entrances:
The Bussy Brook pedestrian walkway is accessed at Forest Hills by a gate along Washington Street and another gate along State Street. The gate and fence at Washington Street are high and would be difficult to climb. In contrast, the gate at South Street is more for the purpose of giving definition to the area than for the purpose of blocking access. The stone fence constructed of Roxbury Puddingstone, which was once part of a perimeter wall, could be easily circumnavigated by pedestrians. This entrance is not perceived as being at high risk of abuse. The vehicle gate is used only by emergency vehicles.

A third access point to the area is an informal entrance at the southern end of the wild at the intersection of South and Archdale Streets at the margins of Jamaica Plain and Roslindale. A fourth and virtually unknown entrance to the property is via the Arboretum Road tunnel, which delves beneath the Needham Commuter Rail from Roslindale. In May 2002, the tunnel is essentially a dumping ground on the outskirts of Roslindale's industrial area off Washington Street.

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CONTEXT:
-- The Bussey Brook parcel is the link between the public transportation system and the Arnold Arboretum via the Forest Hills MBTA Station, which is the major transportation hub in the Heart of the City. It may give people who are dependent on public transportation greater access to the Arboretum and encourage visitation by public transportation. 

-- By retaining and processing rainwater, the parcel performs vital environmental services that contribute to the stability of surrounding communities. 

-- The Bussey Brook tract of the Arnold Arboretum is much less intensively managed than the main sections of the park. The property provides a wilder alternative to the meticulously groomed parkland to the west.

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HISTORY:
Sewer and storm drains and construction of a commuter rail altered the togography of the land and created the meadowland and wetland ecosystem that exist today.

In March 1997, the land was added to the 1882 mutual indenture between Harvard University and the City of Boston. For the original indenture, Harvard University donated the Arboretum land to the City to be used as part of the Boston parks system, as well as an arboretum of scholarly significance. The Bussey Brook Meadow was the first addition to this indenture since 1895.

A citizens group called the Arboretum Park Conservancy encouraged the City of Boston and Harvard University to expand their partnership to include the Bussey Brook land and to create a pedestrian footpath. A Federal Transportation Enhancement grant was matched by the State and City for the design and construction of the footpath. These monies were used to create the pedestrian footpath, which opened unofficially around January 2002 and officially on May 4, 2002. About 300 individual donors, foundations, and trusts provided the funds needed for the gates at either end of the footpath, including a $10,000 grant from the Merck Family Fund. The ISTEA (Intermodal Surface Transportation Enhancement Act) funded the footpath. The cost of the design and construction of the footpath was about $900,000 and the cost of the gates was approximately $350,000.

The idea for the footpath was originally proposed by John Frey of the MBTA. By May 1991, the Arboretum Park Conservancy had prepared a plan for the footpath that members shared with the Asticou-Martinwood-South Street (AMS) Neighborhood Association. The AMS initially resisted the idea, but subsequently came to support the footpath, particularly in light of the fact that Mass Highway contributed funds for an eight-foot tall, black, chainlink security fence between the neighborhood and the footpath ("Bussey Brook Meadow, Arnold Arboretum," Brown, Richardson & Row, Inc, 2002).

The path was named for John Blackwell, the founding clerk of the Arboretum Park Conservancy.

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ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES:
Before the footpath was built, the Massachusetts Highway Department removed exotic species from the site, including Polygonum and planted meadow grass. The department planted nearly 500 trees and shrubs, most of which were native. This area should be treated with special care because of its rich diversity of plant and animal life and because of its important status as an impoundment area for stormwater runoff.

The pedestrian connector may have an indirect environmental impact by allowing visitors to the Arboretum to use public transportation rather than their own cars.

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DESIGN ISSUES:
There is concern among Arboretum staff, the Boston Transportation Department (BTD), and the State Laboratory staff about pedestrian safety at the South Street crossing between the Bussey Brook walkway and the South Street gate of the Arboretum. There are two blind corners along South Street approaching the crosswalk, and cars typically speed through the area. In 2002, the BTD was working to address these issues (see South Street entry).

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SOCIAL ISSUES:
Residents report that drug use in the area was frequent during the years that this space was vacant. Those involved in creating the footpath are confident that it will cut down on illegal activity in the area, and visitors agree that the area feels much safer and more inviting than it did before the development of the footpath. Boston Police and Park Rangers are now responsible for keeping the trail safe.

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PLANNING PROCESSES: 
-- Until the winter of 2002, the upland border between Bussey Brook and the Arboretum along South Street was a remnant of construction dumping by the city and was full of rubble and stagnant trees. In the winter of 2002, the Arboretum staff began clearing the land to create a savannah-like open area at the top of South Street, across from the State Laboratory facility. After Arboretum employees clear the weed trees from the area, they will plant new trees. They also plan to cover the area with topsoil, plant grass, create an overlook, and build a stone wall along the edge. Arboretum director Robert Cook expects that this will become a well-used, beautiful area.

-- The Arboretum Park Conservancy and the Arnold Arboretum will articulate a stewardship plan for the Bussey Brook Meadow. They will also advocate for public infrastructure around the Arboretum, including signage, benches, plantings, and an exansion of the path system to Peters Hill land and Arboretum Road (Letter to members of the Arboretum Park Conservancy from president Matt Kiefer, December 2002).  

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TESTIMONIES:
"People will now be prompted to take mass transit to get to the Arboretum. That's the whole point of doing the pathway at all" (John Blackwell, Arboretum Park Conservancy, from an article by Shari Rudavsky, "Pathway to heavenly Green," The Boston Globe, May 5, 2002).

"You were right, and we were wrong. It's just like you said -- the path is used all day long and its wonderful" (John Blackwell from a newletter from the Arboretum Park Conservancy).

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