We want to transform Cambridge into a bio-diverse paradise

To create native plant community gardens and wildflower meadows at Danehy Park to augment the wetland and Miyawaki Forest ecosystems, support community wellness, and help establish Danehy Park as a focal point of biodiversity in Cambridge. We are a group of nine native plant experts and advocates who will work in collaboration with community volunteers and Biodiversity Builders, the youth education program that employs youth from the Cambridge Mayor's Summer Youth Employment Program (MSYEP).

Across the country we’re suffering a great wave of biodiversity loss that leaves our local ecosystems more brittle and vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and accompanying species extinction. By supporting pollinators with their native plants and shrubs we not only enable plant reproduction but we also protect the foundation of the global food chain. Pollinators are essential to the existence of the full array of flora and fauna, including all of us. 

The three sets of plantings we propose would act synergistically with existing native trees and plants, as well as the Miyawaki Forest, to continue to restore local ecosystems and regenerate biodiversity across plant, animal, insect and fungal species.  

In addition to boosting biodiversity and advancing Cambridge’s climate and resilience goals, adding native plant pollinator gardens to Danehy Park would make this public area a shining example of how nature-based solutions can solve our biggest problems. In addition to inspiring community members to create native ecosystems in their own gardens, the native plantings at Danehy would also increase residents' care, knowledge and appreciation of native plantings in other public spaces across the City.