Field Notes: Friends of Albemarle Newsletter Spring 2026

Dear Friends, 

Albemarle changes daily during this historic spring season – it will never look this way again, and it will not even look like this tomorrow! 

Last week, I gaped at the gorgeous new basketball court… and then at the lights along the path. Then I thought, wait, PATH?? 

At that moment, two children biked by, talking and enjoying the new path. This former line, drawn on a blueprint? It’s already home to countless conversations and daydreams.

Transformation

Oh, you want MORE than just pictures and amazement? OK, fine. I asked Newton’s Director of Parks, Ahron Lehman, for an update. Here’s what he shared:

  • Synthetic turf field: playable and in regular use, both gates are open, and rules signs to be posted shortly. NO DOGS ALLOWED ON THIS FIELD.
  • Lights: Subcontractor is currently on-site pulling wires across the whole site. All equipment has been delivered to the site and will start to be installed inside the fieldhouse, too.
  • Softball field: Irrigation is being installed this week into next; seeding planned in 1-2 weeks.
  • Multi Use pathway top layer paving will be in 1-2 weeks; vehicle bollards and swing gates installed this week. After this is done, construction fencing will be removed from the south side of the park at the NECP playground, Murphy Field, and up to Gath Pool.
  • Murphy Field lights donated by Little League have been installed. Wiring is connected to the rest of the site, so not on yet. Field is open, though.
  • Post-tension basketball court has been poured and initial strength tests are excellent! Hoops are being installed. Sealcoating and painting lines to come.
  • Post-tension pickleball courts will start to be formed after the softball field is seeded, due to logistics with moving equipment around on-site.
  • There is excess soil from the project that is currently being tested for appropriate stockpiling or disposal, depending on results.
  • Mitigation area tree planting with Forestry, CRWA and local job training corps was a success! Planting subcontractor is preparing for the rest of the plantings within the next few weeks—they confirmed with us their plant purchases and will coordinate with us the layout and planting timeline for later this month.
  • Baseball field infield soil has been spread out. Irrigation and outfield will begin after softball and pickleball courts are built, due to site construction logistics.
  • Rest of the site’s tree planting will happen with Forestry in the fall.
  • July 4th fireworks are tentatively sited and approved in coordination with the Fire Dept. and fireworks company. We will together confirm the exact location once excess soil is moved off-site in the next few weeks.

Thank you, Ahron! Thank you, Newton Parks & Rec! Thank you, community, for making this happen! Back to your FOA programming…

Fish

We are proud to be part of a collaboration, led by Native Fish Coalition, and including YOU, to better understand what kinds of fish live in Cheesecake Brook. 

Join NFC on the morning of Friday, June 12 for a live session in the brook near Gath. Everyone is welcome!

Check out our new signs along the brook (pictures and details in this linked post):

New Signs and New Fish Studies – With Help From You

Traffic

We’ve got VERY good news on this front. (!!)

But first, we have to acknowledge that there are pressing, unresolved concerns about speeding on Albemarle. Back-in parking has increased safety on one side, but people still speed (or drive the wrong way) down the other side – where the houses are (!). Signs, speed bumps and more have been proposed by residents. The issues are under review by the Newton Director of Transportation, Jenn Martin. 

She also shared that, approved by City Council LAST NIGHT, there are positive improvements coming to the intersections. (We did it, everyone!!)

Here’s what she shared:

  • The Mayor docketed a request from Free Cash to pay for the design of a new traffic signal and some intersection geometry changes at North and Crafts to accompany the MassDOT SRTS Infrastructure Project traffic signals at Albemarle and Crafts. The Public Facilities docket has the docket request. Both Public Facilities (5/6) and Finance (5/11) unanimously approved the request and it passed a vote of the City Council on Monday, May 18. That work will enable the Albemarle/Crafts and North/Crafts signals to work together to efficiently move people through the intersections. 
    Construction is targeted for 2030 and construction of the Albemarle Road and Crafts Street SRTS improvements are fully programmed on the Boston Region MPO Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) for $1,762,238. Newton will pay for the construction of the North/Crafts work. The two projects will be done together. 

In short, YES – the traffic triangle at Albemarle, Crafts and North is going to get safer for everyone!

Thank you, Jenn Martin, Mayor Laredo, City Council, DPW ….and *this entire community* for pointing out what does and does not work! Let’s keep it up.


Annual Meeting

You are officially invited to join the board of FOA at our annual meeting on Saturday, June 6 at 12pm in front of the Field House (or occasionally in the shade behind it, if it’s hot and sunny).

That Color

That One Shade of Lilac

Breathe it in,

Cedar

New lights and new path!

So exciting to see the new lights and the new path going in!

Already getting some use as a space to bike through the park.

Isn’t it cool to see the path being built and to think about all the joyful walks and rolls that will happen here?

Creating connection, taking time outside, and moving are all excellent ways to use our shared recreational space…and this path will make it happen! Again and again.

Cheesecake Brook: wetlands work is underway

The development of the new version of Albemarle includes investment in the wetlands. Cheesecake Brook is a tributary of the Charles River and part of a large watershed that receives water from a third of the city. In addition to several species of native fish, the Brook has been found to contain eels!

New Signs, New Fish Studies – With Help From YOU

You might notice 5 new signs along Cheesecake Brook encouraging you to watch for fish, and share the news of what you find via email or an online form accessible via the QR code on the sign. Friends of Albemarle is part of this exciting collaboration, led by Native Fish Coalition and including Charles River Watershed Association, Newton Conservators, and Newton Parks & Recreation, and YOU, to better understand the local fish population that exists in Cheesecake Brook.

In 2025, Native Fish Coalition discovered several American eel in the brook, among other fish like carp and white sucker. Another e-fishing session is planned for June 12 of this year. Who knows what will be found? YOU can! Come join from 9am-12pm (near Gath Pool) – and help find out!

Who is that pictured, busy planning the sign installation? Why, it’s Ahron Lehman, Director of Open Space for Newton Parks & Recreation, on the left, and Jason Reyes, local resident, former child playing in Cheesecake Brook, board member for Mass Native Fish Coalition and person who did the work to install the signs. Not pictured: Me (Cedar Pruitt), taking this lovely picture and chiming in on what spots get the most foot traffic (we all immediately agreed on that point, actually – I guess most of us who know the Albemarle stretch of the Brook really do know it).

Field Notes: Friends of Albemarle Newsletter Winter 2026

Dear Friends, 

I was starting to think we’d have to become Friends of the Tundra, but I have it on good authority that the ground is under there somewhere.

Construction: How’s it Going?
Short answer: Fantastic! The contractors are hard at work and on schedule. 

Scenes:

On the Path to Pathways

Gosh That’s A Lot of Construction

We have an Interim Parks & Recreation Commissioner, Mark Welch. He says, “At this time the Albemarle project is still on track to be completed this Fall. Some of the natural grass areas will need some time to establish before play on them can start, but otherwise the project timeline we have been provided by our contractor has it completed this Fall. 

We expect it to be another great season at Gath. No major changes are in store. We are currently working on our summer schedule.”

Traffic: Signalization IS Coming – in 2030

Stoplights are planned for the accident-prone Crafts and Albemarle: 

Newton’s Transportation Director Jenn Martin says, “Construction is now targeted for FFY 2030. See the recent Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) amendment from January 15 (*search for Horace Mann as it is a Safe Routes to School fund). The project is now budgeted at $1,762,238.”

….But wait, do I have to do anything?

Yep. Your support will be needed. Making this intersection safer at all points will be a community effort. Design will need more funding in order to make the signalization work with the whole intersection. We will all need to work together on this. 

Back-In Parking: But Does it Work in the Winter

Yes. It does! It works on icy roads and amid snow banks. Thank you DPW for keeping it clear and thank you drivers for back-in parking safe, effective, and 100% consistent.

Check out the Winter Back-In Parking

Cheesecake Brook Has Eels and Sunfish and Suckers

Guess what? This month marks our first guest post! It’s all about what’s living in our wetland area. The Executive Director of the Native Fish Coalition, Bob Mallard, authored an article for us and provided pictures of the studies of Cheesecake Brook. He says, “To date NFC and our partners have captured 9 native white suckers, 15 non-native carp, 6 American eels, 1 native pumpkinseed sunfish, 1 native crayfish, and a few green frogs in Cheesecake Brook upstream of the cement slab.” 
They are doing more work in 2026 and yes…they will need your help! 

People Updates:

Welcoming our new mayor, Marc Laredo!

We said farewell to Nicole Banks, who was a huge help as former Commissioner of Parks & Rec, and is now helping parks in California. 

Josh Morse has also been a huge help in making our buildings great as former Building Commissioner, and he is now our city’s COO.

We also welcomed many new City Council members. Get to know ’em!

Views

Brrrrrr….Our beautiful woods and fields in the snow!

This Turf Is Made For Skiin, And That’s Just What It’ll Do…

Frosty Albie

TOTE BAGS

We still have some beautiful tote bags available! 

Please follow these steps to let us know if you’d like one:

Celebrate Friends of Albemarle With a Tote Bag!

Stay warm, stay green and keep moving!

Cedar

Guest Post: Fish Hiding in Plain Sight

I’m so excited to share our first Guest Post ever! Please welcome the Executive Director of Native Fish Coalition, Bob Mallard.

Cheesecake Brook in Albemarle Park: Fish Hiding in Plain Sight

In 2024, Native Fish Coalition (NFC) took an interest in suburban and urban streams.  We wanted to know more about these heavily altered waterways and whether they did or could support wild native fish.  Having grown up in Newton, I asked our Massachusetts chapter to take a look at Cold Spring Brook in Cold Spring Park.

NFC found fish in Cold Spring Park.  Had we not, the whole idea may have stopped right there.  We confirmed multiple age classes of golden shiners and catadromous American eels, both of which are native to the Charles River watershed.  We felt that if fish persisted in one of the most degraded streams we have ever seen they could be in other Newton streams as well.

Building on what we learned at Cold Spring Brook, NFC took a look at Hammond Brook, Laundry Brook, Paul Brook, and Cheesecake Brook.  NFC decided to take a closer look at Cheesecake Brook because we felt it had the most fish potential, and in several ways. 

Cheesecake Brook is a direct tributary to the Charles River.  The Charles River has rich fish biodiversity and biomass, including sea-run species such as alewives, blueback herring, rainbow smelt, and American shad.  And while passage from the river into the brook is impeded by a sloped cement slab, the structure is not nearly as challenging as that found on Laundry Brook.

As was the case at Cold Spring Brook and other Newton streams, Cheesecake Brook was believed to be fishless.  The only evidence of fish we could find was a blurred photo of what was said to be a goldfish, but may have been a carp, from Charles River Watershed Association.

The first thing NFC did was to set a minnow trap beneath the furthest downstream bridge on Watertown Street.  The next day, MA NFC board member Jeff Moore, also from Newton, called me and said he had captured a juvenile native white sucker. 

Wanting to dig in deeper, NFC turned to Adam Kautza from MassWildlife to see if he would be willing to electro-fish Cheesecake Brook.  When it comes to finding fish, nothing is as effective as electro-fishing as it temporarily stuns fish and brings them to the surface where they can be collected, viewed, and released unharmed.

In August 2025, members of MA NFC and MassWildlife electro-fished two sections of Cheesecake Brook: Just upstream of Craft Street and just upstream of the cement slab at the Charles River.  This effort resulted in the capture of 6 native white suckers, 12 nonnative carp, and six catadromous American eels, a species born in the Sargasso Sea.

Subsequent seining and trapping efforts conducted by NFC with help from Charles River Watershed Association and Friends of Cold Spring Brook yielded 2 more native white suckers, 1 additional nonnative carp, and a single native pumpkinseed sunfish, the first encountered upstream of the cement slab. 

To date NFC and our partners have captured 9 native white suckers, 15 nonnative carp, 6 American eels, 1 native pumpkinseed sunfish, 1 native crayfish, and a few green frogs in Cheesecake Brook upstream of the cement slab.  And we have seen countless more unidentified fish as well.  Interestingly, all fish captured or seen have been juveniles.

NFC will be continuing our work on Cheesecake Brook through the 2026 season.  We look to expand our fish surveys upstream of Watertown Street, as well as conducting some more surveys in Albemarle Park.  NFC also looks to do some eDNA metabarcoding testing to see what other species of fish might be in the stream.

NFC would like to monitor the cement slab on Cheesecake Brook just upstream of the Charles River during the spring to see of any river herring are gaining access to the stream or trying to do so.  We hope to be able to be able to solicit help from volunteers through informational signage, blogging, and articles in local newspapers.

There is still a lot of work to be done at Cheesecake Brook.  This includes monitoring water temperature and dissolved oxygen, as well as testing for salination from road salting in the spring after the first rains.  NFC is looking forward to working with other organizations and agencies to see what can be done to make life a bit easier for aquatic lifeforms in Cheesecake Brook.   

Click here to follow our work at Cheesecake Brook.  To donate to help fund our work at Cheesecake Brook click here.

About the author:

BOB MALLARD was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts.  He is a founding member and Executive Director for Native Fish Coalition.  Bob has written 5 books and hundreds of articles on fly fishing, fisheries management, and native fish conservation.  He can be reached at NativeFishCoalition.org or Info@NativeFishCoalition.org