Brooks Pond and the Pond Management Report

Digging muck. View taken from the middle of Slow Pond looking to the south east.

September 29, 1886. Courtesy Medford Brooks Estate Land Trust

As the debate over the Child Report's conclusion continued, the Brooks Estate Preservation Association undertook a further study of an important aspect of the Brooks Estate, specifically Brooks Pond. The resulting "Brooks Pond Management Report" was undertaken as part of the requirements of the first Pond grant in 1994. The Pond Report was authored by Tom Lincoln, Lois Grossman, and Heidi Davis, all members of the Brooks Estate Preservation Association. It was intended to help the future management and care of the most important natural features of the property.

Heidi Davis, a certified wetlands expert, provided the bulk of information concerning the habitat, vegetation and natural values of Brooks Pond. Important findings of the Report are summarized below.

Brooks Pond has been a community resource and natural area since its creation in the late nineteen century. The Pond was originally a marsh, covered with water in the spring, but comparatively dry on the surface and covered with coarse grass in summer and autumn. In 1825 Peter Chardon Brooks, Senior, was the first Brooks family member to remove the muck out of the marsh. But the construction only began in earnest in the 1880's. On December 5, 1889, the man-made pond was finished (Tom Lincoln, 1995). The pond was stocked with goldfish for fishing and rowboats were provided for boating.

Today the fish in the pond include common carp, pickerel, small mouth bass, sunfish, croppies and "minnows." People who fish in the pond do it as a sport rather than as food for the table. Ice skaters also enjoy the pond during the winter months.

Although the Brooks Estate is not a pristine wilderness, it supports a fair variety of wildlife, particularly birds. However, there are also a number of mammals. These include red fox, common woodchuck, squirrels, chipmunks, voles and mice. While many animals prefer wooded areas where they can set up a home for themselves and their offspring, the Brooks Estates provides a habitat for these animals in a crowded suburb.

A few of the reptiles that have also made their home on the Estate are common box turtles, snapping turtles, salamanders, and garter snakes.

Many birds have been observed over the years at the Estates... Canadian geese, merganser, night crown heron, great blue heron and a variety of duck species. A few weeks ago a person walking in the Brooks Estate reported seeing a spotted white owl.

In the spring of 1995, the Brookline Bird Club undertook a "Bird Census" at the Brooks Estate.

In their report (released in March, 1996) they noted "the purpose of the census was to identify the type and numbers of birds using the Brooks Estate either as migratory stopovers or as breeders so that 1) decisions about the future uses and changes in the property could take into account potential impacts on birds; 2) baseline data would be available for evaluations of the extent to which such changes have influenced bird populations."

Observations were made at six "Census Points" around the property and in two steps: a migration period and a breeding period. These ranged from chickadees to green herons. The Brooks Estate remains an excellent place to observe birds and their habits (Kennedy J. 1996)

To date eleven acres of the area surrounding Brooks Pond have been mapped as wetlands. Heidi Davis completed a wetland plant inventory after visiting the property on four separate occasions in 1995. Wetlands are under the protection of the federal government.

From the bachelors thesis: Case Study of the Brooks Estate, by Linda M. Penta. American Studies Program, Leslie College