“This beautiful sheet of water, like a sapphire gem set round with emeralds…” Samuel Francis Smith, History of Newton, Massachusetts, 1880
Grey Tiemann, 2024 BPA Scholar and NNHS graduate
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Bullough's Pond Association
2025 Scholarship Recipients to be Announced Sunday May 25th We were delighted to receive a record number of applications for the 2025 Bullough's Pond Assocation Scholarship. The Scholarship was first proposed by then-BPA board member and former NNHS Principal Jennifer Huntington. Newton high school seniors who have records of academic study in environmental issues, and demonstrated community service on behalf of the environment generally, and Bullough's Pond in particular, are eligible to apply.
The Association sponsors up to two scholarships per year, each worth $1000 and awarded to a high school senior who lives, or attends high school, in Newton, MA. Applications are due April 30 each year.
Learn more HERE. The 2024 BPA Scholar Grey Tiemann graduated from NNHS. He's now a student at U. Mass Amherst majoring in Animal Science and Biotechnology. He loves the outdoors and plans a career involving the natural environment and conservation. |
Many Thanks to Our Volunteers Who Did a Great Job at the 2025 NewtonServes Spring Clean-Up at Bullough's Pond
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On Sunday, May 4, 2025, Newton Serves Day, Bullough's Pond Association members, neighbors, and elected officials kindly showed up as volunteers for our annual spring clean up. The BPA-organized clean up ran from 9:00am to 4:00pm. Our focus was on picking up the trash discarded in this precious place by people
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who leave their bottles, food wrappers, vape pens and cigarette butts behind when visiting or driving past the pond. We also used pool skimmers and trash grabbers to retrieve plastic, dog poop bags and other trash that flows into the pond from storm drains. We also gathered up loose sticks and other tripping hazards, and raked leaves from areas where they had accumulated excessively. Thanks to our volunteers (see below) for a great day.
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Volunteers turned out and worked hard on NewtonServes Day in 2025. In the photo in the top row at left, BPA board members Kevin Sloan, Laura Studen and Kathleen Kouril Grieser and City Councilor Tarik Lucas are pictured with other volunteers. At right BPA President Laura Studen is pictured with two young volunteers. In the center row at left is State Representative Amy Sangiolo collecting plastics in the pond along with City Councilor Lucas. In the photo at right is BPA board member Griff Resch and his son. In the bottom row are BPA members Angela and Randy Johnson at left, Dalton Johnson and Karen Axelrod in the center photo, and at left, longtime BPA member David Ford.
The Bullough's Pond Dam Working Group Continues Work
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The Bullough's Pond Dam rehabilitation project has been moving very slowly, perhaps because so many other public facilities projects (Levingston Cove, Gath Pool, Senior Center, etc) have been underway.
Historical records show the dam has been in place since 1664. It was rebuilt as a concrete core wall dam more than a century ago. The last major dredging and repair work took place more than 30 years ago. The Laundry Brook Forest below the dam stands despite the passage of time. Through hurricanes and storms through all those centuries, the dam has never been overtopped (water spilling over Dexter Road), nor breached (a dam break). |
In 2018, the State, on a routine inspection, decided that the dam was overdue for repairs and ordered the City of Newton to come up with a plan to rehabilitate the dam. The State has not imposed a strict deadline on the City, and indeed, the City has not demonstrated urgency over the years because the dam is fundamentally very strong.
A plan presented by a earlier consultant was overwhelming rejected by residents across Newton in 2021 because it proposed clearcutting much of the Laundry Brook Forest and covering the forest floor with concrete, a design that wouldn't prevent downstream flooding. The then Commisioner of Public Works withdrew that plan and began a process to find a consultant with better ideas. He and his team chose a new consultant, GEI. He also established the Bullough's Pond Dam Working Group to evaluate GEI's designs, offer feedback and ask for additional information, studies and design ideas, so the best possible plan could be designed.
Bullough's Pond Dam Working Group is tasked with evaluating dam rehabilitation options designed and presented by GEI, the engineering consultants hired by the Administration for that purpose. The Working Group is led by the Commissioner of the Department of Public Works (DPW) and includes the City's Chief Operating Officer, the City Engineer, staff from DPW and PR&C, four Newton City Councilors, a representative of the Newtonville Area Council, and representatives from the BPA board.
After two meetings in 2022, the Working Group was not convened again by the Administration until March of 2024. In the interim, the heavy rains of 2023 and 2024 again demonstrated the dam's great strength. The Working Group was finally reconvened by the Administration at a meeting in March 2024 and viewed a presentation by GEI of some dam rehabilitation design alternatives. Since that meeting in March 2024, members of the Working Group and some City Councilors have asked for additional information, more accurate cost estimates, time-lapse simulations, more precise renderings and graphics, throrough investigation of up-to-date spillway and sensor-automated outflow technologies, and a design that solves the problem of the Hull Street grated pipe which has been the actual source of downstream flooding in the past. None of these materials have been provided. It seems a waste of staff and Working Group time and taxpayer dollars that the current Administration is currently proposing a plan that is almost identical to the one rejected by residents and withdrawn by the former Commissioner of Public Works in 2021.
As of May 2025, members of the Working Group are still working hard and requesting improved designs that would: 1. Use advanced weir technology to control water flows through the dam's spillway before, during and after a major storm event; 2. Extend, augment and strengthen the internal concrete core wall of the dam; 3. Automate the mechanism that would drawn down the pond in advance of a major storm to provide additional water storage capacity; 4. Dredge the pond to create additional water storage capacity; 5. Address the true risk of downstream flooding in the event of a major storm event, which is the location of the undergrounding of Laundry Brook into a grated pipe at Hull Street; and 6. Preserve the trees of the Laundry Brook Forest as was done at the award-winning Arlington Reservoir Dam in Arlington, MA. We'll continue to keep you updated...
A plan presented by a earlier consultant was overwhelming rejected by residents across Newton in 2021 because it proposed clearcutting much of the Laundry Brook Forest and covering the forest floor with concrete, a design that wouldn't prevent downstream flooding. The then Commisioner of Public Works withdrew that plan and began a process to find a consultant with better ideas. He and his team chose a new consultant, GEI. He also established the Bullough's Pond Dam Working Group to evaluate GEI's designs, offer feedback and ask for additional information, studies and design ideas, so the best possible plan could be designed.
Bullough's Pond Dam Working Group is tasked with evaluating dam rehabilitation options designed and presented by GEI, the engineering consultants hired by the Administration for that purpose. The Working Group is led by the Commissioner of the Department of Public Works (DPW) and includes the City's Chief Operating Officer, the City Engineer, staff from DPW and PR&C, four Newton City Councilors, a representative of the Newtonville Area Council, and representatives from the BPA board.
After two meetings in 2022, the Working Group was not convened again by the Administration until March of 2024. In the interim, the heavy rains of 2023 and 2024 again demonstrated the dam's great strength. The Working Group was finally reconvened by the Administration at a meeting in March 2024 and viewed a presentation by GEI of some dam rehabilitation design alternatives. Since that meeting in March 2024, members of the Working Group and some City Councilors have asked for additional information, more accurate cost estimates, time-lapse simulations, more precise renderings and graphics, throrough investigation of up-to-date spillway and sensor-automated outflow technologies, and a design that solves the problem of the Hull Street grated pipe which has been the actual source of downstream flooding in the past. None of these materials have been provided. It seems a waste of staff and Working Group time and taxpayer dollars that the current Administration is currently proposing a plan that is almost identical to the one rejected by residents and withdrawn by the former Commissioner of Public Works in 2021.
As of May 2025, members of the Working Group are still working hard and requesting improved designs that would: 1. Use advanced weir technology to control water flows through the dam's spillway before, during and after a major storm event; 2. Extend, augment and strengthen the internal concrete core wall of the dam; 3. Automate the mechanism that would drawn down the pond in advance of a major storm to provide additional water storage capacity; 4. Dredge the pond to create additional water storage capacity; 5. Address the true risk of downstream flooding in the event of a major storm event, which is the location of the undergrounding of Laundry Brook into a grated pipe at Hull Street; and 6. Preserve the trees of the Laundry Brook Forest as was done at the award-winning Arlington Reservoir Dam in Arlington, MA. We'll continue to keep you updated...
The Dam Working Group in March 2024.
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One of consultant GEI's design options.
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City Councilors Tour Pond
On a misty morning in March 2024, five Newton city councilors, including City Council President Marc Laredo, took the time to walk all the way around the pond on a BPA-led educational tour of some of the challenges the pond is facing and BPA efforts to address those challenges.
The councilors learned about the historic and aesthetic importance of the dam and Laundry Brook Forest. Other topics covered included stormwater infrastructure, silting, invasive plants, and the need for improved stonedust sidewalks, granite curbing, rebuilt retaining walls, new fences and railings. They learned of problems resulting from tree-cutting on slopes and construction near the pond, loud late-night parties at an abutting short-term rental, and the recent increase in visitors leaving behind trash, dog poop, beer bottles and worse. We are grateful for the interest these councilors are taking in BPA efforts to preserve the environment at Bullough's Pond and the Laundry Brook Forest. At left, Ward 2 City Councilor David Micley, BPA Vice President Kathleen Kouril Grieser, Ward 5 at-Large City Councilor Rena Getz, Ward 2 at-Large City Councilor Tarik Lucas, Ward 3 City Councilor Julia Malakie and City Council President/ Ward 7 at-Large City Councilor Marc Laredo, along with Councilor Micley's son, tour Bullough's Pond. Photo, Councilor Micley.
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Amazing Pond Art Photos
Ellen Foust, a photographer who has focused on creating gorgeous images of Bullough's Pond for several years, is also a generous supporter of the BPA. Those who purchase Foust's art prints or 2025 calendars featuring images of the pond will be pleased to know that Ms. Foust generously donates 30% of proceeds to support the work of the Bullough's Pond Association. To make a purchase please email:
[email protected]. 
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BPA Gifts a Fifth New Bench as the Association's Bench Upgrades Continue
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The BPA works diligently with Newton's Parks, Recreation & Culture (PR&C) Department in an effort to maintain and improve the natural and aesthetic environment of Bullough's Pond. As PR&C has a constrained budget, the Association is providing new benches at existing seating areas around the pond, which PR&C and other City crew members install when they can. The BPA's newest bench at the Half Moon (see right) was installed on March 25, 2024 at the Half Moon opposite Berkshire Road.
This newest bench at the Half Moon is in addition to the two new benches purchased by the Bullough's Pond Association that were installed by City workers, in November 2023 on the pond's bank, near the willow trees at the corner of Bullough Park and Dexter Road. |
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The benches match the two that were provided by the BPA at the Medallion Overlook in 2018, and all five have plaques honoring the membership of the BPA, as your donations make such improvements possible.
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More Updates: The BPA board is working on further upgrades. This year's heavy rains once again demonstrated the dam's great strength (below right), but did lead to an explosion of invasive plant growth (below, left), so invasives removal is again high on the BPA's agenda during 2025.
BPA Gift Shopping:
Did you know you can support the care and protection of Bullough's Pond and take care of some of your gift shopping at the same time? Visit the Shop page on our website, or email [email protected] to order BPA merchandise and arrange pick up or delivery.
Bullough's Pond Holiday Cards feature an image of peace that's perfect for any of the winter holidays, and elegant Bullough's Pond Note Cards make a wonderful small gift. Give your family, friends and co-workers a little taste of our neighborhood with a cheerful and stylish BPA Logo Coffee Mug.
For a young child in your life, purchase a copy of Jamie and the Ducks of August, a charming story about a little boy and the ducks he loves on Bullough's Pond, written by the BPA's own Helene Tischler and illustrated by her longtime Bullough's Pond neighbor, the artist Charlotte Lockwood. Proceeds support the Association's maintenance efforts at the pond. Click the product photos to shop.
Did you know you can support the care and protection of Bullough's Pond and take care of some of your gift shopping at the same time? Visit the Shop page on our website, or email [email protected] to order BPA merchandise and arrange pick up or delivery.
Bullough's Pond Holiday Cards feature an image of peace that's perfect for any of the winter holidays, and elegant Bullough's Pond Note Cards make a wonderful small gift. Give your family, friends and co-workers a little taste of our neighborhood with a cheerful and stylish BPA Logo Coffee Mug.
For a young child in your life, purchase a copy of Jamie and the Ducks of August, a charming story about a little boy and the ducks he loves on Bullough's Pond, written by the BPA's own Helene Tischler and illustrated by her longtime Bullough's Pond neighbor, the artist Charlotte Lockwood. Proceeds support the Association's maintenance efforts at the pond. Click the product photos to shop.
Bullough's Pond Holiday Cards, 5 pack $10
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Bullough's Note Cards, 10 unique cards $16
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BPA Coffee Mug $14
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BPA Children's Book $10
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A Way to Give is to Renew Your BPA Membership With Your Annual Gift
You may have recently received an annual appeal letter (like the one pictured at right) from the BPA. If you haven't had time to join or renew your membership yet, please take a minute to do so as soon as you can, so the BPA can continue to care for and advocate for the pond, the historic dam, and the adjacent forest. You can make your tax-deductible contribution online here, or send a check made out to the Bullough's Pond Association to:
Bullough's Pond Association P.O. Box 600669 Newtonville, MA 02460 |
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Bullough's Pond Bird
& Waterfowl Visitors All photos by Kathleen Kouril Grieser 
Geat Blue Heron
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Swan
Red-tailed Hawk
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Mallard
Cormorant
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