An effort to improve conditions inside the Mattahunt Woods urban wild area in Mattapan is on track for completion later this year, according to neighbors familiar with the project.
After a few years of planning, the city of Boston embarked on a project last year to restore the urban wild, create new pathways, and beautify reflection areas on the three-acre parcel.
Some of the work has been done by trainees in the city’s green job training program – PowerCorps – who assisted general contractor Parterre Landscaping in clearing away invasive species, building pathways, and planting trees.
“It was about two months of PowerCorps working out there and we started at ground zero,” said Richard Sheriff, a crew leader at PowerCorps who worked on the project. “You couldn’t even walk down there. Invasives were 10 feet tall. The entire 2.5 to 3 acres had invasives all over. We had to remove all of those species before the contractors could get in to do their work.”
Sheriff said they spent one month just on that part of the project, coming in groups of three twice a week. After a solid month, “you could see a path from one end to the other.”
Mujihad Muhammad, PowerCorps program manager, said the program graduated its fourth class in March – focusing on students ages 18-30 from Boston’s urban areas. The organization teaches skills over a 10-month career-ready program in urban forestry, urban greening, or building operations. Most classes graduate 40 students, and a vast majority of them land jobs immediately.
“We prepare them for the workforce and green industry jobs,” he said.
As to the Mattahunt job? “We planted more than 2,000 shrubs, flowers and plants and also planted 12 trees there,” he said. “Everything now is almost done.”
Cat McCandless, the city’s project manager, said they are hoping for a ribbon cutting in July or August. “It’s been amazing working with the PowerCorps team,” she said. “It’s a fantastic example of a partnership between four different departments in Boston…I’m excited for you all to get in there and enjoy parts of the Woods that had been inaccessible for a long time.”
Sheriff said the PowerCorps program will continue to use the Mattahunt Woods as a training ground for tutoring in urban forestry management and other landscaping skills that are part of the program’s curriculum.
“Going forward, next year PowerCorps will maintain the trails and go back frequently to prune back and pick up litter,” he said, calling it the program’s “legacy project.”
Fatima Ali-Salaam, chair of the Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council, and neighbor Murial Leonard are pleased with the partnership.
“In 2019, it was a site the city thought of putting housing on, but because the community felt so strongly that it should go back to a conservation area, this project started,” said Ali-Salaam.
“There were 120 people that attended a meeting and voted. I am glad to see after all this time that open space was able to be returned and restored with work from community members.”
Those in the PowerCorps from Dorchester who worked on the project include Darius Farmer Winston, Janier Ward, Jeffrey Theragene, Joshua Lee, Karen Cheng, Kyle Person, Lagene Jones Richardson, Rasaun Harrison, and Jaden Charles. Those from Mattapan included Rodney Pierre, TaShana Brown, and Yves Pierre.
