Flora and Fauna of Lake Quannapowitt

Friends of Lake Quannapowitt works in coordination with the Town of Wakefield on various lakeside landscaping and shoreline planting projects. On this page, you’ll find more information about those projects, as well as the flora and fauna you’ll find around the lake.

Our goal with these projects is to provide benefits to the lake such as:

shoreline and sediment stabilization
filtration of of stormwater and pollutants for improved water quality
habitat and food for lake wildlife
biodiversity of plants and animals in and around the lake
enhancing the natural beauty of the lake

There is much work to be done! FOLQ seeks to promote healthy plant growth and to remove invasives like Purple Loosestrife, Bindweed, Garlic Mustard, Bittersweet, Orange Daylilies, Crown Vetch, and many others.

If you are interested in helping to steward this or other areas of land around Lake Quannapowitt, consider becoming an FOLQ volunteer!

One of the best ways to impact these projects is to become a member of Friends of Lake Quannapowitt! Your membership dues go directly towards planting and maintaining areas around the lake, education, water quality improvements, and much more.

Our Shoreline Plant Projects

Hall Park Native Plant Patch | Gertrude Spaulding Pollinator Garden

Hall Park Native Plant Patch

In the spring of 2024, Friends of Lake Quannapowitt identified a patch of shoreline at Hall Park that was home to many native plants and would be a prime spot to allow to grow, rather than be mowed. We partnered with the Town to stop mowing in this area between two birch trees and the results are fantastic.

At mid-summer, this shoreline restoration project is showing tremendous results. Large patches of Spotted Joe Pye Weed, Jewelweed, and Wrinkle Leaf Goldenrod are thriving. Elderberry shrubs are blooming and aquatic plants like Pickerelweed and Yellow Loosestrife are healthy.

The Hall Park Patch (to the left of the Veterans Field parking lot)

Eutrochium maculatum (Spotted joe-pye weed)

Sambucus canadensis (American Black Elderberry)

Impatiens capensis (Spotted Jewelweed)

Pontederia cordata (Pickerelweed)

Gertrude Spaulding Pollinator Garden

Located at the north end or “head” of the Lake, this park is named after Gertrude Spaulding, “civic leader and advocate for open space and conservation. She led a 20-year effort to establish the Conservation Commission, finally succeeding in 1983. She also founded Friends of Lake Quannapowitt” in 1990 and was instrumental in the events that resulted in the head of the Lake being an open, public, park area.

Today, Gertrude Spaulding Park (next to Colonel Connelly Park) features a set of stairs and a quiet path down to a small beach area that is perfect for enjoying lake views and taking in nature. It’s often frequented by ducks and plenty of pollinators (butterflies, bees, etc.) in addition to its human visitors. Since 2022, Friends of Lake Quannapowitt has focused on developing a native plant garden and removing invasive species in the immediate area.

Information quoted about Gertrude Spaulding came from the book, Images of America: Lake Quannapowitt, by Alison Simcox and Douglas Heath.