In cooperation with the City of Rochester, the Friends offer regular educational tours of Washington Grove highlighting its geology, ecology, and the impact of invasive species.
The Friends also organize and manage numerous work parties throughout the year where volunteers remove invasive plants, plant native species, and conduct trail maintenance. For these events, we select plants from a short list of trees, shrubs, and ground cover based on research of the Washington Grove and similar forest biomes. The list includes species that are currently present in the Grove but are either rare or have failed to regenerate, species known to have been lost to the Grove since the 1920s, and species which belong to plant communities typical of this oak-hickory forest.
As part of our commitment to community building in and around the City of Rochester, the Friends have developed relationships with several outside organizations including the Monroe County Water Authority, the ABC Streets Neighborhood Association, the Highland Heights Association, the Nunda Boulevard Association, and the Upper Monroe Neighborhood Association. We are also a member of the South East Area Coalition (SEAC).
Over the decades the Friends have spent innumerable hours on maintenance, new plantings, fundraising and promotion of the Grove. An example is the reconstruction of the Nunda Entrance to the Grove, completed in 2020 with generous support from the community.
A new boulder wall, elaborating on Francis Gott’s original 1937 post & lintel design, closes off the Boulevard, encompassing a gathering area paved with Medina cobblestones. On the slope beyond the wall, Medina stone steps lead up into the Grove. The Friends removed three large invasive Norway maples from the entryway to create space for native plants and to slow the spread of the invasive trees elsewhere in the Grove. This project was necessary because the Grove’s original entrance had become sunken, slippery, and irreparably worn in places. With the help of local Eagle Scouts, the Friends also re-routed a dangerously eroded entry path into the Grove.
The Friends are committed to working toward ensuring that the Grove and other natural resources in Rochester are accessible and welcoming to all people, including people of color and those who have been historically excluded. This includes advocacy for easier entrance to the Grove from the reservoir side and for increased canopy cover in city neighborhoods currently lacking street trees.