Photos: Volunteers Clean and Spruce Up Ell Pond

Melrose residents undertook some spring cleaning during the the on Saturday, while also donating old bicycles and swapping books and plants.

Sponsored by the Ell Pond Committee in collaboration with , the day also gave Melrosians the opportunity to donate old bicycles to Bikes Not Bombs.

Tristan Stull and Scott Harper from the Jamaica Plain-based organization said 400 bikes were scheduled to ship out to Guatamala on Sunday, while most of the bike donations they receive lately go to Africa. Some are used to create manpowered machines—such as powering a generator or operating a blender—but most are used for the basic purpose of providing transportation.

On the Tremont Street side of Ell Pond, behind and the Rotary Skate Park, Taylor Smith from Boy Scout Troop 635 directed volunteers in hammering steel rebars through logs to create a path around the pond, which will prevent landscapers from mowing too close to the water's edge and damaging the pond's natural vegetation.

Smith developed the idea as his Eagle Scout project, and also directed volunteers sprucing up a muddy area along the path with stepping stones to prevent people from walking around the muddy spot and inadvertently widening the path. New trees were also being planted as part of Smith's Eagle Scout project.

The Ell Pond Committee meets from April to September on the first Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at . From October to March, the committee meets at 7 p.m. at the ; for more information, call 781-526-7383. Boy Scout Troop 635 meets at at 7 p.m. on Mondays.

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