Joshua De-Anda
URI Internship Year:
2022
Joshua is a 2023 Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of Environment. He has worked on city-scale decarbonization and environmental policy. His interests include basic needs access, food insecurity, mental health, environmental justice, and he’s recently acquired a passion for forest systems, urban ecology, and all things trees. He is excited for a summer of hands-on, community-oriented greenspace work with URI.
Joshua is a proud first-generation college graduate, having completed his BA in Political Science at UCLA in 2020. In his spare time, you can catch him playing video games, taking long walks around New Haven, reading, painting, thrifting, or playing volleyball.
Group
Fair Haven Neighbors In Action
Greenspace Log
Date | Category | Photos | Group | Summary | |
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08/06/2022 |
What an AMAZING final workday at Rainbow Park!! We had a good number of extra volunteers to re-plant the front of the park that was affected by the water source installation. It doesn't even look like there was a water source installation - the park looks good as new!! Great community time over beautiful perennials and fresh mulch makes a huge difference! |
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08/04/2022 |
BPP URBAN OASIS - Our last work day of the season!! It was hot so we spent some time clearing out the trail since USFWS put in some new trail markers. We also removed dozens of Autumn Olive bushes that were covering the pond view, and in that clearing we uncovered a 12-foot oak tree sapling; it was covered in multiflora rose and bittersweet, so we made sure to free it of any and all invasive vines. What a wonderful way to end the work season! |
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08/04/2022 |
END OF THE YEAR CELEBRATION WOO LETS GOOOOO!!!!!!! What a work season! The Friends of Kimberly Park really put their heart, soul, and sweat into making this abandoned lot into a beautiful park. This final convening of the season was a celebration + soft opening of the park. We had food, free toys, and fun for the community! It was so much fun! |
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08/03/2022 |
Celebration time! The Friends of BPP rejoiced over ice pops and a wonderful Summer of work! After our celebration we made sure to water the Hophornbeam we planted last week. What an awesome Summer! |
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08/02/2022 |
After a great planting season, we spent our last day stewarding our planted trees and picking up trash on Exchange, Poplar, and Wolcott. What an amazing Summer!!! |
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07/30/2022 |
We spent some time flattening the brick path and planted some new cone flowers, daylilies, and sedum in the park! |
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07/30/2022 |
We finished off our last work day at Oyster Point with the completion of the trail that runs through Bayview Park! The wood chips made the trail pop and re-connected a historical trail for the city of New Haven. What an amazing summer!! |
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07/29/2022 |
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07/29/2022 |
Spontaneous work day! We still had a lot of plants leftover from yesterday's big day and we just wanted to get them into the ground. So everyone rallied as many people as they could and we put every single one into the ground! We also had some help from folks walking by, so that was a magical feeling! |
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07/29/2022 |
Our final workday concluded at the triangle! We swept, pulled invasives, and mulched the entirety of it to make it pop! It's amazing what a little love can do to a green space! What an amazing summer with the Ms. Betty and her awesome family! |
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07/29/2022 |
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07/29/2022 |
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07/29/2022 |
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07/29/2022 |
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07/29/2022 |
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07/28/2022 |
BPP URBAN OASIS - The team spent time clearing out invasives along the fence so that USFWS could repair it so deer don't jump into the oasis. We also spent time admiring the new beautiful footbridge USFWS put it! |
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07/28/2022 |
We've broken ground!!! We spent all summer preparing the perennial beds by weeding, adding fresh topsoil, mixing in some compost, and adding some moisture to create a good home for new the new perennials of Kimberly park. And today was that day! We planted almost 30 perennials in the shady regions of the park alongside some daylilies for and sage for the trees. |
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07/27/2022 |
The Friends of BPP finished off their planting season with the planting of a beautiful Hop-hornbeam in the park. The children also spent some time painting two wooden coyotes to add to their garden. What an amazing Summer!! |
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07/26/2022 |
Our last day of planting was full of serendipity! We planted one Buckeye on the corner of the corner of Poplar and Wolcott but we weren't sure where to put the second one as we had run out of space at 181 Poplar. While we were mulching the first tree, Ed ran into an old friend who owned a home two houses down from where we were. And we had happened to mark that home's curb strip for a CBYD ticket. The friend, Bryan, was super excited about our work and also wanted a tree so we put the second buckeye in the ground in front of his home, ending our planting season on a good note - we planted a total of 6 trees and made a completely empty street beautiful! |
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07/23/2022 |
We got the green light to wood chip the trail! So we spent the day weeding the trail and adding more logs along its edge to make it look nice. Before departing, we went over to the the beach-side green space to plant the two New Jersey Tea plants. |
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07/23/2022 |
Chris stopped by again to help put together the new water hose mount. We dug a hole together for the stake and also cleared some of the excess soil that was in the garden beds. |
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07/22/2022 |
After stewarding the park, we moved over to the median, which was already weeded for the most part - thanks to our friends at Emerge and East Rock Park. We made sure to mulch the whole median with fresh pine park. |
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07/21/2022 |
BPP URBAN OASIS - We continued our fight against the invasives and also removed many small willow trees that were blocking the view of the oasis. Shakira and Josh also measured the new trail opening for a new USFWS footbridge! |
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07/21/2022 |
Tree planting day!! Much thanks to the common ground high school crew that came in earlier in the day to plant the Amelanchier (service berry) tree. They also helped dig a portion of the hole for the Hawthorne that the group planted in the evening. What a fun day! We made sure to water our two new trees that frame the entrance of the park. |
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07/20/2022 |
It was a hot day, so we had about 10 volunteers. Our focus this time was the perennial beds at the corner near the intersection. We weeded and mulched. Nan and I also discussed tree planting ideas and decided to go with the Hop-hornbeam |
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07/19/2022 |
Our Third tree planting day was awesome! We had Ed, Rosario, and Pedro to help out with tree planting. Ben came out to say hi. We watered the two trees we had already planted and planted another Purple Crabapple and Horse Chestnut. We also planted some perennials around the trees we planted. |
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07/19/2022 |
Our Third tree planting day was awesome! We had Ed, Rosario, and Pedro to help out with tree planting. Ben came out to say hi. We watered the two trees we had already planted and planted another Purple Crabapple and Horse Chestnut. We also planted some perennials around the trees we planted. |
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07/16/2022 |
Stewardship day! It's been an especially hot week so we made sure to water every tree in sight. We also accomplished our goal of standing the fallen cedar back up with some wooden stakes. Awesome day! |
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07/16/2022 |
Chris stopped by to advise us on our summer plans given the water source installation. We'll be installing a 4x4 stake near the source to hold up the new 100ft hose for the park. |
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07/14/2022 |
BPP URBAN OASIS - With so much turnout, we moved on from the trailing tackled the oasis itself, clearing its trail and weeding and and all invasives in sight, especially porcelain berry. |
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07/14/2022 |
We were able to get the water running! So we spent our work time preparing the perennial beds by watering them so it would be easier to to pull out grass and weeds. We also picked up trash and marked our proposed stone dust trail with white paint. |
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07/13/2022 |
With another week of insane turnout, the friends of BPP cleared the pond side garden of invasives, unloaded more pine bark mulch, planted some perennials at their entrance, and girdled a Tree of Heaven. |
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07/12/2022 |
Our second tree planting day went well. While Miguel the landlord was traveling, we still had Ed, Rosario, and Letisha to help out with tree planting. This hole was much easier to dig than the first one - there were less stones in our way while digging. We made sure to soak our previously planted tree with water for a good 10 minutes and did the same with our new tree - a horse chestnut. |
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07/02/2022 |
This was our first day at Bayview Park! We spent some time weeding invasives around last year's tree and along the fence. We also discussed the potential trail in preparation for the parks meeting during URI's week off. |
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07/02/2022 |
A water source was finally installed at Rainbow Park! So we spent the hour assessing the damage done to the park by the installation process and created a game plan for the rest of the Summer: re-configure the stones, move excess soil and gravel from the perennial beds, and add more plants to the park where digging occurred. |
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07/01/2022 |
Today was our painting day! We setup a large tarp and invited children at the playground to paint the trash cans and the pocket library. |
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06/30/2022 |
What an exciting day! Chris came by to rearrange the large stones that were laid all around the park. We ended up using them to create a pathway right in the middle of the park. The kids immediately gravitated toward the lined up stones as it is fun walking and balancing along them. |
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06/30/2022 |
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06/30/2022 |
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06/30/2022 |
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06/30/2022 |
BPP URBAN OASIS - Shakira, the USFWS intern joined us at the urban oasis! We finished clearing the trail and opened up a new trail in the middle of existing trail that appreciates some beautiful evergreens planted in prior years. We also spoke with Shakira about plans for USFWS to install another foot bridge for the new trail we made. |
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06/29/2022 |
With such a great turnout, the friends of BPP were able to accomplish a lot! We unloaded pine mulch from the trucks with the help of the children and their tiny shovels, trimmed Kevin's memorial tree, watered the children’s garden and continued clearing invasives out to make space for our future tree planting. |
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06/28/2022 |
The Fair Haven Neighbors in Action spent their first hour and a half walking up and down Exchange Street cleaning out all the curb strips of weeds and invasives. We were all anticipating the big event: our first tree planting of the season. At 6:30, we made our way to 181 Poplar to greet Miguel, the owner of the home who had agreed to plant along his curb strip. As the group started digging, remnants of the old stone-path that existed before the sidewalk came to light. Huge grey, stone bricks kept coming up, so the group decided to create a nice stone wall around the tree once it was planted. Midway, Miguel brought out freshly squeezed lemonade - what a sweet treat! We ended with beautiful sunset and new home for a purple crabapple tree. |
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06/25/2022 |
What a wonderful surprise it was to have so many new volunteers join us at Rainbow Park! We focused on weeding spiderwort and garlic mustard. |
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06/25/2022 |
After spending the last two weeks weeding and cleaning up the beach site, we mulched the entire perennial bed. It looked beautiful! |
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06/24/2022 |
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06/24/2022 |
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06/24/2022 |
After cleaning out the beautiful Garden 219, we spent today weeding and mulching the perennials beds at the playground! |
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06/23/2022 |
After learning how to use the tools last week, the team used their skills to trim the mulberry trees that were blocking visibility of the park. It made a magical difference! We also picked up trash and continued weeding mugwort while continuing our visioning. |
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06/23/2022 |
BPP URBAN OASIS - we had a great first work session at the Urban Oasis! We walked the trailed that hugs the pond leading up to the Oasis. We decided that cleaning this trail would be a priority in the week prior so we trimmed it up so people could walk through it and removed many invasives. |
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06/21/2022 |
Pat and I had a great canvassing session, where we left flyers on to doors to let people know that we need volunteers to help us out at Rainbow Park. |
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06/21/2022 |
We planted four Hostas in the curb strip in front of Ed’s house and mulched. I showed Pedro how to use See Click Fix to get his tree trimmed so that the tree isn’t interfering with overhead cables. |
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06/18/2022 |
What an eventful workday! The beach greenspace is nearly all clear of invasives and ready for planting and mulching. We’ve identified three spots for three different plants: New Jersey Tea, Hostas, and Black Eyed Susan. A reporter from the New Haven Independent also joined us; it seemed like everyone had a good time talking about their work as Olivia The Independent intern went around asking questions. |
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06/18/2022 |
Our first workday focused on clearing the trail of weeds. We learned how to use a scuffle how for the trail instead of manually picking each one out. It was a brisk morning and quite chilly, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying the bright yellow Marigolds that parks gifted rainbow park. |
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06/17/2022 |
Our second work day was built on much of the weeding we did on our first. Garden 219 is ready for a new planting and fresh mulch! Everyone also picked a poster based on some samples I brought - everyone was excited to see the potential ‘No Dumping’ signs their garden will have. |
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06/16/2022 |
BPP URBAN OASIS - Our first walk through of the urban oasis went well! The group discussed their goals and list of to-dos for the summer. |
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06/16/2022 |
Our first workday at Kimberly Park was great! We spent the first half hour talking about three invasive plants: Japanese Knotweed, Bittersweet, and Mugwort. All the children quickly learned and could Identify them all on their one once we started weeding at the to-be front entrance of the park. We cut back some of the Mulberry tree to make the entrance more visible, and we also taught the children how to use different tools: hand sheers, loppers, and shovels. It was a great workday! |
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06/15/2022 |
This workday started with a bang! Joan had to leave early so everyone rushed to add topsoil to the children’s garden. The adults and children worked together to create an assembly line to move our yard of topsoil off the Isuzu and into the children’s garden. The fresh topsoil meant that the children could now plant their annuals, which looked beautiful in their garden! We also had several new faces, all of whom helped the children and also helped clear out some multiflora rose and silky dogwood. The clearing opens up the opportunity to plant a tree that is going to be collectively chosen in the coming weeks. |
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06/14/2022 |
Our first workday landed on a hot day. After a couple of weeks of planning, we brought out the green board, added some signage, and waited for volunteers to show up - two did! We spent some time weeding a couple of the curb strips along Exchange and made some space to plant a couple of Hostas. After a successful hour and a half of weeding the curb-strips, we went over to Poplar st to knock on some doors for tree planting. It turns out the new landlord of a home on Poplar (which also has space for almost 5 trees) - a home that had been opposed to plantings for the last 10 years - wants to plant some trees! So we ended the night on a high note with hope of more trees in Fair Haven. |
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06/11/2022 |
We had a beautiful first workday at Oyster Point - no rain and just enough clouds and Sound breeze to keep us cool! We spent Saturday morning weeding the Howard and S. Water St. greenspace. We ended the day with almost 10 full green-waste bags of Sticky-weed and Mugwort. |
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06/11/2022 |
Rainbow Park had a great first visioning session to discussion plans for the summer: prepare for water installation, recruit new volunteers, and rid of any and all invasives in the park! |
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06/10/2022 |
We started our first Cedar Hill workday of the season with a deep weeding of Garden 219. People passing by couldn't help but ask what we were up to while we dug out the Mugwort, Sticky-weed, and Bittersweet. After only an hour of cleaning, the space looked dazzling - out came a beautiful wall of Golden Euonymus and we even found a hidden variegated Hosta! |
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06/08/2022 |
The Friends of Beaver Ponds Park started their work day with a planning huddle, sitting on their beautifully-placed stone benches shaded by the Catalpa canopy. Introductions were in order with a vision-session thereafter. “I want to paint more rocks” some of the children shouted. “Why don’t we have any fruit trees,” the adults discussed. Invasive removal, one of the core tasks, was obviously part of their Summer work plan. After our sit-down, everyone was off - they all knew what they wanted to do: some went to trim invasives at the wildflower garden while others plucked them and mulched alongside the services road; children basked at the Isuzu’s ‘elevator-play-time’ potential while helping unload mulch; and the perennial bed at the entrance of BPP was given some anti-invasive love. While the children couldn’t plant directly into their garden just yet, they were able to pot some of the beautiful annuals provided by Pardee’s Greenhouse. The workday ended with a beautiful sunset and an exciting forecast of fireflies in the coming weeks. |
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06/07/2022 |
After our walk of the area, Ed and I canvassed and passed out fliers around the neighborhood to get people interested in the program. We also marked our potential tree planting spots with white paint for CBYD. |
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06/04/2022 |
The vision session with Ed went well! We walked Exchange, Wolcott, and Poplar to scope out potential tree sites and discussed a plan for the Summer. |
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06/03/2022 |
FOBPP group leaders Nan and Joan met to walk the park and create a work plan for the summer. |