We are pleased to announce that the A. J. & M. D. Ruggiero Memorial Trust has awarded an $88,800 grant to the Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery to support Phase 2 of our ongoing Indian Ridge Habitat Restoration.

The Ruggiero Memorial Trust has been a key supporter of Mount Auburn since its establishment in 1998, with over a million dollars in grants to the Friends for habitat enhancement initiatives. A year ago, their 2019 grant for Phase 1 of our work on Indian Ridge (replanting the steep slopes overlooking Halcyon Lake) provided the initial funding we needed to start the project. Thanks to an enthusiastic response from our supporters, we successfully completed that area and moved on to planning for work on more of the Ridge – which will once again be made possible by the continued generosity of the Ruggiero Memorial Trust.

Our second phase in 2021 will focus on the area atop the Ridge: replanting alongside the path and parts of the western side overlooking Auburn Lake. This will include creating two green roofs on the Auburn Lake Crypts, transforming the plain gravel roofs into an integral part of the improved landscape with habitat benefits of their own. Once complete, this redesigned landscape will feature native plants almost exclusively, transforming Indian Ridge into a showcase of the New England plant palette rarely found anywhere else.

Thank you to the Ruggiero Memorial Trust and all of our generous supporters for making this ambitious habitat project possible! If you would like to help support our work as well, please visit https://mountauburn.org/give/special-projects/ and select “Indian Ridge Habitat Restoration.”

Read more and watch our “Restoring Indian Ridge” video series at https://mountauburn.org/indian-ridge-habitat-restoration/.