Boston Urban Wilds
This project highlights the unique environments that have been protected by the Boston Urban Wilds program, as well as the people who care for and commune with the Wilds.
McCarty collaborated with the Boston Parks and Recreation Department and the Boston Environment Department to photograph nineteen Urban Wilds and numerous community outreach events over the course of two years.
Buena Vista Urban Wild (Roxbury)
PROJECT STATEMENT
This project highlights the unique environments that have been protected by the Boston Urban Wilds program, as well as the people who care for and commune with the Wilds. McCarty collaborated with the Boston Parks and Recreation Department and the Boston Environment Department to photograph nineteen Urban Wilds and numerous community outreach events over the course of two years.
2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Boston Urban Wilds: A Natural Area Conservation Program. This landmark conservation study identified remaining areas of “ecological significance” scattered across Boston neighborhoods and in need of protection. Following the release of the study, the Boston Natural Areas Fund played a lead role in generating public support for acquiring these Urban Wilds as conservation land distinct from traditional parks. Over many years, these idealistic initiatives have made a significant impact. Many of the Wilds identified in the 1976 study have been permanently protected and unique partnerships have been developed between the City, non-profit organizations, and community groups to collaboratively steward the land.
As a result of these collective efforts and sustained City investment, an Urban Wilds Program was formally established and now cares for more than thirty woodlands and wetlands embedded within our neighborhoods. Today, the Urban Wilds provide Boston’s residents with access to forests, marshes, pollinator meadows, and other natural habitats rarely found in cities. Through intentional managed care, these wild spaces endure to support biodiversity and to help reduce the impacts of climate change, while also fostering community health, connectivity, and stewardship.
This series celebrates the beauty and resilience of the Urban Wilds today, and the community efforts that continue to sustain them. Without the work of past and present generations, many of the Wilds represented in McCarty’s photographs would not exist.
Cover to the original 1976 Boston Urban Wilds Study