Fresh Pond Reservation Census Program

The Census Program allows us to quantify usership at Fresh Pond Reservation. The program began in 2011 and helps inform site management.

You can access Fresh Pond Reservation usership data through the Cambridge Open Data Portal. We also share program results in the Fresh Pond Census Report. We update the data annually.

Fresh Pond Census Report
 Title page of the Fresh Pond Census Report. Depicts people on the lawn and pathway at Fresh Pond Reservation on a sunny day.

 

How many people visit Fresh Pond Reservation?

Census Program results show that:

  • Fresh Pond Reservation currently receives about 476,000 to 506,000 visitors per year!

  • Usership was highest in 2020 (576,000 visitors), the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic

  • Before 2020, usership ranged from about 410,000 to 455,000 visitors per year

 

 

How does the Census Program count visitors?

We count visitors using sensors at six trail locations throughout Fresh Pond Reservation. The sensors are made by the company Eco-Counter. We have one sensor that can separate bicycle and pedestrian counts. All other sensors count those user types together. See the Fresh Pond Census Report for more information on how we use the sensor data to calculate usership.

 A map of Fresh Pond Reservation depicted with a black boundary. Pathways are shown with green lines and sensor locations are indicated by purple points.

Note: the BPMULTI sensor was discontinued in 2024.

A gray box on a wooden post containing the "people counter sensor" at the Community Gardens pathway entrance to Fresh Pond Reservation

 The Community Gardens entrance sensor. The sensor counts people passing by.

 

Contact Us

Please contact us with questions about the Fresh Pond Reservation Census Program.