Akamai Team Helps NEFF Tackle a Thorny Problem

Akamai co-founder Danny Lewin lost his life nearly twenty-five years ago on 9/11, cutting short the brilliance and innovation that defined his thirty-one years. Since then, the global tech company has paid tribute to him with annual Danny Lewin Community Care days, during which Akamai employees around the world join local volunteer events to honor Danny’s legacy of generosity and impact.

NEFF was lucky enough to team up with Akamai this year to participate in one of these special events. On Friday, September 26, twenty-eight enthusiastic Akamai employees came to NEFF’s headquarters in Littleton, fanned out in groups, and tackled some of our thorniest patches of invasives.

“I was amazed at the turnout,” said Lisa Falcone, Akamai Program Manager for Strategy & Operations. “The event was filled with staff from our Cambridge and Westford offices, and these folks came ready to work.”

Non-native plant species make up more than a third of the flora in New England, and ten percent of them are invasive.* The spread of invasives has intensified over the last two decades due to factors like climate change, which helps non-native species outcompete native ones.

At NEFF, our foresters know this trend all too well. In recent years, they’ve watched the increasing dominance of invasives like glossy buckthorn threatening the composition of forests we manage. And that’s just one of dozens of invasive species that we — and everyone else — are contending with.

Akamai volunteers remove large amounts of porcelain berry at Prouty Woods. Photo by Laurel Kayne.

Our task with the Akamai crew was to cut down enormous mounds of porcelain berry that were swallowing up a stand of rhododendrons and other shrubs and hiding some beautiful old stone walls. We also cut back burning bush to prepare for full root removal later.

“We could never have tackled this without Akamai’s help,” said Kerry Castorano, Chief Development Officer at NEFF. “We have a small staff who are responsible for stewarding over 1.2 million acres spread across all of New England. With Akamai’s muscle, we got done in one morning what quite honestly might not have even been possible on our own. It was fantastic!”

The best part? Plans are already in place to bring the Akamai team back next year, turning one successful day into a growing partnership between our two organizations.

* Native Plant Trust: nativeplanttrust.org/conservation/invasive