By Jeffrey North
Belmont’s conservation lands—Rock Meadow, Lone Tree Hill, Habitat, and our many wooded edges and wetland buffers—face a quiet but relentless challenge. Aggressive invasive plants threaten the fundamental health and richness of our local native plant communities, and consequently the fauna that rely on them for food and shelter.
Invasive species such as glossy buckthorn, bittersweet, knotweed, and tree of heaven do not care about property boundaries or budget cycles. Yet our response to this threat is fragmented: volunteers clear a patch, a contractor mows a section, a grant funds a pilot project. Then, when the effort cannot be sustained, we start again somewhere else.
Each of these efforts is valuable, but without a coordinated plan, the results can be temporary (e.g., local landscaping firms recommend that knotweed elimination requires at least a 3-5 year commitment, including repeated herbicide application) and muted (e.g., where a nearby non-targeted invasive plant population can reseed a cleared area). To use our limited resources most effectively, Belmont needs a systematic approach to invasive species management, an approach that treats these projects as part of a single, long-term restoration strategy. A systematic approach includes:
- Mapping: identifying where invasive species dominate and where native plant communities remain.
- Setting priorities: protecting high-value areas first, such as rare habitats, scenic gateways, and restoration sites where success can inspire further efforts.
- Monitoring: tracking what was removed, when, and how effectively it was controlled. Without data, we cannot measure progress, effectively plan future projects, or justify future funding.
Collaboration is the key. The Land Management Committee for Lone Tree Hill, the Belmont Conservation Commission, the Judy Record Conservation Fund, Mass Audubon’s Habitat, the Belmont Citizens Forum (BCF), and our dedicated volunteers, under the auspices of the Belmont Conservation Volunteers, all play important roles. But a shared townwide invasive-species management plan, developed with professional ecological guidance, would align these efforts, guide grant proposals, target priority projects, and prevent duplication.
Sustained effort over time matters, too. Herbicide treatments, forestry mowing, and volunteer hand-pulls all have their place, but they work best when sequenced and maintained according to a clear schedule. Investing in coordinated follow-up to the initial removal of invasive plants, especially in the second and third years after initial removal, multiplies our returns.
Belmont’s conservation lands are our living legacy. Managing them systematically is not bureaucracy, it’s stewardship. When we share information, coordinate timing, and track outcomes, every volunteer hour and every donated dollar counts more.
Let’s bring our fragmented efforts together under a single map, a shared plan, and a unified purpose: restoring the ecological health of Belmont’s open spaces for generations to come.
What You Can Do: Join the effort to restore Belmont’s open spaces
Volunteer Help remove invasive plants at the next Lone Tree Hill Volunteer Day or Rock Meadow cleanup. Gloves, tools, and training are provided.
Adopt a Patch Neighbors can “adopt” small sections of town conservation land for seasonal monitoring and maintenance. Ask the Conservation Commission or Land Management Committee how to get started.
Report Outbreaks See new infestations of knotweed, bittersweet, or tree of heaven? Contact the Belmont Conservation Volunteers at belmont-conservation-volunteers@googlegroups.com so treatments can be scheduled before they spread.
Support Funding The Judy Record Conservation Fund and BCF help finance local ecological restoration projects; your donation strengthens long-term stewardship.
Stay Informed Subscribe to the BCF Newsletter for updates on restoration, native planting, and community science opportunities.
Each patch we clear adds up. With steady coordination and shared commitment, Belmont’s landscapes can recover their natural beauty and resilience.
Our Patchwork Approach
Here are a few current and recent invasive plant control efforts — all well intentioned but perhaps adding up to less than could be accomplished with a more comprehensive approach:
The Belmont Public Library Trustees, with support from the Judy Record Fund, hired the landscaping firm Essex Horticultural to control Japanese knotweed behind the library, along the banks of Wellington Brook. The three-year project (2022–2024) entailed targeted glyphosate application and appears to have been successful, yet there is knotweed still growing immediately upstream of the cleared area, on private land, which threatens the extensive landscaping behind the new library.
Invasive Japanese knotweed on both sides of Wellington Brook, Belmont. Photo: Vincent Stanton, Jr.
The Belmont Women’s Club hired Parterre Ecological in 2024 to control knotweed, tree of heaven and other invasive plants on the uphill part of their property flanking Concord Avenue. According to Ryan Corrigan of Parterre, this ongoing project was necessitated when soil brought to the site by a contractor turned out to have been contaminated.
Patches of knotweed treated with glyphosphate on the grounds of the Belmont Woman’s Club. Photo: Vincent Stanton, Jr.
Last fall, the Community Path Project Committee, with permission from the Select Board and financial support from the Belmont Citizens Forum, engaged Parterre to use herbicides to control knotweed and tree of heaven on the town-owned property north of Belmont Center Station, the location of the future Belmont Community Path. Separately, on October 13, Belmont Serves volunteers, working under the authority granted to the Belmont Conservation Volunteers, dug up Asiatic bittersweet in the same area (a plant that can be controlled without herbicides, with persistent effort). Construction of the path, which includes a significant landscaping budget, is expected to begin in 2027, making this work urgent.
Belmont Serves volunteers have also dug up Japanese knotweed in the town-owned Royal Road woods in 2023-2025 in an effort to weaken the plant.
In contrast to these mostly one-off efforts, the Land Management Committee for Lone Tree Hill (LMC-LTH) engaged Parterre Ecological in 2019 to map invasive species on the 119 acre property and recommend prioritized control measures. For the last five years, Parterre has been working to control the most aggressive invasive plant populations on LTH, using physical and chemical means, within the constraints of available funds. (See progress reports on the LMC-LTH website.) In parallel the Belmont Conservation Volunteers have been working on LTH since 2023 to clear some invasive plants not prioritized by Parterre (e.g., akebia, garlic mustard) as well as swallow wort and Japanese knotweed. Nonetheless, even invasive plant management on LTH could benefit from a more comprehensive approach. For example, there are significant invasive species populations on McLean land, including Japanese knotweed, that are not subject to these control efforts.
There is a similar problem with the community path, where there are extensive invasive plant populations on MBTA-owned land flanking the Fitchburg Line (for example, Japanese knotweed and tree of heaven on the north side of the tracks between Belmont Center Station and the Clark Street Bridge).
Partners in Invasive Species Work
Town of Belmont’s Conservation Commission oversees the management of the Rock Meadow conservation land and the protection of wetlands, while the Land Management Committee for Lone Tree Hill directs the restoration and stewardship of the McLean open space.
Judy Record Conservation Fund provides grants and professional support for ecological restoration, including invasive species control, trail improvements, and habitat restoration at Lone Tree Hill, Rock Meadow, and other protected lands.
Belmont Citizens Forum organizes volunteer days, publishes local environmental news, and convenes partners to coordinate conservation work and share best practices.
Belmont Conservation Volunteers is a citizen group devoted to hands-on work, like trail clearing, trash removal, and invasive plant control, on public lands across town.
Mass Audubon’s Habitat Education Center and Wildlife Sanctuary manages its Belmont sanctuary through ongoing invasive removal, native planting, and educational programming on ecological stewardship.
Regional partners include organizations such as the Mystic River Watershed Association and the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration. They offer technical guidance, regional mapping tools, and potential funding opportunities for invasive management projects.
For more about regional cooperation and coordination, read about Comprehensive Invasive Species Management Associations (CISMAs) in “What is a CISMA and Why do We Need One?,” BCF Newsletter, July 2022.
Jeffrey North is managing editor of the BCF Newsletter.
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