Belmont Citizens Forum

Book Shows Best Bike Rides in New England

Apr 262023

Book Shows Best Bike Rides in New England

By David Sobel If you’re a casual bike rider who likes 10- to 15-mile rides on backroads around New England, I encourage you to check out my new book, Best Bike Rides in New England: Backroad Routes for Cycling the Northeast States. I’m 73, and my wife is 63, so we’re into reasonable, not ardent, exercise. And we aspire to doing some outdoorsy sport four or five times a week—biking in the summer, skating, Nordic and downhill skiing in the winter. The book includes descriptions of 30 bike loops in all six New England states. I originally wanted to write [READ MORE]

Honeybees Thrive at Rock Meadow

May/June 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Apr 262023

By Sadie Forbes Most people visiting Rock Meadow have noticed the presence of beehives. Belmont beekeepers now tend 20 hives in five locations along Mill Street and in the center of the meadow. There are many pressures on honeybees. Beekeepers and scientists agree that two problems are largely responsible for “colony collapse disorder,” where entire hives of bees die off. The first cause is varroa mites (Varroa destructor). These mites were benign pests of Asian honeybees (Apis cerana) in Asia. Beginning in the 1980s, varroa mites began to be seen in western apiaries. They have been highly destructive to the [READ MORE]

Let Your Hidden Native Plant Garden Emerge

Environment, May/June 2023, Plants Comments Off

Apr 262023

Let Your Hidden Native Plant Garden Emerge

By Heather Pruiksma Spring has sprung, and gardeners everywhere are itching to get their hands into the soil and among the roots. At Grow Native Massachusetts, we encourage including more native plants in your gardens, which can be less work than it might seem — if you’re willing to be a little patient. Native plants are plants that have been growing in a particular habitat and region, typically for thousands of years or much longer. Also called indigenous, they are well adapted to the climate, light, and soil conditions that characterize their ecosystem. Within this system, they have evolved important relationships [READ MORE]

Invasive Plants Can Harm Local Birds

Environment, May/June 2023, Newsletter, Plants Comments Off

Apr 262023

By Meg Muckenhoupt May is the peak of spring migration season in Massachusetts, and thousands of birds are landing in Belmont. (You can even get radar reports on which birds are arriving overnight on birdcast.info.) But what will these birds do when they get here? Will they find the resources they need to survive, raise young, and embark on fall migrations next September? The answer may depend on what’s growing around Belmont—and a lot of what’s growing around Belmont is invasive plants. Plants change birds’ lives North American birds evolved with native plants. Most bird-lovers know that different types of [READ MORE]

If You Just Sit Still

May/June 2023 Comments Off

Apr 262023

By David Morris When I was young, I had an uncle who was attuned to nature. He was an artist, a hunter, a forager, and truly fascinating to an eight-year-old. Recently, after a frustrating morning trying to see some wildlife, I remembered his words. He’d said, “You need to remember that you are part of nature, too. You need to find a nice spot and just sit still. Don’t wait for when it’s time to move, but just enjoy the looking, the listening, and the sitting still. After a while, once you start to seem like one of them, the [READ MORE]

Volunteers Plant, Clean Up at Lone Tree Hill

May/June 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Apr 262023

Volunteers Plant, Clean Up at Lone Tree Hill

By Radha Iyengar The Belmont Citizens Forum (BCF), in conjunction with the Judy Record Conservation Fund, held its ninth annual Lone Tree Hill Volunteer Day on Saturday, April 22, an overcast and cool day. Volunteers included Girl Scouts Troop 82027, employees of Cityside Subaru, M&T Bank,and the Sai Group, and residents of Belmont and the surrounding communities. Many hands made light work. At the Pine Allee, efficient volunteers planted forty white pine saplings. The new plants replaced the Allee’s missing trees and some of the dead saplings from previous volunteer day plantings. At the adjacent meadow the volunteers planted slender [READ MORE]

Profiles in Belmont: Anne Paulsen

May/June 2023 Comments Off

Apr 262023

By Elissa Ely If you walk past Anne Paulsen’s house on certain days, you will notice sheets hanging in the backyard, like neighbors gathering in a friendly kind of way. If a wind is blowing, some drying towel may point its direction. It’s environmental, but also practically driven: Anne has never bought a dryer. Her parents were not conservationists or even drawn to the great outdoors, but when Anne was five and growing up in West Roxbury, her father sold the family car to support the war effort. Afterwards, they walked almost everywhere (“It was a long trip to Dorchester,” [READ MORE]

EPA Pushes for Alewife Sewage Cleanup

Environment, May/June 2023, Newsletter, Sewers, Stormwater, Water Quality Comments Off

Apr 262023

By Kristin Anderson and David White We are at an important point in the history of the Alewife Brook. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) and the cities of Cambridge and Somerville are preparing a new long-term sewage control plan for the Alewife Brook/Upper Mystic River Watershed. Climate change, with its wetter rainy season, more intense storms, and sea level rise, is expected to result in more hazardous Alewife Brook sewage pollution and more flooding in the area. During some storms, the Alewife Brook floods into the houses, parks, and yards of area residents in environmental justice communities. Because of [READ MORE]

Why is There So Much Plane Noise Over Belmont?

May/June 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Apr 262023

Why is There So Much Plane Noise Over Belmont?

By Rachelle Reinhart with contributions from Myron Kassaraba Airplane noise over Belmont increased after major changes were made to air traffic control at Logan Airport in 2001, when the United States Congress authorized the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to modernize air traffic control under a program called NextGen. NextGen moved air traffic control from a radar-based system to a GPS-based area navigation system (RNAV). RNAV allows aircraft to travel using a computer programmed with precise waypoints—designated flight path transitions—and GPS coordinates to control the plane’s flight path. Before RNAV, air traffic control instructed pilots to make turns and altitude adjustments [READ MORE]

May/June 2023 BCF Newsletter

May/June 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Apr 262023

Read the May/June 2023 BCF Newsletter PDF. In this issue: Why is There So Much Plane Noise Over Belmont? Airplane noise over Belmont increased after major changes were made to air traffic control at Logan Airport in 2001, when the United States Congress authorized the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to modernize air traffic control. Read more. EPA Pushes for Alewife Sewage Cleanup Climate change, with its wetter rainy season, more intense storms, and sea level rise, is expected to result in more hazardous Alewife Brook sewage pollution and more flooding in the area. Read more. Profiles in Belmont: Anne Paulsen [READ MORE]

Claflin Street Culvert Project

March/April 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 012023

Spot repairs of the trough of the old Claflin Street culvert took place in February 2023. The project includes the removal of the old grate system and replacement by a newly engineered grate with a larger mouth. The new grate is similar to the one behind the library and is designed to accommodate debris and greater precipitation. The new culvert will contain and direct higher water levels without limiting the flow. – Editor

American Chestnuts May Return to the Wild

March/April 2023 Comments Off

Mar 012023

American Chestnuts May Return to the Wild

By John Dieckmann Prior to 1900, an estimated three billion American chestnut trees populated the Eastern United States. It was an important tree ecologically, with its nuts being an vital food source for a variety of wildlife and a significant food source for people. Chestnut wood was used in both construction and in furniture making. In the late 19th century, a blight fungus that attacks chestnuts was inadvertently imported from Asia. The fungus spores spread rapidly, and by 1925, the vast majority of American chestnut trees had been infected and killed. In the 1970s, the American Chestnut Foundation was organized [READ MORE]

Profiles in Belmont: Jean Devine

Environment, March/April 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 012023

By Elissa Ely There were woods behind Jean Devine’s house growing up in Manchester, New Hampshire. As a child, she liked pressing leaves and hated wearing socks; her mother would send her outside on ‘safaris’ with apple slices, the family dog trailing behind. She was always late to school. Jean was unafraid of bugs and fascinated by Daddy Longlegs. Woods and spiders did not turn her into the environmental educator, native-plant coach, and landscaper she eventually became, but they were her introduction to nature. Her mother belonged to the Garden Club in an era when plots were visually beautiful, organized [READ MORE]

Change Comes to Waltham Fields Site

March/April 2023 Comments Off

Mar 012023

By John Dieckmann For the past 30 years, the 28-acre former UMass Field Station at 240 Beaver Street in Waltham has hosted the Waltham Fields Community Farm and several other nonprofit organizations. The property includes an office building, a boiler house, greenhouses, and sheds. Ownership has recently transferred to the city of Waltham, and as a result, significant change may be in the offing. History of the UMass Field Station The property is a portion of the 200-acre, mid-nineteenth century Cedar Hill estate that was owned by a successful business man named Samuel Dennis Warren, the namesake of the S. [READ MORE]

Let The Charles River Run Free of Defunct Dams

March/April 2023 Comments Off

Mar 012023

Let The Charles River Run Free of Defunct Dams

By Julia Hopkins For more than 400 years, the Charles River has been altered, controlled, and dammed to bend to the will of industry and profit. The river we know today is not free. Instead, a river radically changed by the long history of human intervention. We dammed its waters to power industry, leaving a legacy of toxic pollution in our wake. We straightened its gentle meanders, buried its tributaries, and hardened its shores, constricting its natural flow. We drained and filled its wetlands to free up more land and let our parking lots sprawl right up to its banks. [READ MORE]

Opinion: Belmont Zoning Laws Penalize GR District

March/April 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 012023

Opinion: Belmont Zoning Laws Penalize GR District

by Chris Arthur The last article I wrote about zoning (“Belmont’s Zoning Needs Rethinking,” BCF Newsletter, January/February 2023) focused on changing the use of “nonconforming” properties so that all properties would have to abide by the same rules, and owners could build to the allowable requirements of the code. I also mentioned changing the code to create a smaller allowable footprint. This article focuses on the unfairness of the existing code to an entire zoning district. Belmont’s zoning map can be found on the town’s website. There are several residential districts. For example, SR-C (Single Residence “C”) and GR [READ MORE]

Join New Belmont Group Protecting Raptors

Environment, March/April 2023 Comments Off

Mar 012023

Join New Belmont Group Protecting Raptors

By Jeffrey North Eagles, owls, and hawks are dying. Of the 161 Massachusetts raptors tested at Tufts Wildlife Clinic in a study between 2006 and 2010, 86% had poison residues in their liver tissue. And according to the EPA, more than 10,000 kids are poisoned by toxic chemicals left around residences, restaurants, or public parks to poison rats. Take action Proven tactics to address the problem with minimal or no rodenticide use include Integrated Pest Management plans, engaging housing authorities, affecting retail and construction site practices, and a rat poison bylaw. And please support legislation currently before the House (HD [READ MORE]

Opinion: Staffing Shortages Imperil Belmont

March/April 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 012023

Opinion: Staffing Shortages Imperil Belmont

By Paul Joy In the last few months, Belmont’s trajectory toward the fiscal cliff has accelerated with alarming speed. The School Committee has already been asked by the Select Board to find ways to plug a $2.1 million funding gap in its proposed FY2024 budget. These budget shortages, projected to continue in FY2025 and beyond, would require untenable cuts to our schools and first responders. Are we capable as a town of changing our trajectory? Of investing in growth and renewal? In my opinion, as the co-chair of the Economic Development Committee (EDC), we must change. We must act now [READ MORE]

CPC Changes Plan, Endorses Seven Projects

March/April 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 012023

CPC Changes Plan, Endorses Seven Projects

By Elizabeth Harmer Dionne Every summer, members of Belmont’s Community Preservation Committee (CPC) update Belmont’s Community Preservation Act (CPA) Plan. Publication of the plan launches the subsequent fiscal year’s funding cycle, which begins with the submission of preliminary project applications each October. The current version of the CPA plan is posted on the town website. During its initial years, Belmont’s CPC learned a lot about elements of successful projects and how best to evaluate them. We have kept the structure and content of the original plan, but in recent years, we have refined and emphasized important provisions. One example is [READ MORE]

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