Open Space – Page 3 – Belmont Citizens Forum

Belmont is Sitting on a Fiscal Cliff

Construction and Housing, Newsletter, Open Space, Sept/Oct 2022, Town Committee Meetings Comments Off

Sep 092022

By Max Colice, Elizabeth Dionne, and Dan Barry Belmont is effectively insolvent. It cannot pay its operating expenses and pension debt without one-time federal aid. Compounding this problem, Belmont’s operating expenses are rising faster than its revenue. Unless Belmont increases its revenue, the town may have to cut services drastically. Like every other town in Massachusetts, Belmont’s revenue comes mainly from property taxes. The Board of Assessors assesses each property’s value, then computes the property tax by multiplying the property value by the property tax rate. Even though Belmont’s property tax rate is relatively low, its single-family property tax bill [READ MORE]

What is a CISMA, and Why Do We Need One?

Environment, July-August 2022, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants Comments Off

Jun 202022

What is a CISMA, and Why Do We Need One?

By Jeffrey North New York state has eight very large ones. Oregon has 10. Michigan has more than 20 (required by law for every county). The number of Comprehensive Invasive Species Management Associations (CISMAs) across the country is approaching 400. Massachusetts has one. But that number is likely to increase. With the likely passage of the invasive species bill (H4595), financial and administrative resources will be available for CISMAs and a host of other programs, plans, and projects for controlling invasive plants. The bill would establish an invasive species trust fund. A statewide invasive species coordinator would be appointed, along [READ MORE]

Restoration Resumes on Lone Tree Hill

Environment, July-August 2022, Lone Tree Hill, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

Jun 202022

By Jeffrey North A crew of field horticulture technicians returned to the Lone Tree Hill conservation area for their first visit in 2022 on May 20. Begun in late 2020, the work to enhance the ecological integrity of Belmont’s 80-acre conservation land site addresses the most egregious infestations of biodiversity-erasing invasive plant species. (See Restoration Projects Approved for Lone Tree Hill, BCF Newsletter, May 2021) The mission this time was to cut or pull and spray garlic mustard in bloom. As garlic mustard is one of the first plants to start actively growing in late March, leaves can be sprayed [READ MORE]

New Director Discusses Habitat’s Future

Climate Change, Environment, May/June 2022, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

May 052022

By Jeffrey North This interview has been edited for length and clarity. BCF Congratulations on your December appointment to the role of regional director for Metro West. We understand you will have oversight of the Habitat Education Center and Wildlife Sanctuary in Belmont, as well as the wildlife sanctuaries Broadmoor in Natick, Drumlin Farm in Lincoln, and Waseeka in Hopkinton. You’ve been in nonprofit management and some notable education roles. Your background includes teaching, starting a 6–12 grade school, leading a graduate school, strategy and organization design consulting with nonprofit organizations, and studying communities’ shared sense of direction. Can you [READ MORE]

Lone Tree Hill Volunteers Clean, Weed, Plant

Environment, Lone Tree Hill, May/June 2022, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants Comments Off

May 052022

Lone Tree Hill Volunteers Clean, Weed, Plant

By Radha Iyengar On Saturday, April 30, a sunny but cool day, BCF, in conjunction with the Judy Record Conservation Fund, held its eighth annual Lone Tree Hill Volunteer Day. At the Pine Allee, volunteers planted 46 white pine saplings of which 40 saplings were store bought and 6 were transplants from Lone Tree Hill. The new plants replaced some of the Allee’s missing trees as well as some of the dead saplings from the 2017-2019 volunteer day plantings. At the other end of the property, the volunteers collected 11 bags of trash, one box of recyclables and six bags [READ MORE]

Mystic Collaborative Plans For Climate Change

Climate Change, Environment, March/April 2022, Newsletter, Open Space, Stormwater, Water Quality Comments Off

Mar 032022

Mystic Collaborative Plans For Climate Change

By Julie Wormser Once upon a time, images of climate change featured skinny polar bears on melting ice floes, and hot, dusty desertscapes. Tragic for sure, but also very far away in time and space. Not any more. Last summer’s alarming weather—from 120 temperatures in the Pacific Northwest to record flooding rains here in the Northeast—has brought the immediate effects of climate change into sharper focus and more local concern. In Greater Boston, the most likely risks we need to prepare for are: flooding from intense rainfall and coastal storms/sea level rise, hotter, drier summers, less predictable winter weather, and [READ MORE]

Lone Tree Hill Cleanup Saturday, April 30

BCF Events, Lone Tree Hill, March/April 2022, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

Mar 032022

Lone Tree Hill Cleanup Saturday, April 30 Join us in stewarding Lone Tree Hill! After a two-year hiatus, the Belmont Citizens Forum, in conjunction with the Judy Record Conservation Fund, is holding its eighth annual tree planting, cleanup, and trail maintenance day on Saturday, April 30, from 9 AM to noon. For more information, email bcfprogramdirector@gmail.com. Help complete the planting of saplings along the Pine Allee, cleaning up at the Mill Street parking lot and the Coal Road area, and removing invasive species on the property. Students can earn community service credits. Bounded by Concord Avenue, Pleasant Street, and Mill [READ MORE]

A Tribute to a Conservationist

Environment, Lone Tree Hill, March/April 2022, Newsletter, Open Space, Town Committee Meetings Comments Off

Mar 032022

By Anne Paulsen, Martha Moore, and Heli Tomford with contributions from neighbors Nanny Almquist, Jacquie Dow, and other Belmont friends and committee colleagues who knew and worked with Joan Campbell. When Joan Louise Campbell died on December 15, 2016, Belmont lost a citizen whose life exemplified devotion to her community, especially its open spaces. Joan moved to Belmont with her parents in the late 1930s, and except for some years working as a librarian in Seattle, she lived in the same Prospect Street home for most of her 92 years. We are honoring Joan Campbell because of her involvement in [READ MORE]

CPC Recommends Funds for Seven Projects

Construction and Housing, Environment, Historic Preservation, March/April 2022, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

Mar 032022

By Juliet Jenkins The Belmont Community Preservation Committee (CPC) voted to recommend funding seven projects totaling $2,058,554 for FY 2023, to be voted on at the annual Town Meeting, through the Community Preservation Act (CPA) current funding round. Following the CPC’s public hearing and vote on December 8, 2021, the proposed projects were filed with the Belmont Town Clerk and set for voting by Town Meeting in May 2022. Projects supported with CPA funding must create or preserve affordable housing, historic resources, open space, or recreational facilities. All CPA proposals are developed and created by Belmontonians, and each project directly [READ MORE]

Royal Road Dirt Jumps Made Lives Better

Bicycles and bike paths, Board of Selectmen, March/April 2022, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

Mar 032022

By Erik Rosenmeier My whole life I have walked, biked, and driven by a plot of land on Royal Road. I would see it on my way home from school, practice, or rehearsal, but, like most other people in the town, it never occurred to me that it could have any utility. That is, until the summer of 2020, when my friends and I brought our shovels, rakes, facemasks, and buckets down to that plot of land to build dirt jumps on which to ride our bikes. Most of us spent four to five hours a [READ MORE]

What is the Future of the Royal Road Woods?

Environment, March/April 2022, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

Mar 032022

What is the Future of the Royal Road Woods?

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. Skip to Bonus Material In 1844, when the Fitchburg Line was built, the Clark family owned a triangular lot bounded by the new train line, Common Street, and Clark Street. Wellington Brook ran along the north side of the triangle, just south of the Fitchburg Line. Royal Road and Dunbarton Street did not exist. After more than a century of Clark descendents the land was sold in 1931 to the Glendower Trust, a vehicle of real estate developers John Hubbard and Donald Kenyon. Hubbard and Kenyon laid out plans for Dunbarton Street and Glendower Road (shortly [READ MORE]

Rock Meadow Receives Funding for Mowing and Maintenance

Environment, January 2022, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

Jan 042022

Rock Meadow Receives Funding for Mowing and Maintenance

Acting on intelligence provided by the Belmont Citizens Forum, Town Administrator Patrice Garvin and Conservation Agent Mary Trudeau collaborated in October to apply for state funds for mowing and maintenance at Belmont’s Rock Meadow conservation area. Belmont was able to secure a budget earmark, facilitated by State Representative Dave Rogers, for the Rock Meadow conservation area in the FY2022 budget for an amount of $60,000. The funds will be distributed to the town through the Department of Conservation and Recreation. In working with Garvin to identify funding needs for the town, Commonwealth officials noted that use of this important community [READ MORE]

Whither the Royal Road Woods?

Bicycles and bike paths, Environment, January 2022, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

Jan 042022

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. Last spring, as playgrounds were being closed statewide to contain the emerging COVID-19 outbreak, a new Belmont pocket park came into existence where COVID restrictions didn’t apply. Conceived and built by a group of Belmont boys, the park is hidden from casual passersby by its topography and tree canopy. However, it is well publicized among its users, who have documented their exploits on Instagram, Facebook, and other social media (search for “Belmont Dirt Jumps”). Created for bicycle jumping, a sport that emerged from BMX bike racing, the park initially consisted of a network of crisscrossing paths [READ MORE]

Lone Tree Hill Restoration Shows Strong Start

Environment, January 2022, Lone Tree Hill, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants Comments Off

Jan 042022

Lone Tree Hill Restoration Shows Strong Start

By Jeffrey North Late last year, field technicians engaged by the Land Management Committee for Lone Tree Hill (LMC) and the Judy Record Conservation Fund began a multiyear campaign to restore select parcels of the Lone Tree Hill conservation land. These stewardship projects focused first on invasive plant removal at Area A1. Restoration specialists from Parterre Ecological Services hand-cut the bittersweet vines that were smothering the trees there and deployed a forestry mower to obliterate (if only temporarily) the buckthorn and multiflora rose. The forestry mowing radically altered the appearance of that portion of the property, prompting the few visitors to ask if [READ MORE]

Belmont Was Once a Town of Farms

Historic Preservation, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants, September 2021 Comments Off

Aug 232021

By Jane Sherwin Until the mid-20th century, agriculture was a significant part of Belmont life and economy. Three hundred years ago, it would have been unusual to find a family in this area with no engagement at all in growing things. Even a shoemaker would most likely have a few chickens, or a milk cow, or a small garden for vegetables. The settlements on the land that is now Belmont go back nearly four hundred years. In 1630, Sir Richard Saltonstall led a group of families inland from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, to the area we now call Watertown, to [READ MORE]

Letters to the Editor July-August 2021

Environment, Historic Preservation, July-August 2021, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

Jun 252021

To the Editor: As a 40-year resident in Belmont I take exception to the tone of the article in the latest issue of the Belmont Citizens Forum concerning the treatment of the shore of Clay Pit Pond (“Clay Pit Pond Deforestation Damages Wetland,” Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter, May/June 2021), which attempts to blame the residents who perpetrated an “ecologically damaging assault” on the area. Rather, it seems to me, that these “miscreants” have called attention to the town’s lack of attention and mismanagement of one of our town’s greatest assets: an attractive body of water in the middle of our [READ MORE]

Belmont’s Invasive Plants: Japanese Knotweed

Environment, July-August 2021, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants Comments Off

Jun 252021

Belmont’s Invasive Plants: Japanese Knotweed

By Jeffrey North Invasive plant species are disrupting ecosystems from Belmont to Beijing, permanently altering the ecology of our forests, fields, and gardens and causing biodiversity loss and species extinction. This article is the third in a series on invasive plant species found in Belmont, the implications of their presence, spread, and ecological damage potential, and hopes for their removal and remediation. Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum), also known as Asian knotweed, is native to Japan, China, and Korea. It is frequently found on the sides of volcanoes, where it breaks down igneous rock into new soil. You might think it [READ MORE]

Fernald Site Contains Rare Specimen Trees

Environment, July-August 2021, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants Comments Off

Jun 252021

Fernald Site Contains Rare Specimen Trees

By Eric Olson It is vanishingly rare that a town within ten miles of Boston can, with a single purchase, add nearly 200 acres to its portfolio of open space. That is exactly what Waltham did in the fall of 2014 when its mayor and city council agreed to buy the former Fernald Development Center from the state. I bet most Belmont residents are at least passingly familiar with this property, tucked up in Waltham’s northeast corner between Trapelo and Waverley Oaks roads, less than a quarter-mile from the Belmont line. As a resident of Newton, I had never heard [READ MORE]

Restoration Projects Approved for Lone Tree Hill

Environment, May-June 2021, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants Comments Off

May 042021

Restoration Projects Approved for Lone Tree Hill

By Jeffrey North The Land Management Committee for Lone Tree Hill approved plans and funding for three 2021 forest restoration and meadow management projects for Lone Tree Hill at a March 3 meeting. The Judy Record Conservation Fund is providing matching funds for the projects, for a total of $22,000 for these initiatives. Area A1 Restoration Continues In early spring, licensed field technicians trained in identifying invasive plant species will cut, mow, and apply plant-specific herbicide in the Area A1 woodland. They will combat Asian bittersweet, buckthorn, garlic mustard, black swallow-wort (Cynanchum louiseae), and lesser celandine, and at least one [READ MORE]

The Roadmap Climate and Clean Energy Law

Air Quality, Climate Change, Environment, May-June 2021, Newsletter, Open Space, Solar Power Comments Off

May 042021

The Roadmap Climate and Clean Energy Law

By Representative Dave M. Rogers While policy makers are confronted by a wide variety of pressing policy issues, few if any compare to the complexity and scale presented by our changing climate. Most of us are long since familiar with the worrisome data, but two recent comprehensive reports thoroughly define the challenge. The most recent National Climate Assessment, a quadrennial publication of the US Global Change Research Program, and the October 2018 report of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presents a wide array of troubling findings. The IPCC report concluded that limiting global temperature rise to [READ MORE]

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