invasives – Page 2 – Belmont Citizens Forum

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]

Belmont’s Invasive Species: Black Swallowwort

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

Jun 202022

Belmont’s Invasive Species: Black Swallowwort

By Jeffrey North Black swallowwort is a killer. Monarch butterflies mistake the plant for native common milkweed, and lay their eggs in the non-native invader, where the larvae die. Besides threatening the population of migrating monarch butterflies, it is toxic to mammals, and by crowding out food for wildlife, worsens wildlife habitat. Vincetoxicum nigrum, also known as Louise’s swallowwort or black dog-strangling vine, is a species of plant native to Europe and found primarily in Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain. Black swallowwort was probably introduced to North America as an ornamental plant in the 1800s. The first sighting of Vincetoxicum [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]

Miyawaki Forest Boosts Biodiversity, Resilience

Climate Change, Environment, May/June 2022, Newsletter, Plants Comments Off

May 082022

Miyawaki Forest Boosts Biodiversity, Resilience

By Maya Dutta The first Miyawaki forest in the northeast United States was planted in Cambridge’s Danehy Park last September. Miyawaki forests are dense, biodiverse pocket forests that aim to recreate the symbiotic relationships between diverse life forms that make a natural forest so resilient. By densely planting a diverse array of native species, Miyawaki forests encourage nutrient exchange between the plants and with fungal and microbial life in the soil, resulting in fast-growing forests with high survival rates. Benefits of Miyawaki forests The Miyawaki method offers a vision of not just planting trees to raise their sheer number, but [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]

State Considers New Strategy for Invasives

Environment, March/April 2022, Newsletter, Plants Comments Off

Mar 042022

State Considers New Strategy for Invasives

By Bruce Aguilar Invasive species are organisms that severely damage local ecosystems. One example is the gypsy moth caterpillar, introduced in 1869 by one Professor E. L. Trouvelot in an attempt to breed a hardy silkworm. Some insects escaped and were soon established in a vacant lot next to his home in Medford, Mass. These caterpillars have defoliated millions of acres of northeast woodlands. Another is the Asian bittersweet vine, introduced as an ornamental plant in 1879. It smothers the understory of forests and climbs mature trees to outcompete them for light, eventually strangling them or becoming heavy enough to [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]

Belmont’s Invasive Species: Glossy Buckthorn

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

Jan 042022

Belmont's Invasive Species: Glossy Buckthorn

By Joe Hibbard Take a walk on the north side of the Great Meadow at the Lone Tree Hill Conservation Land and you might notice some recent changes in the landscape. A broad area along both sides of the Pitch Pine Trail, which was until recently an impenetrable thicket of invasive plants, is being cleared and on its way to a healthier forest/meadow edge landscape. The clearing is part of a long-term project to restore ecological balance to degraded landscapes that are part of the Lone Tree Hill Conservation Land. The project is led by the Land Management Committee for [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]

Events September 2021

BCF Events, September 2021 Comments Off

Aug 232021

By Meg Muckenhoupt The only constant in life is change, according to Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher who strolled through Ephesus in the late sixth century B.C.E. The Greek letter most commonly used to represent change is delta, which is also the title of the variant of the coronavirus that is more contagious than previous versions and has persuaded the town of Belmont to mandate indoor masking. So, instead of posting a page of fall walks, fundraising galas, hands-on classes, film screenings, talks, and volunteer opportunities, the Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter’s event listings once again offer the thin milk of online [READ MORE]

Belmont’s Invasive Plants: Norway Maple

Newsletter, Plants, September 2021 Comments Off

Aug 232021

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 fourth in a series on invasive plant species found in Belmont, the implications of their presence, spread, ecological damage potential, and hopes for their removal and remediation. Acer platanoides, commonly known as the Norway maple, is a species of maple native to eastern and central Europe and western Asia. It was brought to North America in the mid-1700s as a shade tree. The Norway maple is [READ MORE]

Belmont Day School Cleans Up Lone Tree Hill

Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 252021

Belmont Day School Cleans Up Lone Tree Hill

Nineteen students and three teachers from Belmont Day School spent the morning of May 19 removing invasive garlic mustard and trash from Belmont’s Lone Tree Hill. The bags of garlic mustard and trash were collected by Belmont’s Department of Public Works. Thank you to everyone who pitched in to help keep Belmont beautiful!

Belmont’s Invasive Plants: Asian Bittersweet

Environment, Lone Tree Hill, May-June 2021 Comments Off

May 042021

Belmont’s Invasive Plants: Asian Bittersweet

By Carolyn Bishop Asian bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), also known as Oriental bittersweet, is one of the most beautiful and problematic invasive plant species in our area. In the past, bittersweet was commonly sold in wreaths and floral arrangements, which were especially popular in the fall due to bittersweet’s brilliant yellow-shelled orange berries. Little did we know we were helping to spread a very invasive, damaging, non-native plant. Asian bittersweet was brought to the United States in the 1860s as an ornamental and for erosion control. Now it is found from Ontario and Quebec south through the Great Lakes states, from [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]

Clay Pit Pond Deforestation Damages Wetland

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

May 042021

Clay Pit Pond Deforestation Damages Wetland

By Judy Singler In September 2020, several Belmont residents removed more than 80 trees and shrubs from the south side of Clay Pit Pond. In an unauthorized action taken ostensibly to “enhance” the view of the pond, individuals visited the site on at least three occasions that month, cutting down 50-foot-tall trees, shrubs, vines, and other vegetation. The remaining trees at the edge of the pond were pruned of side branches to a height of 20 feet and more. Town officials eventually ordered a halt to the illegal tree cutting after calls from several concerned citizens. Environmental Laws Exist to [READ MORE]

Belmont’s Invasive Plants: Garlic Mustard

Climate Change, Environment, Lone Tree Hill, March/April 2021, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants Comments Off

Mar 012021

Belmont's Invasive Plants: Garlic Mustard

By Jeffrey North Invasive plant species are disrupting ecosystems globally and here in Belmont. Biological invasions are a leading cause of biodiversity loss and even species extinction, and invasive plants are permanently altering the ecology of our forests, fields, and gardens. This article is the first in a series on invasive plant species found in Belmont and the implications of their presence, spread, and ecological damage potential, as well as hopes for their removal and remediation. Garlic mustard (Alliara petiolata) is changing the character of the woodlands in the Northeast. It can outcompete native herbaceous species, depriving the natives of [READ MORE]

Committee Battles Invasives at Lone Tree Hill

January 2021, McLean, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants Comments Off

Dec 302020

Committee Battles Invasives at Lone Tree Hill

By Jeffrey North On November 3, field technicians engaged by the Land Management Committee for Lone Tree Hill (LMC) and the Judy Record Conservation Fund began a multi-year campaign to restore select parcels of the Lone Tree Hill conservation land. This initial project focused on invasive plant removal at Area A1, where horticulturalists from Parterre Ecological Services began restoration of the shrub layer by hand-cutting the bittersweet vines that were smothering the largest trees and employing a forestry mower to cut down the buckthorn and multiflora rose. Lone Tree Hill—like public, private, and protected lands elsewhere—is gradually being overrun by [READ MORE]

Commission Plans Lone Tree Hill Restoration

Environment, July-August 2020, McLean, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants Comments Off

Jun 302020

Commission Plans Lone Tree Hill Restoration

By Jeffrey North Belmont’s 119-acre Lone Tree Hill conservation area, like many recreational lands in the region, is plagued by the insidious creep of invasive plant species. The ecological value of this forest and meadow conservation land is depreciating due to a host of invasive plants that act like predators, harming native plants from oak trees to ferns, forbs, and shrubs. Asiatic bittersweet, for example, has enveloped oak, hickory, and pine trees, covering, killing, and felling a number of these tall trees that define the edge of the meadow and the land’s viewshed. Glossy buckthorn and honeysuckle are killing gray [READ MORE]

Invasive Plants Harm Belmont’s Environment

Plants, Sept/Oct 2019 Comments Off

Sep 162019

Invasive Plants Harm Belmont's Environment

By Roger Colton Belmont is under invasion. By air, land, and water, the town is experiencing the influx of non-native plants which outcompete our native species, threatening our wildlife and our waterways. The sooner that town residents begin to respond, the sooner the invasion can be thwarted. One of the most noticeable and harmful invasive plants in Belmont is Japanese knotweed, which is growing along waterways including the Wellington Brook. Japanese knotweed threatens to displace the existing trees, shrubs, and other native plants that line the waterway. Unlike those other species, knotweed does not effectively prevent erosion or filter pollutants [READ MORE]

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