By Anne Paulsen, with contributions from Martha Moore, Heli Tomford, and Sharon Vanderslice
Roger Wrubel, entomologist, teacher, conservationist, and community activist, became the director of the Habitat Wildlife Education Center and Sanctuary in 2000 and retired this June. Trained in the study of insects, he spent time at Tufts and UMass Boston teaching and writing and was conscious of the need to build strong bonds between the natural world and people. In the ensuing years, Roger forged that relationship with foresight and determination.
Roger Wrubel and volunteers clean up Lone Tree Hill. Photo: Radha Iyengar
Roger moved to Belmont in 1989 and began his community activism as a member of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee, which initiated the town’s recycling program.
He became a member of the McLean Open Space Alliance, working with Judy Record to preserve the 120 acres of open space known as Lone Tree Hill. He continues to serve as a trustee of the Judy Record Conservation Fund, which supports conservation efforts in Belmont and beyond.
Due to Roger’s persistence as the primary organizer of the Western Greenway, we now enjoy 1,200 acres—seven miles of interconnected open space—in Belmont, Waltham, and Lexington stretching from Habitat to the Robert Treat Paine Estate. This effort earned him the “Citizen of the Decade Award” from the Belmont Citizens Forum in 2010.
As sanctuary director of Habitat, Roger took every opportunity to work with abutters and neighbors of the property to protect and expand its borders for wildlife and environmental protection and visitor pleasure in walking the trails. Expanding Habitat into the Weeks Meadow off Somerset Street added a hidden walk around Week’s Pond and into adjacent pasture land. As an added environmental measure, Roger set up a solar field in the community garden which now provides about 60 percent of the energy used at the sanctuary.
At the same time, Roger expanded programs at Habitat and forged strong relationships with surrounding schools, libraries, and senior centers. He developed a reputation for hiring extremely capable staff and allowing them to use their creativity to the fullest. The nature classes and wildly popular vacation camps are well known.
HIP, Habitat’s intergenerational program, has drawn hundreds of people into its volunteer system. Among school groups, service groups from surrounding businesses, gardening groups and Wednesday volunteer days, Habitat welcomes some 2,000 volunteers annually.
But Roger is not only a man of ideas and foresight. He walks and bikes the trails daily and is a working steward and volunteer for all Belmont’s conservation land.
Roger’s goal was to make Habitat a welcoming place for people and wildlife. During his tenure he has done that and more. His dogged emphasis on land protection, his ability to educate young naturalists, and his hard work will continue to draw people to Habitat and into the natural world he has preserved and expanded for all of us.
Roger Wrubel tending to Habitat’s resident flock, 2010. Photo: Meg Muckenhoupt
Anne Paulsen is a long-time resident of Belmont and served on the School Committee, the Board of Selectmen, and as the representative from the 24th Middlesex District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Martha Moore is a Town Meeting member, former member of the Conservation Committee, and an advocate for open space.
Heli Tomford is a Town Meeting member and advocate for open space.
Sharon Vanderslice is the founding editor of the Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter.
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