Letters to the Editor January 2022

To the Editor:

Just a quick note to say thank you for the latest edition of the Citizens Forum (Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter, November/December 2021). Nicely done. I’m a raptor fan, and I have been following articles about poisonings for a few years. There were quite a few sick and dead squirrels found on the Town Field/Waverley area (including my backyard) a few years ago. Just today, I saw a new post on the Belmont Parents Facebook page about a sick squirrel — symptoms of a larger problem.

Sadly our local red tailed hawk hasn’t been seen in months.

Thank you for covering these important environmental issues!

Regards,

Lisa Oteri

Dear Lisa,

Thank you for your kind letter. We are fortunate that our legislators Senator Will Brownsberger and Representative Dave Rogers are supportive of efforts to review and consider changes to our pesticide regulations.

There are currently a raft of bills before the State Legislature that intend to rein in future use of toxic pesticides. Go to bit.ly/BCF-Pest-Bills to see summary of the bills under consideration, including priority bills H.926 (Schoolchildren), H.937 (Ecological Mosquito Control), H.3991 (Raptor Bill), & H.910 (Local Control).

Representative Rogers is a cosponsor of several bills meant to protect the public from the use of harmful pesticides. Read his op-ed on the Legislature’s recent efforts to reduce our use of harmful pesticides at www.repdaverogers.com/reducing-our-use-of-harmful-pesticides/.

Jeff North, Managing editor

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This letter has been edited for length and clarity

To the Editor:

In response to Jeffrey North’s excellent report on the Norway maple, (“Belmont’s Invasive Plants: Norway Maple,” Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter, September 2021), I would like to agree with his points about the need for all shade trees, including our old Norway maples, and the possibility of controlling spread by carefully eliminating seedlings.

I assume the three tall maples along the side and dividing my back garden were planted when the entire street was divided into separate plots. Their root systems are certainly shared and they rise to 20+ feet. They are busy with bird and small mammal activity year round. I enclose some photos.

Woodpeckers, as well as all the backyard birds, visit to perch and seek food, as well as hawks visit to get a long view of the neighborhood. A pair of Baltimore orioles built their pendulum-shaped nest at the tip of one long branch in the summer of 2020. After rain all day, a pair of mourning doves lingered on an open branch. Squirrels nest in convenient cavities, occasionally screech owls.

 I have other photos, many of woodpeckers attracted to some dead branches.

Since there are many other trees and shrubs providing a variety of foods, I welcome the shade of the stand of Norway maples.

Irene Fairley

Belmont