By Radha Iyengar
Belmont’s Lone Tree Hill Conservation area benefited from another year of conservation, restoration, and stewardship, thanks mainly to the efforts of the Land Management Committee for Lone Tree Hill (LMC). Many Belmontonians and visitors enjoy this 119-acre conservation property for walking, biking, viewing wildlife, and being out in nature.
The LMC was created through a memorandum of agreement between the town and McLean Hospital in 1999. The agreement outlined the development restrictions for the McLean Hospital campus. It also reserved approximately 119 acres of the campus as publicly accessible open space, including a new municipal cemetery, and placed conservation restrictions that specify the permitted uses of the property.
The LMC was created to establish and implement a land use and management plan for the newly created conservation area. Its mission is to provide sound conservation and management stewardship policies for Lone Tree Hill that protect the property’s natural and historic resources and allow passive recreation and educational use.
The LMC consists of nine members: four from the town, including representatives from the Cemetery Commissioner, Conservation Commission, Historic District Commission, and a Select Board appointee; four members appointed by McLean Hospital, and one member from The Trustees of Reservations, the holder of the conservation restrictions on the property.
The committee meets on the first Wednesday of each month.
Below are the 2023 highlights of the committee’s activities.
Ecological restoration
Parterre Ecological Services was engaged again in 2023 to continue restoring woodland and meadow areas by controlling invasive plant species. In the spring, Parterre’s technicians treated garlic mustard with targeted herbicide applications.
In the summer, invasive woody species were treated in and around the meadow while knotweed colonies were kept from spreading. In the fall, woody invasive species including tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), white mulberry (Morus alba), and common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) were remediated at multiple locations surrounding the Great Meadow and in the Eastern Woods. The LMC is grateful to the Judy Record Conservation Fund for sharing the cost of all the work conducted by Parterre and to Joseph Hibbard for his guidance for the ecological restoration.
The LMC retains other vendors to mow the Great Meadow and the trails. In the fall, the arborist firm Tree Specialists conducted maintenance work for the trees along the Pine Allee including crown reduction pruning of 55 white pines and removal of miscellaneous invasive trees and brush encroaching on the southeast border of the Allee. This work was made possible by a generous Judy Record Conservation Fund grant.
Work by Parterre Ecological Services included identifying invasive plants such as the Ailanthus tree wrapped in black plastic. Photo: Parterre Ecological Services
Volunteer efforts
On April 22, the Belmont Citizens Forum (BCF) and the Judy Record Conservation Fund held their ninth annual Lone Tree Hill Volunteer Day. The volunteers included Girl Scouts Troop 82027, Cityside Subaru employees, M&T Bank employees, the Sai Group employees, and citizens from Belmont and the surrounding communities.
Many hands made light work. Efficient volunteers planted 40 white pine saplings along the Pine Allee. These new trees completed the replacement of the Allee’s missing pines and some of the saplings from the 2017 to 2019 and 2022 volunteer day plantings that did not prosper. At the adjacent meadow, the volunteers planted native wildflowers including slender-leaf mountain mint, short-toothed mountain mint, wild bergamot, white wood aster, blue wood aster, New England aster, and butterfly weed (70 plant plugs of each species). By season’s end, these plants were starting to bloom.
At the other end of the property, volunteers collected 20 bags of trash, including rusted metal sheets and an old bed frame. Garlic mustard was pulled up and bagged in the same effort. The volunteers also closed an unauthorized bike trail and dismantled an abandoned improvised shelter.
On May 19, as part of the Belmont Day School Service Day, students pulled 16 bags of garlic mustard, supervised by Leonard Katz and Nancy Kougeas from the Belmont Conservation Volunteers group.
On November 5, 13 volunteers from BCF, LMC, and other Belmont citizens spread white pine wood chips along the Pine Allee. The wood chips were material from the white pine pruning work that was processed and left on site.
Most weekends in the spring and summer, Belmont Conservation Volunteers, a Sustainable Belmont working group, removed garlic mustard and other invasive plants at Lone Tree Hill, the McLean Barn, and at an abutting area at Rock Meadow. They also pulled knotweed after rainstorms, when the wet soil allowed volunteers to pull the entire plant up, roots and stalks, reducing the odds that the plant will resprout.
McLean Barn
As reported in the June/July 2023 BCF Newsletter, the McLean Barn, also known as the Brick Barn at Rock Meadow, was conveyed to the town in 2005 by McLean Hospital. The barn has been largely unused since that time. In response to several unsuccessful attempts to break into the barn by prying open the doors, the LMC engaged a security services vendor to close and lock the barn doors more effectively.
Recently, the McLean Barn has been approved for the short-term storage of the White Memorial Field House lockers when the field house is demolished. The lockers will be reinstalled in the new ice rink.
On February 10 and March 3, the LMC gave tours of the McLean Barn to interested citizens in preparation for public discussions about the disposition of the barn and the best community uses of the space as allowed under the conservation restriction governing Lone Tree Hill land. A request for proposals for a facilitator to structure a public process for generating ideas for the reuse of the barn has not yet been issued. The LMC expects to issue this in 2024.
Signage
The Department of Public Works has installed new “no parking—fire lane” signs at the bottom of the Coal Road turnout on Pleasant Street. This signage was approved by the fire and police departments and Select Board because unauthorized vehicles were parking in that area.
The Greater Boston New England Mountain Biking Association has donated signs stating new rules, including the prohibiting of rogue trails. These signs will be installed by the end of 2024.
Responsible use of Lone Tree Hill
The committee would like to remind the public that dogs must be on leashes measuring six feet or less. The presence of free-running dogs stresses a broad spectrum of wildlife, particularly ground-nesting birds, as well as walkers, cyclists, and dogs being walked on leash. Dog owners shall remove all feces created by their dogs on the property.
The LMC would also like to solicit your help in preserving this open space. If you see signs of unauthorized trails or happen upon a trail being constructed, please contact us by sending an email to lonetreehillbelmont@gmail.com.
Radha Iyengar is the Select Board appointee and co-chair of the Land Management Committee for Lone Tree Hill, treasurer and board member of the Belmont Citizens Forum, and Precinct 8 Town Meeting member.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.