Belmont’s Trees Enrich Town Streetscape

 Newsletter, September/October 2024  Comments Off on Belmont’s Trees Enrich Town Streetscape
Aug 232024
 
Belmont’s Trees Enrich Town Streetscape

By Vicki Amalfitano, Lucia Gates, Eva Hoffman, and Adam Howe What makes you feel at ease when you drive down a town street? Would it be as comfortable on a hot summer’s day without shade trees? Tall, beautiful oak, maple, and birch trees; magnificent beech trees, flowering dogwood, magnolia, and cherry trees enrich our streets and yards. They fill our senses with their beauty, and they cool our homes. They take in the carbon dioxide we breathe out, and they release the oxygen we breathe in. We are grateful for the trees’ benefits and their positive impact on the value [READ MORE]

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Belmont’s Invasive Plants: Norway Maple

 Newsletter, Plants, September 2021  Comments Off on Belmont’s Invasive Plants: Norway Maple
Aug 232021
 
Belmont’s Invasive Plants: Norway Maple

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]

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Tree Loss Harms Urban Environments

 Air Quality, Environment, May/June 2020, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants, Water Quality  Comments Off on Tree Loss Harms Urban Environments
May 032020
 
Tree Loss Harms Urban Environments

By Florence DiTirro The National Land Cover Database from 2001 estimated Belmont’s tree canopy was 27% of Belmont’s land. From 2003 to 2008, Boston’s urban tree cover declined from 29% to 28%. This downward trend continues if we look at our state, our country, and our globe. The Massachusetts urban tree cover declined between 0.32% and 0.24% in the five years from 2009 to 2014, and the United States overall lost 1.0% of urban tree cover. Global loss was measured as -0.2%. It’s a sad state that we are losing our trees. What is there not to like about trees? [READ MORE]

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Make a Garden in Your Sidewalk “Hell Strip”

 Newsletter, November 2015, Stormwater  Comments Off on Make a Garden in Your Sidewalk “Hell Strip”
Sep 162015
 
Make a Garden in Your Sidewalk "Hell Strip"

By Kate Bowen Hell strip. There. I wrote it, but I didn’t coin the phrase. That credit is given to Lauren Springer Ogden, a renowned gardener, who came up with the term “hell strip.” You know exactly what I am talking about:  that evil zone between you and the road. It might be paved; it might have some weeds; it might have some tidy grass; or it might be bursting with life—a microcosm of annuals, perennials, and wildlife. Many Belmont streets have paved shoulders. The town does not formally encourage restoring paved hell strips, and  open shoulders are often paved [READ MORE]

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