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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Belmont Tree Replanting Resumes

 Environment, Newsletter, September 2021  Comments Off on Belmont Tree Replanting Resumes
Aug 232021
 
Belmont Tree Replanting Resumes

By Jeffrey North Belmont has about 15,000 trees located in public rights-of-way, parks, schools, and public green spaces throughout town. In any given year, approximately 100 trees need to be removed due to damage or disease. The town has a program to replace them with even more new trees that refresh and assure continuity for our urban forest.   Thirty-three years ago Belmont was named a USA Tree City by the Arbor Day Foundation. Forestry and funding are vital components of this continuing honor. The value of trees on our properties goes beyond aesthetics to vital impacts on health, climate [READ MORE]

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Letters to the Editor July-August 2021

 Environment, Historic Preservation, July-August 2021, Newsletter, Open Space  Comments Off on Letters to the Editor July-August 2021
Jun 252021
 

To the Editor: As a 40-year resident in Belmont I take exception to the tone of the article in the latest issue of the Belmont Citizens Forum concerning the treatment of the shore of Clay Pit Pond (“Clay Pit Pond Deforestation Damages Wetland,” Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter, May/June 2021), which attempts to blame the residents who perpetrated an “ecologically damaging assault” on the area. Rather, it seems to me, that these “miscreants” have called attention to the town’s lack of attention and mismanagement of one of our town’s greatest assets: an attractive body of water in the middle of our [READ MORE]

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Fernald Site Contains Rare Specimen Trees

 Environment, July-August 2021, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants  Comments Off on Fernald Site Contains Rare Specimen Trees
Jun 252021
 
Fernald Site Contains Rare Specimen Trees

By Eric Olson It is vanishingly rare that a town within ten miles of Boston can, with a single purchase, add nearly 200 acres to its portfolio of open space. That is exactly what Waltham did in the fall of 2014 when its mayor and city council agreed to buy the former Fernald Development Center from the state. I bet most Belmont residents are at least passingly familiar with this property, tucked up in Waltham’s northeast corner between Trapelo and Waverley Oaks roads, less than a quarter-mile from the Belmont line. As a resident of Newton, I had never heard [READ MORE]

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Belmont’s Invasive Plants: Asian Bittersweet

 Environment, Lone Tree Hill, May-June 2021  Comments Off on Belmont’s Invasive Plants: Asian Bittersweet
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]

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Clay Pit Pond Deforestation Damages Wetland

 Environment, May-June 2021, Newsletter, Plants  Comments Off on Clay Pit Pond Deforestation Damages Wetland
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]

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Committee Battles Invasives at Lone Tree Hill

 January 2021, McLean, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants  Comments Off on Committee Battles Invasives at Lone Tree Hill
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]

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Persistence Built Western Greenway

 Environment, Open Space, Sept/Oct 2020  Comments Off on Persistence Built Western Greenway
Sep 032020
 
Persistence Built Western Greenway

By Roger Wrubel It began for me in 1995. I was working with a new grassroots organization, the McLean Open Space Alliance (MOSA), that formed to try to protect more than 200 acres of undeveloped land owned by McLean Hospital. The hospital campus occupied about 50 acres, and McLean owned about 180 additional acres of forests and meadow beyond that. During a period when hospital finances were challenging, Partners HealthCare, of which McLean was a part, wanted to sell its “surplus” property to developers. This created great controversy in Belmont. About a third of the town favored development, including the [READ MORE]

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Lone Tree Hill Volunteer Day Postponed

 Environment, Lone Tree Hill, May/June 2020, Newsletter, Open Space  Comments Off on Lone Tree Hill Volunteer Day Postponed
May 032020
 
Lone Tree Hill Volunteer Day Postponed

Belmont Citizens Forum’s Eighth Annual Lone Tree Hill Volunteer Day in conjunction with the Judy Record Conservation Fund scheduled for April 24, 2020, at the Lone Tree Hill parcel has been postponed to the fall due to the current Coronavirus shelter in place order. A big shout out to the good Samaritans who picked up the trash at the bottom of Coal Road, along Pleasant Street and at the Mill Street parking lot. Later this year we plan to complete the planting of trees along the Pine Allee. THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE SPONSORS Gold Level Sponsors Anne Mahon Realty [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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Lone Tree Hill Cleanup Day April 25

 BCF Events, Environment, March/April 2020, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants, Volunteer  Comments Off on Lone Tree Hill Cleanup Day April 25
Feb 272020
 
Lone Tree Hill Cleanup Day April 25

Lone Tree Hill Cleanup Day Join us in stewarding Lone Tree Hill! The Belmont Citizens Forum, in conjunction with the Judy Record Conservation Fund, is holding its eighth annual cleanup and trail maintenance day on Saturday, April 25, from 9 AM until noon. Help complete the planting of trees along the Pine Allee, clean up and remove invasive species at the Coal Road area, and pick up trash at the Mill Street parking lot and South Pleasant Street area at the Coal Road kiosk. Students can earn community service credits. This event is made possible by generous local business sponsors. [READ MORE]

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Belmont Highlights Natural, Historic Treasures

 Environment, Historic Preservation, History, Lone Tree Hill, Newsletter, November 2019, Open Space, Plants  Comments Off on Belmont Highlights Natural, Historic Treasures
Nov 042019
 
Belmont Highlights Natural, Historic Treasures

By Mary Bradley The Belmont Historical Society hosted two events in September and October celebrating Belmont’s rich cultural and environmental history. Tracking the Wellington Hill Station through Time The Belmont Historical Society hosted an open house on September 15, 2019, to celebrate the completion of a series of repairs and restorations to the many-purposed Wellington Hill Station building the previous month. The station received a new cedar shingle roof and repairs to the decking and gingerbread trim, the interior plaster walls, and the lower wood sections. The roof was funded with Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding and donations from the [READ MORE]

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Path Neighbors Can Choose Trees For Privacy

 Bike Paths, May 2015, Newsletter, Open Space  Comments Off on Path Neighbors Can Choose Trees For Privacy
May 122015
 
Path Neighbors Can Choose Trees For Privacy

By Meg Muckenhoupt Community paths allow more people to travel without using cars—and a lot of people want to do just that. It is estimated that more than 2 million people walk, run, and bike the Minuteman Bikeway in Cambridge, Arlington, Lexington, and Bedford each year. Understandably, neighbors living in homes abutting new paths are often concerned about the effects of having so many visitors passing by their yards. Different communities have varying approaches to living with bike trails. Today, 22 years after the Minuteman Bikeway officially opened, about a quarter of properties abutting the Bikeway in Arlington have no [READ MORE]

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Copper Beeches Grace Belmont Grounds

 March 2015, Newsletter  Comments Off on Copper Beeches Grace Belmont Grounds
Mar 122015
 
Copper Beeches Grace Belmont Grounds

By Elizabeth Gourley “There is no finer specimen tree; so beautiful that it overwhelms one at first glance,” states Michael Dirr, University of Georgia professor and author of Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, on the merits of the European beech (Fagus sylvatica). One of the most striking cultivars of European beech is the copper beech (Fagus sylvatica ‘Cuprea’). A lovely specimen can be found in the small park adjacent to The First Church in Belmont Unitarian Universalist where Concord Avenue and Common Street intersect. This majestic tree has been overseeing our comings and goings for over 150 years. Tom Walsh, [READ MORE]

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