Community Development

Natural Resources Commission

Delia Kaye, Natural Resources Administrator
Katie Holden, Assistant Natural Resources Administrator

The Natural Resources Commission and staff are responsible for the overall stewardship of the natural resources of the Town and the establishment of Town environmental policy in conjunction with the Selectmen and Town Meeting. The Commission administers M.G.L. Chapter 131, Section 40, the State Wetlands Protection Act, and accompanying regulations (310 cmr 10.00).

Wetlands Protection Act

Division of Natural Resources staff and the Commission kept up to date with new dep Wildlife Habitat Protection Guidance for Inland Wetlands and revisions to the Act Relative to Streamlining and Expediting the Permitting Process which includes a streamlined process for projects regulated under the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act and the Wetlands Protection Act.

A majority of the Commission and Division activities relate to issuing, administering and enforcing wetland regulations. Wetland permit applications included 38 Notices of Intent, two Abbreviated Notices of Resource Area Delineation, and 24 Requests for Determination of Applicability, for a total of 64 new applications. The Commission closed out many completed projects, issuing 28 Certificates of Compliance. The Commission also undertook one new wetland enforcement case and is working with nine property owners to resolve wetland violations. The Commission and staff responded to five appeals to the State's Department of Environmental Protection (dep). The dep issued a Superseding Order affirming the Commission's decision for three appeals; two appeals remain outstanding. One of the three Superseding Orders issued by dep was appealed and is currently being adjudicated at the State Division of Administrative Law and Appeals.

Natural Resources Commision: Standing from left: George Lewis, Alexander Easterday, Jamie Bemis; Seated from left: Steve Verrill, Monty Lovejoy, Paul Feshbach-Meriney, Chair

Natural Resources Commission Committees

Conservation Restriction Stewardship Committee: The crsc was appointed in 2005 by the Board of Selectmen to provide responsible management and care of the more than 110 conservation restrictions on as many properties within the Town. The crsc members include Hasso Ewing, Chair, Marilyn Hughes, G. Montgomery Lovejoy, Harald MacKenzie, Andy Proulx, and Emily Wheeler. The crsc reviewed and collected baseline documentation for four conservation restrictions. The crsc created a foundation from which to operate including developing policies, protocol, and forms. The crsc also reviewed requests for potential conservation restrictions, and recommended approval of four conservation restrictions to the Natural Resources Commission. All four crs were ultimately approved by the Board of Selectmen.

Heywood Meadow Stewardship Committee: The mission of the hmsc is to rehabilitate the Meadow so as to evoke its historical and agricultural past, accommodate passive recreation, and further the Town's conservation goals. Progress in 2006 has been marked by the securing permits to remove a root cellar, conducting field surveys to identify native flora, working with both the nrc and cpw to create mowing schedules, and removal of dead trees and invasive species. The hmsc members are Bruce MacAlpine, Chair, John Althouse, John Bordman, Mary Clarke, Hasso Ewing, Joanne Gibson, Marion Grabhorn, Elizabeth Igleheart, Lorna Mack, Marian Thornton, Win Wilbur, and Concord Battery liaison Sandy Smith.

Mattison Field Stewardship Committee: The Mattison Field Stewardship Committee continued to coordinate the agricultural use of the field with farmer Jerry Cupp, who hays the field under a lease administered by the Division of Natural Resources. A new lease was developed for 3 acres of agricultural land on the northern portion of Mattison Field, and is farmed by Steve Verrill. mfsc members include Martha Curran, Althea Kemmer, Craig MacDonnell, and Polly Reeve.

Mill Brook Task Force: The mbtf continued efforts to protect the Mill Brook through its biannual clean ups. The mbtf hosted a table at the National Park Service sponsored RiverFest. Local wildlife tracker Lydia Rogers led a Mill Brook nature walk. The Task Force continued its Tagging and Adopt a Catch Basin project in the effort to increase public awareness about the Mill Brook. The mbtf installed 10 "Mill Brook" signs near Mill Brook crossings to increase public awareness. Members of the mbtf include Alan Schmidt, Jack Crosby, Carol Gupta, Lorna Mack, Bruce MacAlpine, the late Elizabeth Morris, and John and Fran Neville.

Warner's Pond Stewardship Committee: The wpsc works to protect, preserve and enhance Warner's Pond and its adjacent wetlands and wildlife habitat through responsible management. Members include Charlie Simpson and Joanne Loynd, co chairs; Enid and Mark Boasberg, Al Easterday, Ruth Gerow, Dorothy Higgins, David Lange, John and Maureen Swanson, and Doug and Kansas Wight. The wpsc hosted a booth at the West Concord Family Festival, completed a beautiful and informative brochure to increase public awareness of this treasure in West Concord and provided input to Concord Public Works for the proposed repair of the Warner's Pond Dam.

Wildlife Passages Task Force: The wptf has been consistently monitoring one of the four wildlife underpasses that MassHighway constructed under Route 2 between Crosby's Corner and the Sudbury River. The three other culverts are frequently wet, and so have only been looked at intermittently. A one year pilot study is almost complete, during which several camera systems were evaluated for their ability to capture images of the animals that registered tracks in the tracking bed within the culvert.

Animals using the four underpasses include white tailed deer, woodchuck, muskrat, Norway rat, chipmunk, vole, mouse, cotton tailed rabbit, opossum, raccoon, domestic dog, coyote, red fox, gray fox, domestic cat, fisher, mink, weasel, snake, toad, frog, salamander, and humans on foot, skis, snowshoes, and bikes. The wptf has concluded so far that: 1) remote cameras miss many animals, 2) the tracking bed is a very inexpensive and effective way to record animal use, and 3) that there is a very wide variety of animal species using the tunnels and that use varies significantly over the seasons. Members are: Dave Kay, Ron McAdow, Lydia Rogers, Dan Stimson, and Bryan Windmiller.

Agricultural Leases And Community Gardens

Agricultural Leases: The Division continued to work with local farmers to retain land in agriculture. Four leases were renewed this year, and two new leases were developed: one for the Burke land and for a portion of Mattison Field. The Division managed 13 leases in 2006 that cover approximately 211 acres of farmland.

Gaining Ground, the leaseholder at the Thoreau Farm/Birthplace conservation land, is a non profit organization that grows organic vegetables and fruit and donates all the food to ten area meal programs and food pantries. Although Gaining Ground's eighth season was challenging due to record breaking rain levels causing flooded fields, the volunteer hours were up to record levels with a 30 percent increase in visits. Natural Resources Rangers helped patrol the area due to multiple vandalism incidents. Two significant changes included running electricity to the new greenhouse and a new driveway/parking lot at the entrance with major support from the Town. Conservation Crew seeded the new driveway edges of the road with a native wildflower mix that bloomed beautifully.

Community Gardens: The long standing tradition of community gardening thrives under the helpful guidance of coordinators Jim Catterton and Rebecca Sheehan Purcell at the Hugh Cargill gardens and Pamela Hathaway at the Cousin's Field community garden. Cousin's Field gardeners held a major clean up in March taking down old fences, removing invasive plants, and removing debris in preparation for the gardening season. Concord Public Works hauled away several truckloads for recycling and disposal. A total of 22 gardeners farmed 24 plots, with four first time gardeners this year. These pivotal volunteers persisted in overseeing plot allocations and assisting the many 'green thumbs' whose ardent efforts so beautify these bountiful garden plots.

Natural Resource Management

Land management activities included stewardship of approximately 1,320 acres of Town conservation land (including White Pond Reservation), maintenance of 19 miles of trails, mowing 84 acres to maintain open meadows, support of two community gardens, and coordination of 13 agriculture leases. Natural resources management includes staff support and coordination of numerous groups and individuals dedicated to stewardship roles, including six nrc Committees. Natural Resources staff also supports other groups and committees focused on conservation and/or preservation goals, including Walden Keeping Track and the White Pond Advisory Committee.

Rangers: The Division welcomed two new Ranger positions this summer. Rangers Chris Scanlon, Jason Soleau and Brendan Kemeza assisted the Division in educating the public about the Town-owned land Rules and Regulations, enforcing compliance when necessary (including issuing parking tickets for illegally parked vehicles), and providing a general educational presence on Town lands. The Rangers estimated that they were successful in reducing illegal swimming by fifty percent at White Pond. They also made great strides in reducing littering at White Pond, the Old Calf pasture, Town Forest, and other Town owned lands. Efforts were also focused at ensuring compliance of land use rules at Punkatasset and eliminating vandalism at Gaining Ground.

Conservation Crew: Tyler Graham and Brian Talbot were hired to perform trail maintenance, remove invasive exotic vegetation, and conduct general maintenance on conservation lands. General maintenance included trail clearing, installing wood chips, monitoring mutt mitts, installing restoration plantings, and removing trash. Other projects included constructing a kiosk, bridge and catwalks, and conducting gps field data collection. At Mattison Field, the Crew installed signs requiring dogs to be leashed and remain on the trails in an effort to protect nesting grassland birds, including bobolinks, prior to and during the breeding season. Invasive plant control projects included removing glossy buckthorn from the Town Forest, black swallow wort from Mill Brook Way, Japanese knotweed from Heywood Meadow, and Asiatic bittersweet from Punkatasset. Slope restoration at White Pond continued with the installation of native plantings, jute netting, and fencing. Two Assistant Conservation Crew, Kenzie Audette and Matt Gray, worked with the Conservation Crew in July and August conducting land management activities.

With Concord Public Works, the Conservation Crew carried out many Division goals. At the Lowell Road boat launch, Conservation Crew and Public Works installed plantings to supplement last year's restoration efforts, and conducted improvements at the boat launch to prevent erosion to the banks of the Concord River. At Mattison Field, the Conservation Crew worked with Concord Public Works to improve the parking lot, reducing chronic potholes and tire ruts. The Conservation Crew and Concord Public Works continued maintenance of the restored orchard at Punkatasset and removal of invasive plant species, as well as invasive species removal at the Town Forest. Removal of well over 100 tons of the invasive water chestnut was a coordinated effort between cpw, Natural Resources, the Concord Land Conservation Trust, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Concord Public Works also assisted the Division in improving stormwater runoff from Walden Street into the Town Forest by enlarging the basin just beyond the parking lot entrance. Cooperative efforts to improve flows here will continue. Major invasive non-native plant removal projects by students from Concord Academy and Middlesex School greatly enhanced existing fields adjacent to Hutchins Pond and at the Lowell Road boat launch.

Intern: Catherine Lawson began an internship conducting deed and plan research necessary to document Town conservation property boundaries. This initiative is critical in the Division's efforts to inventory the Town conservation lands and provide meaningful land stewardship.

The all new Old North Bridge

Conservation Land Use Permits: The Natural Resources office issued a total of 23 Conservation Land Use permits to various groups using Town conservation lands, including a ducky fund raising derby, Patriot's Day events, canoe races for Riverfest, a variety of groups for field classroom purposes, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts for campfires on Scout Island, and the Musketaquid Arts and Environment Program for their Earth Day and solstice celebrations at the Old Calf Pasture.

Aquatic Weed Harvester: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continued its generous tradition of loaning its aquatic weed harvester to the towns of Concord, Lincoln, and Sudbury, and to the Concord Land Conservation Trust. In cooperation with the clct and the Town of Lincoln, this multiple year effort to reduce and control the spread of invasive water chestnut in Fairhaven Bay is providing significant improvement. In addition to assisting with the harvester, the Conservation Crew and Assistant Crew also assisted in hand pulling water chestnut from Warner's and Macone Ponds.

Emerson Thoreau Amble: Phase 1 of the proposed Emerson Thoreau Amble was completed this year thanks to materials grants from the Division of Conservation and Recreation (dcr) and the Concord Garden Club. The Division submitted a second grant request to dcr for Phase 2 of the Amble. Over the summer, volunteer work parties were held to clear the trail of invasive plants and install native plantings. Conservation Crew and Construction Specialist Jim Macone constructed a bridge over Cargill Creek, a tributary to the Mill Brook, and catwalks to complete the trail. When Phase 2 is complete, the Amble will consist of a 1.25 mile walking trail that connects Heywood Meadow to the Town Forest, effectively relocating an existing portion of the Bay Circuit Trail in Concord from busy streets to quiet fields and woodland. Access to the Amble, including the new bridge, is from the Town Forest parking area.

Vernal Pools: Vernal pools are ephemeral bodies of water providing a home for many tiny and unique organisms such as fairy shrimp and mole salamanders. These creatures have adapted to a home that is temporarily flooded in the spring and that dries out in the summer. Vernal pools that are documented to provide habitat for vernal pool species can be certified by the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, which affords them more protection. Five vernal pools were certified this year in Concord, raising the total to 44 vernal pools town wide.

Blanding's Turtle Research: Together with the Concord Land Conservation Trust, the Division continued to fund research conducted by Bryan Windmiller of Hyla Ecological Services to understand the preferred habitats of the State-listed Blanding's turtles in the Great Meadows area, which has one of Massachusetts' and New England's largest populations. The Blanding's turtle is listed as "threatened" by Massachusetts Natural Heritage Program and is currently being considered for listing under the United States Endangered Species Act. Raccoons, foxes and skunks prey on a large number of turtle eggs and hatchlings, but as adults, the greatest threat to this freshwater turtle is habitat loss and degradation.

Environmental Activities

The Natural Resources Division continues to sponsor the longstanding tradition of early morning Conservation Coffees held on the first Tuesday morning of every month at 7:30a.m. These lively and stimulating gatherings of citizens, Federal, State, and local officials, and environmentalists provide an effective forum for the exchange of information, ideas, and concerns.

Agriculture Committee

John Bemis, Chair
Jim Catterton
Dan Giurleo
Jenn Verrill
Jim Wayman

The five member Agricultural Committee of the Town of Concord held its first meeting in May. Our earliest effort focused on sponsoring a market day for all the Town's farms on the Milldam on the final Saturday of September. With a few absences, all the farms of Concord set up stands between Walden Street and the flagpole to sell their produce between 10AM and 2PM. With perfect weather and a big crowd "Ag Day" was a resounding success.

As we plan future Ag Days our efforts are focused on defining other issues pertinent to the agricultural community. We are still determining who this community includes. We are building an inventory of agricultural lands that are the basis of that community by identifying lands ideal for agriculture, both for the value of their soils and as places of visual importance in our Town's landscapes. We have voiced our opposition to the development of playing fields on historical agricultural lands on Walden Street.

We will strive to promote and protect agriculture in Concord. We hope to help educate Town citizens about what is available right here. We plan to produce a brochure to publicize the various farm/roadside markets throughout the town. We have determined that the cost of housing is and will be a major crisis for the future of farming and we are committed to finding solutions. We have started to and will work with many other groups in Concord: the Land Conservation Trust, the Natural Resource Commission, Board of Selectmen, Building Department, Assessors, Minuteman National Park, and the Concord Housing Authority.

The support of the Town Manager and Board of Selectmen gives the sense that our mission is appreciated, and that agriculture is an essential part of the fabric of life in Concord. Meeting one Thursday evening each month from 7:30 to 9:30, usually in the lunch room behind the Hearing Room in the Town House, we welcome the input of visitors.

Concord Land Conservation Trust

John M. Stevens, Jr., Chair
Jonathan M. Keyes, Secretary
Pauline Cross Reeve
Gordon H. Shaw, Treasurer
Eleanor C. Horwitz
Joan D. Ferguson
Jeffrey S. Wieand

Concord Open Land Foundation Directors:
Thomas C. Tremblay, Chair
Jeffrey S. Wieand, Secretary
Gordon K. Bell, Treasurer
Joan D. Ferguson
Marian F. Thornton

The Concord Land Conservation Trust (P.O. Box 141, Concord, MA) is a tax exempt, charitable organization established in 1959, with membership open to all who are interested in conservation of our natural resources. It complements other conservation efforts of the Town, State and national governments and offers an alternative and a balance to development in our town.

The Land Trust works closely with its affiliate, the Concord Open Land Foundation. colf generally takes part in transactions involving development of a portion of a property in order to preserve the remainder. For example, in 1999, colf purchased the 12.5-acre Anderson property on Garfield Road near Nine Acre Corner, sold the existing house with its 2.5 acre house lot to a private purchaser and gave the remainder of the property to clct to be held in conservation in perpetuity. For the last few years, colf has been holding a building lot on Westford Road, initially in the hope that it might provide part of an alternative to expansion into the Estabrook Woods for Middlesex School, and currently as the key to a series of transactions, now being carried out, that will preserve significant acreage between Lowell Road and Westford Road.

In the last decade, the Land Trust has become more active in taking the initiative in land preservation. The combination of development pressure resulting from Concord's desirability as a place to live and the limited space available for development means we have a small window for preserving the existing balance of land uses in the Town. As a result, the Land Trust now makes an effort to preserve from development, by purchase if necessary, large properties with strong ecological or agricultural values, parcels that abut or link other open areas and properties in areas of the Town where open space is scarce.

During 2006, two land acquisition projects that had been in the works for some time were completed. The Land Trust acquired the three-acre Assabet Woodlot that links the Simon Willard Woods acquired in 2000 with preexisting open space running to the Assabet's confluence with the Sudbury at Egg Rock. Also completed was a bargain/sale--in reality, a gift--to the Land Trust by Rosita Corey and Elizabeth Bourquin of a 27-acre parcel behind Barrett's Mill Road. Viewed in isolation, this extremely generous gift is a beautiful tract of field and woods, but the Land Trust also thinks of it as another bead in what we hope will be a green necklace extending down the Spencer Brook Valley all the way from the Carlisle line to the Assabet River.

Despite increasing landholdings and consequent burdens of stewardship, the Land Trust remains an organization which relies in principal part on the volunteered services of our trustees, colf's directors and our members. The only individuals whom clct pays for services on an ongoing basis are Nat Marden, who serves as the Land Trust's property manager under a contractual arrangement, and Kat Edwards, a part-time employee who staffs the small second-floor office on the Milldam that the Land Trust has rented for several years.

This year clct distributed, free of charge to all members, a new series of trail maps for the Land Trust's principal properties and connected land open to the public. Substantial acquisitions and the construction of new trails over the past decade had rendered the existing maps obsolete. The response to the new maps has been very positive.

The Land Trust's annual meeting took place on a Fall Sunday afternoon in a field bounded by Barrett's Mill Road and the Assabet River following a walk through the newly acquired Corey/Bourquin land. At the meeting, Gordon Shaw and Ellie Horwitz were elected to new three-year terms as trustees.

From time to time throughout the year, the Land Trust organizes walks on several of our properties to encourage their use by our membership. Once again during 2006, the Land Trust and Harvard University collaborated in sponsoring a public lecture program and related seminar series for students at Concord-Carlisle Regional High School, the Middlesex School and Concord Academy. The program was organized, and the Harvard lecturers selected, by Andy Biewener, a Concord resident who is a Professor of Biology at Harvard and the director of the University's Concord Field Station, which administers the Harvard property that forms the core of the Estabrook Woods.

The Land Trust is grateful to the many residents of Concord who have been so generous in donating both land or conservation restrictions on land and the funds necessary to acquire and maintain conservation land. We are privileged to live in a town that places such a high value on maintaining a balance of land uses characteristic of the traditions of a New England town. We hope that all of you will join us in using and enjoying the properties you have helped us to preserve.

• CLCT Statement of Activities

• CLCT Assets and Liabilities

Bringing in the hay at the Corey-Bourquin Field, a recently acquired property of the Concord Land Conservation Trust.

White Pond Advisory Committee

The White Pond Advisory Committee (wpac) was established in 1973 as an advisory and liaison committee to review and analyze the concerns of the White Pond area and play a leadership role in acting as steward for the Pond and its environs. White Pond was described by Thoreau as the "Gem of the Woods"; today, it remains a prime Town resource for passive recreation and fishing.

An ongoing activity of wpac is to review and advise the Building Commissioner and other Town committees on new construction (e.g., additions, landscape changes, etc.) in the White Pond area to ensure that the health of the Pond and its environs is preserved. Of particular concern is any activity that can have an adverse impact on the quality of the Pond water. A number of such reviews were performed in 2006.

White Pond Reservation Management Plan

Other efforts evolved from the Committee's concern about the Town-owned property known as White Pond Reservation located on the southwest shore of the Pond and extending back over 40 acres of woods and trails to the Sudbury border. No management plan has been in effect for this beautiful property since its acquisition by the Town in 1992. The wpac is working towards developing the needed support for a Town Meeting Warrant Article that would involve changing the designation of the Reservation land from that of "owned for municipal purposes" to that of Conservation Land to ensure its preservation as conservation land in the future.

Bruce Freeman Rail Trail (bfrt)

The wpac has been actively involved in the discussions surrounding the bfrt, to ensure that the Pond is properly protected given that the proposed trail passes very closely to White Pond. Illegal activities (mostly illegal swimming) are rampant currently. The wpac fears that illegal activities could increase with a rail trail in place that facilitates access to the Pond.

The wpac is working with the Town's Bruce Freeman Rail Trail Advisory Committee and other groups such as Concord based Friends of Rural Trails and the Friends of the bfrt to elevate awareness of the impacts of trail surface, trail construction activities, and increased visitor traffic on the health and aesthetics of the Pond, and on the wildlife corridor.

Effectiveness of Rangers

In 2005 the wpac conducted a study of illegal activities. This led to increased enforcement by two Rangers provided by the Natural Resources Commission.

Water Quality

The wpac is working towards obtaining funding for increased water-quality monitoring by the Friends of White Pond (fowp). This would include phosphorous testing, quantification of aquatic vegetation, and a survey of erosion sites on the shoreline. (fowp has been conducting regular water quality tests of clarity and dissolved oxygen on a volunteer basis.) In addition, the wpac is seeking a commitment for routine cleaning of the catch basins on the paved access road to White Pond to maintain the functionality of this system for preventing nutrients and sediments from going directly into the Pond.

White Pond Advisory Committee: Arra Avakian, Julie Melbin, David Bearg, Chair, Fred Lindgren