The Friends of Arlington's Great Meadows are committed to the protection and
stewardship of this valuable natural landscape with the participation of members and town
officials of the communities of Arlington, Lexington and the surrounding region.
Saturday,
October 18; 9:30
to 11:30 am: Signs of Fall at AGM
This
is to remind you that our next "3rd Saturday Nature Walk" will be on Saturday
Oct 18. Meet us at 9:30am, as usual, in the nursing home parking lot,
directions below. We’ll end about 11:30am.
Location: Meet in the parking lot of the Golden LivingCenter-Lexington. From
Maple Street, turn onto Emerson Gardens Road and follow it to the end. Enter the
facility's driveway (slowly, please) and continue around to the right, keeping
the building on your left. Proceed to the far end of the parking lot. For
information contact
donaldbmiller@comcast.net,
781-646-4965.
Sunday, October 5; 1:00 to 3:00 pm:
Minuteman Bikeway Celebration
Bikers
- Stop at our information table at the entrance to AGM off the bikeway behind
the Waldorf School and learn more about this place. More information about
this event at www.minutemanbikeway.org
Monday, October 13; 10:00 am to Noon:
JKW Control Activities
Celebrate Columbus Day by dealing with foreign invasives.
After nearly four
years, we are pleased to report that a large segment of Japanese Knotweed (JKW)
which FoAGM has been working to eradicate in our test plot along the Minuteman
Bikeway is finally showing signs of succumbing. We have attacked this portion of
JKW by cutting it down periodically during the growing season in an effort to
interrupt its growing cycle. The JKW plants in this area have become weak enough
that many can now be uprooted by hand.
To capitalize on this development, we are planning a
“pulling party” on Columbus Day, Monday, October 13, from 10-12 A.M. Our goal is
to remove as much of the weakened JKW from the test area as possible, but we
need your help. We will meet at 10 a.m. at the JKW test plot along the north
side of the bikeway between the Brandon Street entrance and the Waldorf School
playing fields. Parking is available at the end of Brandon Street. Bring work
shoes, work gloves, and a (reasonably) strong back. For more information
or to let us know that you are coming contact John Bartenstein
jcblex@verizon.net.
More information about the FoAGM JKW project can be
found here.
Saturday,
July 19; 9:30
to 11:30 am: Signs of the Season - July
This is to remind you that this Saturday is July 19th – time once
again for our "3rd Saturday Nature Walk" series. Meet us at 9:30am in the
nursing home parking lot, directions below.
There is PLENTY to see in AGM now. At the Lily Pond
Boardwalk, we’ll see swamp milkweed in flower (beautiful); highbush blueberry
and male berry past flowering, but developing their fruit; sweet gale (a
relative of bayberry); several kinds of ferns, including marsh fern; and LOTS
more. We’ll see, but not touch, poison sumac. Along the way, we’ll see
“enchanters’ nightshade” and the diminutive but beautiful “orange grass”, a
yellow-flowered plant that is definitely not a grass. Wild indigo is widespread
and in flower in the drier parts of Arlington’s Great Meadows, its flowers not
blue, but yellow. And lots more.
We are likely to hear the song of the song sparrow,
and we’ll learn the English translation of what it is singing – it’s bound to
help you recognize it in the future. (Hint: It has to do with “maids”.) And no
doubt we’ll see and hear a number of other species of birds.
At the latter part of the walk, if you still have
energy, we’ll visit the forest-fire area. You’ll be blown away by what is
happening there – even if you saw it last month. It gets greener every week,
and is now quite amazing. Life does, indeed, go on.
Come and have a great time -- especially if you bring
a cold bottle of water.
Location: Meet in the parking lot of the Golden LivingCenter-Lexington. From
Maple Street, turn onto Emerson Gardens Road and follow it to the end. Enter the
facility's driveway (slowly, please) and continue around to the right, keeping
the building on your left. Proceed to the far end of the parking lot. For
information contact
donaldbmiller@comcast.net,
781-646-4965.
PS: Children are welcome if they are accompanied
by at least one of their parents.
Photographs
of Arlington’s Great Meadows by Harvey Coté.
Arlington Town Hall, 730 Massachusetts Avenue, second floor gallery.
April 7 through June 30, 2008. Hours: MW 8am – 4pm, Th 8am – 7pm, F 8am –
noon.
Saturday May 31, 9-12 am - Japanese Knotweed
Control
Hands-on experience in controlling JKW. For
information on how to help out contact
Mike Tabaczynski at mjt1@rcn.com
See the
Knotweed Project page for more news and
info.
New England Wildflower Society Walk - May 21
Leader: Roland "Boot" Boutwell. Contact NEWFS to register.
http://www.newfs.org/learn/catalog/fdt1087
Saturday, April 19;
9:30am to Noon: “Signs of Spring at AGM”
Come join us as we look
for signs of spring in Arlington’s Great Meadows. We’ll look especially at
plants and what they are doing to get ready for their favorite time of the
year. We’ll see lots of buds that are opening and identify many species of
trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. We’ll learn what twigs have to tell us,
if we know how to “read” them.
Saturday, May 17; 9:30am
to Noon: “Signs of Spring, Part Two”
Join us to see how our plants have changed
by the middle of May. Most leaves will have emerged from their buds and be
soaking up the sun, so we’ll identify many plants by their leaves, and some by
their flowers. We’ll look at dry upland areas and lower wetland areas.
Friday, March 21, 7
to 8 pm - Woodcocks at the Meadows
Join the Friends of Arlington Great Meadows for a
woodcock walk. Nearly invisible for most of the year, this wonderful bird and
its courtship dance are one of the joys of spring. Spring peepers, other frogs,
toads and snipe might also be heard. Binoculars, scopes, a flashlight and a
portable beach chair would be useful. Dress warmly and be prepared for wet
ground.
Meet promptly in the south (right side) parking lot behind the Golden Living
Center, off Bryant Street. Andrea Golden leader. Rain Date - Friday March
28.
Photographic Essay of the October 20, 2007 Nature Walk
Even if you weren't there you can catch some of the
highlights of this walk in our graphic report.
Events of Previous Years
FoAGM
Contact Information:
Visit our discussion group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FoAGM/
To join, send an email to FoAGM-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Mike Tabaczynski at mjt1@rcn.com (Lexington).
Donald Miller at donaldbmiller@comcast.net or 781-646-4965
(Arlington).
Webmanager at dwhite@gilbertwhite.com
The Boston Globe ran an article about
our planned activities in December 2002.
The Arlington Advocate ran an article about the kickoff
meeting.
We also have a FoAGM Info Sheet suitable for
printing and photocopying.
About
Arlington's Great Meadows
Arlington's
Great Meadows is a 183-acre parcel of land located in east Lexington.
It is the largest piece of undeveloped land in the
Arlington/Lexington area. It is part of the Mystic River watershed. Once a
glacial lake, it is now a wet meadow
surrounded by uplands created by glacial outwash.
Great Meadows was purchased by Arlington in 1871 to serve as
a supplementary water storage area, but was only briefly used for that purpose.
However, it remains a valuable buffer against
flooding in the area.
Arlington's
Great Meadows has long served as public open space and is a popular recreational
spot, particularly since the opening of the Minuteman Bikeway on its southern
border. It also provides a home for
local wildlife. To date, 56 species
of birds have been found nesting in Great Meadows, 12 species of amphibians and
reptiles live there, and 251 species of plants grow in the wet meadow and
uplands. Last summer's Biodiversity
Days survey of the area recorded nearly 400 species of plants and animals in the
Great Meadows area.
Because
it is situated between two schools, the Waldorf School of Lexington and
Lexington Christian Academy,
Arlington's Great Meadows is a valuable resource for teaching children about
nature and the environment. The
Citizens for Lexington Conservation organizes annual bird watching and geology
walks in the Meadows.
For
more information about Arlington's Great Meadows
A
Natural Resource Inventory and Stewardship Plan commissioned by Arlington's
Conservation
Commission, was
completed in 2001 by Frances Clark of Carex Associates. Copies are available at the Arlington and Lexington Public
libraries. It is available online
at: www.FoAGM.org\AGM_Inventory\concomGM1001.htm
A bird survey of the Great Meadows written by John Andrews and
published in 1991. It is available as a 2 MB PDF file - 1991
Bird Survey
