Westford Stewardship

Welcome to the second Westford Land Stewardship Newsletter! A lot has happened since the last newsletter! We’ve signed up over a dozen new land stewards, a new trail has been created on the Slifer property, a dam was repaired, and several signs were installed on conservation property. We hope you had a great summer and look forward to seeing you at our Fall Land Steward Meeting!

Our next Steward meeting will be held on Thursday, October 22^nd at 8pm in the Westford Museum. This meeting will feature a presentation on how to create a map of your property as well as discussions on our Land Steward Handbook. We will also have a general stewardship question-and-answer session and discuss future steward project suggestions.

On Sunday, October 18^th, Mike Killoran will be leading a trail maintenance walk on the town’s flagship trail, the Thomas Paul trail. This is a great opportunity to walk one of the nicest trails in town while learning the basics of trail maintenance. The plan is to meet at the Westford Town Hall parking lot at 10am. This walk should take approximately 2 hours. Bring your hiking boots and a pair of pruners or a small hand saw for brush cutting. If you have questions on trail maintenance, trail markings, or just want to walk on a great trail, this is a great opportunity.

On Sunday, June 21st, over a dozen people celebrated the first day of summer by creating an awesome new trail on the Slifer conservation land. This trail is well marked with bright yellow blazes and meanders up and down through the upland portion of the parcel. It passes by five huge rhododendrons located in the middle of the woods. When in bloom (late May to early June) these bushes (trees is a better description!) are just barely visible from Keyes Road. Now with the trail passing close by them they are easily viewable. In addition to the trail, a conservation property sign was installed at the entrance.

The effort needed to create this trail was over-estimated: we expected a two hour task, but after an hour, the full trail emerged. If you’ve never created a trail before, it’s something to behold. We had a great, hard-working group of volunteers who seemingly attacked the task with gusto! If you haven’t visited this property yet, you are missing out on one of the more beautiful conservation lands in town. This property has a great variety of flora and fauna and features three picnic tables, a small pond, and significant water frontage on Keyes pond.

We’d like to thank the following people for helping make this project a success: Roger Day, Marian and Bill Harman, Rina Caldwell, Scott, Susan and Courtney Spence (from Groton), Tom Spuhler, Mark Tincknell, Ellen Harde, Kim and Greg Johnson, Mike Killoran, Christie Williams, John Piekos.

Attached to this newsletter you will find a Land Steward Report Card. As a Land Steward, we would like you to report on your property twice a year, once in the Fall, and once in the Spring. Please fill out the attached report card and mail it to Mike Killoran.

Note that we have updated the steward reporting form. Please let us know what you think!

Two new signs have been installed on conservation property. Both signs are made of thick rough cut pine with routed lettering complements of local woodworker Frank Hamblett and look fantastic. The first sign was installed on the Slifer property the same day the trail was created. The second sign was installed by George Fletcher, a conservation commissioner, on the Day parcel at the corner of Graniteville Road and Cold Spring Road. Signage is a big issue for Westford Conservation land. Many of the conservation properties do not have signs and as a result, many people are unsure if the land is private or public. If you steward a property that you feel could use a sign or a trail kiosk, please let us know (the new steward reporting form has a section for this).

The Skating Pond located between Buckboard Drive and Hearthstone Road has been in decline for the past several years. The water level has dropped dramatically and purple loosetrife has been doing its dirty work of choking out native plant species and dramatically changing the landscape. This spring, a number of concerned residents approached the Conservation Commission to see what might be done to return the area to its earlier status as a beautiful pond and thriving wetland habitat.

The Commission promptly took up the matter and held a Public Hearing in June. Bill Turner visited the site and developed a plan of action and a design for a dam structure with the assistance of Building Inspector Don Kinney and Town Engineer Mark Hamel. Armed with Commission-obtained funding, donations of materials by local businesses, and the application of some skill and materials from Nashoba Tech, Bill spearheaded the implementation of the work.

Early in August Bill Turner and other professionals surveyed the site and built the dam. With the energetic help of some neighbors from Hearthstone and Buckboard and sustained by several gallons of lemonade, Bill and volunteers spent a very hot and sweaty Saturday in August loading rip-rap by hand into wheelbarrows, wheeling it into place and hand raking the stuff for final placement.

There’s a lot to be pleased with in the execution of this community project – now if we’d only get some rain so the dam can do its job! We hope to soon see the pond again flourish as a habitat for wildlife and feel the glide and hear the scrape of ice skates this winter. We'll keep an eye out for the pair of swans who used to visit and the Great Blue Herons and the Canada Geese and the ospreys - and maybe a bit less purple in the landscape next summer.

Featured Property: Francis Hill Trails
By Marian and Bill Harman, Land Stewards
The old deed mentions Orchard Pasture, Rowdle Towdle, Gideon Pasture, and
Spaulding Pasture, but there are no pastures here now. The land is completely
wooded, mainly with oak, maple, ash, and white pine. When we first walked
into this woods, in 1973, it was difficult to move forward because of dense
underbrush. Conditions have changed a lot in 25 years. Trees are bigger, the
understory is less dense, and trails criss-cross the land.

This woodland, on the Westford-Chelmsford town line between Lowell Road and
Hunt Road, is open to the public for trail uses. Trail entrances are marked
on Lowell Rd., Hunt Rd. (at the town line), and Chamberlin Rd. (at the
intersection with Francis Hill Rd.). The northern part, 18 acres, was a gift
of the Lambert family to the Westford Conservation Trust, in order that the
land would be preserved in a natural condition and be open for the enjoyment
of the people of Westford. The southern part is also conservation land,
although it is privately owned (Harmans). It is protected by a Conservation
Restriction and a trail easement.

In the northern part, a Red-tailed Hawk family is raised here every spring,
and Red and Grey Fox, Opossums, Skunks, White-tailed deer, and Coyote are seen
here regularly. Many birds, including Wood Thrush and Great Crested
Flycatcher, are also summer residents. Wildflowers such as False Solomon
Seal, Round-leaf Pyrola, and Polygala bloom along the trails. Very large Red
and Black Oaks dominate one section of the forest.

Proceeding south, the land gradually rises toward the top of Francis Hill.
After crossing over a stone wall, the trail pass near a wet area, which
features Hemlock, Jack-in-the-pulpit and other wetland plants. Nearby is a
forest clearing, which is home to completely different plants and animals.
This is mowed once a year, and has evolved into an interesting wildlife area.
In the spring, wood frogs breed in a small pool, which becomes completely dry
in late summer. Spice Bush is abundant in this part of the forest. The
leaves of this bush have a delightful aroma most of the year. Leaves, twigs,
and berries can all be used to make Spice Bush tea.

As the trail winds uphill toward Hunt Rd., the land becomes drier, and White
Pine and Oak dominate the canopy. Wildflowers such as Rattlesnake Plantain,
Pink Ladies Slipper, and Columbine can be seen here. A Red-bellied Woodpecker
family has used an old Ash tree for its nest, and a Broad-winged Hawk is often
heard. Migratory Warblers move through here in Spring and fall.

Poison ivy is abundant in some areas of these trails, and in the spring, some
areas are quite muddy. So it's best to wear long pants, socks, and boots.

Recently a friend recommended that I read book called Ceremonial Times, a book describing 15,000 years of history on a one mile square piece of land along side Forge Pond and Beaver Brook just over the Westford line in Littleton. The author, John Mitchell lives on Beaver Brook Road and has colorful and almost mystical way of describing his quest for intimate understanding and the history of the land around him. I found the book fascinating and have since picked up his latest effort titled Trespassing, which describes the present day origin of land ownership. It is written in the same comfortable storytelling style as Ceremonial Times and has proven to be an equally as enjoyable and informative read.

John Mitchell will be speaking at the Westford Conservation Trust Annual Meeting on November 5th at 7:30PM in the Westford Museum. You do not have to be a member of the Westford Conservation Trust to attend. All are welcome. Mr. Mitchell will be reading from is latest book Trespassing, and will be signing copies afterward. It promises to be a very entertaining evening!

The Westford Conservation Trust produces a Westford trail guide titled Westford Trails.

It’s really easy and enjoyable to create a map of the property that you Steward. The latest addition to this publication is a map and description of the Slifer property. This map can be found along with this newsletter. The Trust would love to get additional maps from the Land Stewards to include in the trail guide. Since creating a map of the property is one recommended step for land stewardship, the map can also serve as a basis for your stewardship efforts.

If your property is already included in the trail guide you are certainly encouraged to provide updated more detailed trail maps and descriptions. We’d love to improve what we already have - some of the trail maps are very high level and could use additional details. Please contact Bill Harman at 692-3907 for details on how to get a copy of Westford Trails as well as how to get your trail description into its next volume. In addition, we’d love to include your map and property description in the next newsletter, so please contact John Piekos with this information as well. Also note that our fall Steward meeting will include a presentation by Bill Harman on how to create a map of your property.

If you have an email address, let us know. Often a volunteer project such as a trail clearing is proposed and it would be great to notify a list of interested parties via email. Please send your email address to jpiekos@novera.com.

The Westford Land Stewardship Steering Committee is made up of members from the Westford Conservation Commission and the non-profit Westford Conservation Trust. Please free to contact anyone one of us with your Land Stewardship questions.

Christie Williams (Westford Conservation Commission)

692-0107 or 692-2596 - cwilliam@tiac.net

Mike Killoran (Westford Conservation Commission/Westford Conservation Trust)

692-7925 - killoran@LL.mit.edu

John Piekos (Westford Conservation Trust)

692-8922 - jpiekos@novera.com

Westford Conservation Trust: http://www.ultranet.com/~killoran/wct.htmll

Westford Conservation Commission: http://www.ultranet.com/~killoran/cc.htmll

MeadowBrook Farms: http://www.ultranet.com/~killoran/picking/html/start.shtml