Topic: Open_Spaces

This spring's heavy rains eroded the banks of the brook that flows through the George BB Wright reservation. Near one bridge, the rocks tumbled down, damming the stream and leaving a precarious ledge prone to further erosion.

Join us this Saturday, May 1st at 9:30am for a "Rock Party." We'll be using rock bars to maneuver the rocks back in place. Muddy work, but lots of fun! The bridge is the first one you cross if you take a right from the kiosk.

Trails cleared....
Considering the condition of the surrounding neighborhood, we were surprised that the Crooked Springs trails held up so well. The parking lot is completely open.
We walked all the trails Saturday morning and cleared all the branches. There were a few trees blocking the trail but the chain saw took care of them. In other places, we had to pull branches out of the way and clip a few smaller ones that crossed the trails.
All trails are now passable with no obstructions. There are still some small twigs and branches laying in the trail stuck in the ice. We removed any that posed a hazard to walkers or cross country skiers (in case it snows before we can clear the trail completely).
Enjoy the trails and have a great holiday! Mike & Beth

We are starting out GPS mapping with location tags project. If you are interested in seeig some of the files click the link below.

Click here for Start of our GPS project

Well the Land Trust had its trip on Russel Mill pond at Thanksgiving Forest. Small pond but fund to see a lot of brids.

Click here for Photos

Jim and I did a tour of the sites in town and got some great pictures of Deep Brook and the Waterfall in Chelmsford center. To get the photos of the water fall I had to walk out on the frozen Stream.

Jim “ Water Looks pretty cold”
(Ice breaks under Phil and he plunges up to his knees in icy water)
Phil “Sure is”
(Both laugh as Phil Drags him self out of the water)

A Ture Story

Click here for Photos

Tom Rawinski of the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service visited Wright a few times and wrote up a full Botanical Report(click here to read it) for us. It has a full inventory of the species found in Wright as well as a few management recommendations.

This past Sunday morning, I embarked on my weekly walk at Thanksgiving. My goal for the day was to remove a fire pit and do a general clean up. I accomplished my goal and left with a great memory, a compliment and a piece of history.

As I walked up the hill and along Mill Pond, I looked up to see a large white-tail doe about 25 feet ahead of me. I stopped and we looked at each other for a few minutes. The doe then trotted ahead a ways then would stop, looking back to see where I was. I stayed behind the doe for almost the entire length of Mill Pond until she slowly made her way up the ridge into the forest.

After I took care of the fire pit, I met a lady on horseback who is an abutter of Thanksgiving and was very complimentary of all the hard work the Stewards do around town.

As I was walking out along the Janet Rd side and I saw a couple of pieces of rounded, rusty metal, barely sticking out of the dirt in the middle of the trail. Once I dug it out, I realized it was an old hunting trap. It is an old leg snare with a pressure plate attached to a chain (like you see in the cartoons), probably for fox. I will probably bring it to a local bait & tackle shop to see if someone can give it an age.

A very cool day in the forest.

Well what a day!. We have been getting ready to start work with all the new people who have signed up. The day started with George and I clearing the five feet (really) of illegal dumping at BB Wright to make a trail to the worksite. We will be installing a new trail and a 100 foot boardwalk Keep an eye here for the start date of this project.

Click here for Photos

Jim caught up with us at Red Wing Farm and we started work on restoring the old apple orchard. This project is also has a lot more work and we are looking for people on this.
Click here for Photos

After this we all headed over to Thanksgiving and installed some posts to stop people driving trucks into the woods. (God know why they started doing this but we put an end to it.)
Click here for Photos

To end the day we caught up with Dave at Deep Brook and it is now added to our list of supported sites. Look for photos and news on this location in the next few weeks.

All the Photos can be found here. Click here for all photos

I've scanned and posted all the maps from the Chelmsford Land Conservation Trust Master Plan. This is 6 additional parcels of Open Space in Chelmsford. There are maps of the current state at each parcel as well as ones showing proposed improvements.

Chelmsford Land Trust Maps

Just had a great call form the Westford Stewards who found out about our program. They will be coming down to check out what we have been up to this weekend. From the call I think it will be the start of something that will benifit both towns and most of all the people who use open spaces.

As some of you know I ran other volunteer groups before starting the Open Spaces and one of the most fun was opening up a 150 year hotel 6 miles out of Portsmouth. The place can be seen at http://www.starisland.org/StarIsland/IslandTour/IslandTour.htm . The work we always did when the island was nearly empty and it consisted of landscaping, trail cleaning and repairs (sound familiar?). As of this week I was elected to the Director for the Board of Directors of the Isles of Shoals Association and will be organizing a two day spring clean up on the island. Stay tuned for more information and a chance for the first “Open Space Stewards Road trip”.

Here is a quick report on what Brian has been up to:

“-I added a step to the high bridge, which came out pretty well (actually, it's a little bit crooked, but so is the bridge). I liked it enough that I think I'm going to remove the log from the other end and put a real step like this one down there, too.

-I checked out the other bridge, by the pit, that is lined with stones. The low, washed-out part of the trail between that bridge and the boardwalks still bothered me, so I put in an open rock culvert across the trail. I ran out of time, though, and it still needs a bit more work. I want to open it up more on the uphill side, so it catches more run-off, and the downhill side could stand to be improved a bit more, too. My major concern with it is that I made it too wide (for little kids to step across easily), but I think it'll be okay. I also put in a log water bar along the trail to try to direct water to the culvert, but I might need to put a better log there.”

Brian has been at this for a few weeks and is doing a great job. As you can see with the Open Space Program it is the Stewards who look for the problems and figure out how to fix them. If you are a person who like to solve problems and does not mind working alone or in a small group then we want you!

Crooked Spring:

1) Maps are printed and starting to be distributed via local stores (Parlee Pine Hill Nursery, Java Cafe and Town & Country Store) and through the Stewards.
2) Trails are regularly weed whacked to keep them open.
3) Poison Ivy Control has started in areas where it comes in contract with people.
4) ATV use and dirt bike use seems to have decreased since cleaning program initiated.
5) Boy Scout Troop 77 is looking in to a solution to the erosion on the hill. Current hill trail is dangerous. The Troop will submit three possible solutions. I spent a few hours talking with them and I am happy to keep the Commission informed so they will be prepared when the presentation is made.
6) Beth Logan reports some bridges need repair and I will research the cost of materials.
7) One water break needs to be added at the Graniteville Road side to divert water across the trail from the road drain as it is causing trail damage.

1) I built the first two sandwich boards this weekend. They are constructed of cabinet quality plywood so once they are stained they will look fantastic. Each board will have a clip installed top and bottom so we can change what the sign says by changing the foam core insert. For picture click the link below.
http://www.thechelmsfordian.com/g2data/gallery2/v/work/
I most likely build 3 or 4 more as I have all the wood required.

2) Did a walk at Crooked Spring yesterday and spoke to guy who has fished in the pond for many years. I asked him about the health of the pond and any changes he has seen. He said that the Bass and Trout have all died of as they can no longer go upstream to spawn because of the beaver damns. The fish that remain are Sunfish and Carp. He also said the either beavers or the musk rats have started rebuilding a structure below the damn and before the road. I also saw a bunch of red turtles sunning on some of the dead floating logs.
3) Ran into a Rock Hound in the Lime Quarry. I spoke to him for a long time and he showed me the different types of rocks and gave me some resources on the Quarry that I will post on the website. It seems that the Quarry is unique in the area for the range of minerals found and the easy access to them. Don was from the Merrimack Mineral Club and I have is contact numbers so I will talk to him more and using the information for this Open Space.

Great weekend and its fun to talk to people about why they use the Open Space sometimes like the two people above you learn something new.. and that’s a good thing. I will be quiet for the next two weeks as I am repairing and staining my house. Once I finish this I should have extra lumber and stain so we will look at the Open Space signage and see if any of that needs an overhaul.

-Have a great Week
-Phil

A vernal pool is a contained basin depression lacking a permanent above ground outlet. In the Northeast, it fills with water with the rising water table of fall and winter or with the meltwater and runoff of winter and spring snow and rain. Many vernal pools in the Northeast are covered with ice in the winter months. They contain water for a few months in the spring and early summer. By late summer, a vernal pool is generally (but not always) dry.

Chelmsford has 3 of these and I will try to chek them out and get some photos in the next week of the Salamander Egg Sacks.
For more information check out:

http://www.vernalpool.org/vernal_1.htm