FAR Newsletter  |  July/August 2014           
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Friends of Alewife Reservation


Save the Silver Maple Forest
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Save the Silver Maple Forest


photo: Erik Thorkenson

Urgent! Please Act!
Save The Silver Maple Forest

Know The Silver Maple Forest Floodplain Facts

Editorial by Ellen Mass (see article)

WGBH:Alewife's Silver Maple Forest: Growth And Conflict

Cambridge Policy Order O-4

June 28 Silver Maple Forest Rally

100-Year Storms Occuring Every 30 Years

Arlington And Belmont Commissions Still Using Out Of Date Rain Data
FAR Ecology Camp 2014 Ends This Week
(see article)
photo: Elley Vanderlinde

Everyone is invited to the FAR picnic on Aug 15th at noon near the Alewife Reservation parking lot on Acorn Park Drive!
 
FAR Ecology Camp Visits The State House (see article)
photo: Elley Vanderlinde
 

Join Us For These Great Events!

Thu, Aug 14, 6pm: Friends Of Alewife Reservation Board Meeting

Fri, Aug 15, noon: Ecology Camp picnic - come celebrate with us!

Sun, Aug 17, 2pm: Silver Maple Forest Letter Writing Session With Activist-Musician Ben Beckwith

Sun, Aug 17, 4pm: Wildlife And Historical Walk With Anne Marie, Belmont Historian

Sat, Aug 23, 10am: Alewife Reservation And The Silver Maple Forest Walk With Dave Brown, Professional Assessor (flyer)

See our website for details.

Editorial

Save the Silver Maple Forest!

by Ellen Mass
President of Friends of Alewife Reservation

Friends of Alewife Reservation remains grass roots in purpose and mission. We work with neighborhoods, environmental groups, state, cities and towns to move forward local and regional conservation and climate concerns. These include the 600,000 square feet hotel on Route 2 and the planned 298-unit development at the silver maple forest. The July 20 rally/parade (FAR's idea, rally design, invitations, plan and work) to save the silver maple forest was a fabulous success. The large turnout was due Anne Marie Lambert from Belmont, Lorene Melvin from Arlington, Michael Connolly, Cambridge spokesperson, and Quinton Zondervan from Green Cambridge who rallied the troops and brought constituencies from many groups, politicians and environmental speakers.


Recently, many of our preservation goals have been undermined at the political level. The most recent is Cambridge's Policy Order #4 with excellent "whereas" clauses and originally an "Order" for an official financial acquisition search. Instead of the City Councillors as the original Order stipulated, the responsibility was placed with City Manager. We are also disappointed with the State Senators who did not formally debate the floodplain forest acquisition inclusion for Environmental Bond Bill 2014, as recommended by environmental lobbyists. We continue to work with all players, despite these setbacks.

Some place high hopes in administrators and political leaders who do care, and potential deals. In my judgement this is not working. Let's continue citizen outreach to solicit more support from local interest groups whose standard of living and well being depend on no more buildings on this 100 year floodplain and floodway. (FAR held a well attended floodplain-floodway 2012 Belmont Forum). We had great constituent participation in on Cambridge's Policy Order testimony, with many people speaking to the value of the forest.

In 2008, FAR presumed mistakenly that Bulfinch Enterprises on Acorn Park Drive would stop expanding into open space, with less building upward impact. Now the open space floodway's function of climate protection faces dire threats from a gigantic hotel and garages along with massive reduction of the silver maple forest. Our priority is protecting the floodplain forest, but we are able to do only a little. Our large event on July 28 was good, but we need neighborhood groups to consolidate and carry this work forward.

And we are most grateful to WGBH's Emily Rooney for her Silver Maple Forest story, the first Boston-wide media coverage, and to Anne Marie Lambert and Quinton Zondervan for making this happen. We need more letters and reporting in the Globe and wider social media.

Please read about the Save the Silver Maple Forest campaign and take action.


FAR Ecology Camp
Ends This Week

FAR is an educational non-profit. We educate youth and neighborhoods about the Alewife Reservation and its ecology. 12 youth lobbied at the state house to show legislators the educational value of the DCR Reservation area by sharing their projects and work accomplishments during the 6 weeks of the 8th annual camp. This year's Ecology Camp is in its last week.


Learning to analyze water quality
Studying marine life during a break from planting a garden of native plants
You are invited to the FAR picnic on Aug 15th at noon near the Alewife Reservation parking lot on Acorn Park Drive!


FAR Ecology Camp 2014 Visits The State House

 

Twelve Cambridge youth from Friends of Alewife Reservation Ecology Camp decided among themselves to talk about their summer program experience to state house decision makers, and how they became stewards of the natural DCR parkland area... (more)

Copyright © 2014 Friends of Alewife Reservation, All rights reserved.


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