Friends of Arlington's Great Meadows

Friends of Arlington's Great Meadows - FoAGM

FoAGM Steering Committee Members and the Lexington Fire Department Meet to Discuss Fire Access at AGM - 5/28/08

Coming Events

Saturday, August 16; 9:30 to 11:30 am: Signs of the Season - August
      This is to remind you that our next "3th Saturday Nature Walk" will be on Saturday, August 16. Meet us at 9:30am in the nursing home parking lot, directions below.
    There will be PLENTY to see in Arlington’s Great Meadows. Several species of goldenrod will be in bloom, and we’ll discuss whether goldenrods or something else are apt to be the cause of your allergy problems. (Hint: We’ll also introduce you to the likely real culprit.) At the edge of the Lily Pond Boardwalk, we’ll see a wetland flower called “boneset”, which looks as if the stem perforates its leaves, thus its botanical name “E. perfoliatum”. Its common name comes from its alleged ability to cure “break-bone fever”. We’ll introduce you to poison sumac, in case you didn’t see it last month, and teach you how to distinguish it from other sumacs. (No, it does NOT involve feeling the texture on the underside of the leaves.) We’ll learn about bracken fern and the intriguing ways it has evolved to deal with insects which try to eat it. Some of the plants we’ve seen in flower earlier in the season will be in fruit this time. We’ll see what the trees and shrubs are already doing to prepare for next Spring.
      As always, we will keep our eyes and ears open for birds, insects, animals and any other aspects of nature we encounter. If you have binoculars or a hand lens, do bring them.
At the latter part of the walk, if you still have energy, we’ll visit the forest-fire area.   It gets greener every week. A “second Spring” is happening there.
      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.

Tuesday August 13 Cancelled - Steering Committee Meeting
A meeting will be held in September at a date yet to be determined. In East Lexington at the Waldorf School. Planning for our upcoming activities. Anyone interested in helping is welcome. Contact David White at dwhite@gilbertwhite.com or 781-641-2879 for more information.

Fire at AGM on April 23
Nine acres of upland forest near the nursing home were scorched by a fire on April 23. Read the Lexington Minuteman article: http://www.wickedlocal.com/lexington/news/x1041578027

FoAGM Annual Report for 2007
A lot of things happened at AGM in 2007. Read all about them in the FoAGM Annual Report - version options: PDF

Spring, Summer & Fall - Japanese Knotweed Control Project
Friends of Arlington's Great Meadows are continuing efforts to control the invasive Japanese Knotweed along the bikeway to provide a more diverse habitat and re-open the view of the meadows. For information on how to help out contact Don Miller at donaldbmiller@comcast.net See the Knotweed Project page for more news and info.

For further information on all walks, contact Andrea Golden at (781-646-3941).

Also visit the Citizens for Lexington Conservation website for other walks in the Lexington/Arlington/Winchester area.

Join our email list to receive up to the minute announcements.

Mission Statement

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.

Plans and Goals: Education, Resources, Legal.

Recent Activities

Saturday, July 19; 9:30 to 11:30 am: Signs of the Season - July
     This is to remind you that this Saturday is July 19^th – 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

Several Citizens for Lexington Conservation publications on the Great Meadows are available in PDF format. The primary one is Guide to The Great Meadows: A Walking Tour, it is a 10 page illustrated guide including a map and historical background of the area. Also available is a Checklist of the Birds of Great Meadows and a Reptiles and Amphibians Report. These and other publications are also available online at the CLC website: http://www.lexingtonma.org/clc/pdfFiles.htm