Friends of Arlington's Great Meadows (in Lexington) - FoAGM
About
Arlington's Great Meadows
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Arlington's Great Meadows is a 183-acre parcel of land located in east Lexington and the largest piece of undeveloped land in the Arlington/Lexington area.
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Part of the Mystic River watershed, Arlington’s Great Meadows was once a glacial lake. The area is now a wet meadow surrounded by uplands created by glacial outwash.
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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 downstream area.
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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.
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Great Meadows 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 over 250 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.
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Arlington's Great Meadows is a valuable resource for teaching people about nature and the environment. Two schools, the Waldorf School of Lexington and Lexington Christian Academy, border the Great Meadows, and students frequently have field trips into the area. In addition, the Citizens for Lexington Conservation (CLC) organize annual bird watching and geology walks in the Meadows.
General Activities
The agenda for the Friends of Arlington's Great Meadows focuses on three main areas: educational activities, natural resource management, and conservation/legal issues.
- The educational group will work to organize educational and recreational activities such as nature walks and field trips.
- The natural resource group will work on issues such as trail signage, removal of invasive plants, enhancing wildlife habitat, and improving trails.
- The conservation/legal group will investigate the legal and zoning issues associated with this land, and consider how best to protect it.
FoAGM Contact Information:
Website: www.foagm.org
Donald Miller at
donaldbmiller@comcast.net (Arlington).
Mike Tabaczynski at mjt1@rcn.com (Lexington).
Email discussion group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FoAGM/
Webmanager and General at info@FoAGM.org
