In the May 29 edition of News Acorns, two photos accompanying a piece about FELS grant recipients were missing captions. The original post has been updated.
news
Art sales pull in funds for Boston Bridges Initiative
The Schrader-Johnson family of Lincoln with their new painting.
The Schrader-Johnson family of Lincoln are the proud new owners of an original painting titled “Changes” by James Leonard. They purchased the painting at a recent event hosted by Boston Bridges Initiative (BBI), a nonprofit that facilitates cultural exchange and meaningful social interaction between city and suburban families in the greater Boston area.
The art sale was a fundraiser through BBI’s Downsize for Diversity program, which accepts donations of artwork and sells it at greatly reduced prices — and whose earlier iteration resulted in this 2022 book. The sale focused on art donated by the global consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
Framed paintings and photographs from this collection are still available along with hundreds of additional pieces of art at a home gallery in Lincoln. If you’re interested in purchasing art at discount prices for a good cause, contact Joanna Schmergel at owenjoanna@yahoo.com or 617-645-9059.
News acorns
Sessions on climate change and legislative measures
MetroWest Climate Solutions will host two webinars focusing on climate change. To register for either, visit metrowestclimatesolutions.org.
On Thursday, May 30 at 7 p.m.,will look at climate-related bills currently under discussion at the State House. Massachusetts has a mandate to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, so the State Legislature must pass legislation on multiple fronts to make this goal a reality. Casey Bowers, Action Fund Executive Director for the Environmental League of Massachusetts, is responsible for creating and executing the strategy to ensure the policy priorities we need pass the legislature. She will discuss some of the most significant bills before the legislature and their potential impact. The legislative session ends on July 31 so this is the perfect time to reach out to elected representatives to encourage their support for critical climate bills.
New England is currently warming faster than the global average and annual precipitation has increased along with severe rainstorms. Join MWCS for their second program on the effects of climate change on Wednesday, June 5 at 7 p.m. when Professor Stephen Young explains the science behind New England’s warming and what impacts this warming is already creating and will create in the future.
Four at L-S receive FELS grants
FELS, the Foundation for Educators at Lincoln-Sudbury, recently awarded four grants at its awards ceremony. LSRHS faculty and staff are all eligible to apply for FELS grants to fund course work or travel during school vacation time and summer recess. The 2024 FELS grant recipients are:
- Vicky Caburian, Wellness, for “2024 Chronicle Adventures”
- Kelly Gaudreau, English, for “A Year of Wellness”
- Tracie Lopez and Kendra Pavlik, Special Education, for “Gaining and Maintaining Equanimity”
 Left to right: FELS grant recipients Kelly Gaudreau (English) and Vicky Caburian (Wellness), LSRHS Superintendent/Principal Andrew Stephens, grant recipient Tracie Lopez (Special Education), and FELS President Nancy Marshall. Absent: grant recipient Kendra Pavlik (Special Education). |
 Left to right: FELS board members Tara Mitchell, Nancy Marshall and Nancy Donaldson, LSRHS Superintendent/Principal Andrew Stephens, board members MaryAnn McCormick, Ginger Reiner and Ruth-Anne Adams. Absent: board members Michelle McMahon-Downer, Thom Kenney, and Desiree Butter. |
LOMA features The Secret Sauce
The Secret Sauce is the featured performer at the next Lincoln Open Mic Night on Tuesday, June 11 from 7–10 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.) in the Lincoln Public Library’s Tarbell Room. This all-women’s trio of Janet Feld, Esther Friedman, and Jackie Damsky perform tasty originals and choice covers with lots of three-part harmony accompanied by guitar, mando, and violin. LOMA is a monthly open mike night event with mikes and instrumental pickups suitable for individuals or small groups playing acoustic-style.
Getting to Zero #9: Embodied Carbon
What do you know about embodied, upfront, or operational carbon? Why is this topic fundamental to the issues of climate change? Find out on Wednesday, June 12 at 7 p.m. when CFREE (a working group of the Lincoln Green Energy Committee) will host a Zoom event with Tim Lock, an expert on the issues of emissions and carbon that are fundamental to the discussion of climate change and what we can do to reduce our impact. Tim is the managing partner of OPAL Architects, a Maine firm that focuses on sustainable design and high-performance homes. He has also advised the White House on climate policy and the impacts of carbon on the planet. To receive a link for the Zoom event or recording afterwards, click here.
Summer concerts at deCordova
Spread a blanket on the ground or bring your own chair for Trustees summer concerts at the deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park. Tickets include admission to the sculpture park grounds and free parking. This concert will take place on the front lawn. In the event of rain, performances will be in the museum. Click on a title for details and ticket purchase link.
- Friday, June 28 at 6:30 p.m. — Ezekiel’s Wheels Klezmer Band
- Friday, July 12 at 6:30 p.m. — The Suitcase Junket
- Sunday, July 14 at 6 p.m. — Arias Aloft: Euphoria
- Friday, Aug. 9 at 7 p.m. — “An Evening of Taylor Swift” by Blackstone Valley Quartet
Early music concerts at St. Anne’s
St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Church will host a summer concert series by SoHIP (the Society for Historically Informed Performance). All performances are at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $5–$35 (click here to purchase and read more). The lineup:
- Tuesday, June 11: “So Far From Home” — Music from 16th-century Spain, France, Holland, Italy, England, and Germany on themes of exile, migration, and hope.
- Tuesday, June 18: “Shir Levi’im: A Song of Levites” — A glimpse into the rich musical life of Portuguese Jews of 17th-century Amsterdam.
- Tuesday, June 25: “Hildegard Reanimated: Vision in Vision” — This multimedia concert shares the four most famous visions of medieval polymath Hildegard von Bingen as told through music, illuminations, and new animations by visual artist Cate Duckwall.
- Tuesday, July 9: “Fantasticus!” — 17th-century Italian musicians traversed the Alps to Germany and Austria, bringing with them the stylus fantasticus, an improvisatory style of early Baroque instrumental music.
- Tuesday, July 16: “The 18th-century Salon: Music by Bach’s Son” — C. P.E. Bach’s distinctive quartets for flute, viola, and fortepiano mark the transition from the late Baroque to early Classical eras.
- Tuesday, July 23: “Let’s Make Arrangements” — Four recorder players perform 15th-century Franco-Flemish masters, Baroque keyboard works, and more.
- Tuesday, July 30: “Cantos y Suspiros” — Songs about the joys and treacheries of love from 17th-century Spain.
- Tuesday, August 6: “Blistering Passions” — Lute songs of Strozzi, Caccini, Purcell, Lawes and others illustrate stories ranging from pastoral idylls to militaristic conquests.
Exhibit celebrating the life of Gerald Foster starting June 4
Gerry Foster
An exhibit celebrating the life and work the late Lincoln artist, architect, and author Gerald Lee Foster will be on displayed from June 4 through July 13, 2024 at The Gallery at Villageworks (525 Massachusetts Ave., West Acton).
Foster passed quietly in his sleep on June 25, 2023 in Lincoln at the age of 86. Contributions in his memory may be made to Mass Audubon, 208 South Great Road, Lincoln, MA 01773. Burial arrangements were handled by the Dee Funeral Home. See his full obituary and online guestbook.
The exhibit is organized by Foster’s children Mark Foster, Ryan Foster, and Shelby O’Neill. Contact Shelby (shelbymfoster@gmail.com) for further information.
Black bear causes backyard havoc during Lincoln meanderings
A map showing the bear’s Lincoln whereabouts last week (click to enlarge).
There’s a bear in the woods — and it’s not a Reagan campaign ad, either. It’s in the Lincoln woods (not to be confused with Lincoln Woods, never fear).
Paula Robinson, who lives on Rockwood Lane, was the first to report seeing the young black bear on May 9 at 4:30 a.m. Her doorbell camera caught the bear in the act of vandalizing her bird feeders — apparently bears are fond of birdseed. About a week earlier, another resident spotted what appeared to be bear tracks on the trails between Bedford Road and deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum.
“The scary thing about the whole situation is that the bear was approximately 10 feet from my bedroom window and the windows are floor to ceiling, so it was a very surreal experience,” Robinson told the Squirrel. “The bear did take the feeder into the woods but not far and we found it intact this afternoon… We’ve all heard of sightings but I never expected to have such a close encounter due to the fact that we are so close to Route 2.”
A flurry of comments, photos and videos on LincolnTalk in the following days documented sightings all over town south of Route 2, and Lincoln police said they got calls about sightings at various times, primarily north of Trapelo Road near Lexington Road, Page Road, and Old County Road.
On May 10, the bear ransacked the trash can of Jai Kaur San Antonio, who lives near the Codman Estate. “I heard something banging around outside just as I got into bed around 11 p.m. I didn’t even consider it would be the bear. But when I woke up, I saw what a mess it had made — and there were muddy bear prints on some things,” she said.
That same day, Addie Bigelow on Grasshopper Lane shot this video of the bear tackling another bird feeder and successfully spilling the contents onto the ground to eat.
Peter Speert’s photo of the bear outside his house on Fox Run Road on May 12.
On May 12, the bear was in the Fox Run Road neighborhood. “I usually let my kids play outside unsupervised, but since a bear roamed into our yard, I have decided to supervise my kiddos more closely. Our neighbor’s dog chased the bear out of our yard and the bear scrambled up a tree,” Fox Run Lane resident Eri Buitrago, who posted this video.
By May 13, the animal had made its way to the home of Caroline Hayes, who lives on South Great Road close to the Wayland town line. She saw him just minutes after he was reportedly seen on Williams Road in Wayland, which is very close to her house.
“My birdhouse has a camera in it, and it did a weird thing at 5:35 a.m., so I believe that’s the same bear they saw in Wayland this morning,” Hayes said. “This morning, we woke up to find both of our bluebird houses on the ground, wood broken open with force, one with metal pole bent (and broken!) down to the ground. One had another species’ eggs in it, smashed, and luckily the other had four live baby bluebirds. We were able to repair their house a bit and parents are nearby. I can’t imagine any other creature but a bear could do this and bend the metal like that. I can see how they look like bird feeders since they are on poles and about the same height.”
Black bears are expanding their range eastward from western and central Massachusetts, according to the Mass. Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife), which has received reports of a bear in Lincoln and Concord.
“Black bears spend more time in residential areas when they find food such as bird seed, trash, unprotected backyard chickens and goats, and outdoor pet food,” Nicole McSweeney, Assistant Director for Outreach and Education at MassWildlife, told the Lincoln Squirrel. Bears that are fed directly or indirectly by people can become habituated and lose their fear of people, potentially resulting in more property damage or even a threat to public safety.
Resident Linda McMillan, quoting another MassWildlife official she spoke to, said the bear was moved from Worcester where he was wandering into a very developed area not because he was aggressive or violent. “He’s about two years old and has moved about 35 miles in the last week. They have no intention of moving him out of Lincoln. He said we should get used to having bears in our town. The likelihood is that we will see more,” she reported.
“If a bear is seen in town, leave the animal alone and keep pets leashed,” McSweeney said. “A gathering of people not only stresses the animal but adds the risk of having a bear chased out into traffic or into a group of bystanders. In most situations, if left alone, bears will return to forested areas on their own.”
Most bear sightings do not need to be reported to MassWildlife or law enforcement, she added. If a bear is seen in a densely populated area, contact the Environmental Police Radio Room at 800-632-8075 or the nearest MassWildlife District Office to report the sighting and get advice.
And of course there’s always plenty of advice to be found on LincolnTalk as well. Resident Margaret Olson posted this old adage: “If the bear is black, fight back; if the bear is brown, hit the ground; if the bear is white, say good night.” To which another resident added, tongue in cheek, “If the bear is pink, put down that drink.”
If there’s one thing that captures the attention of Lincolnites, it’s wild animals (remember Bruno the serval in 2022?), so news media including the Lincoln Squirrel faithfully report on these incidents — as do local TV news stations (OK, not really; that’s a parody video from The Onion with a few naughty words, so be warned).
Eversource arborist explains roadside tree removal
One of several trees on Sandy Pond Road that’s been marked for removal.
Residents may have noticed temporary signs attached to numerous roadside trees in town that are being targeted for removal by Eversource. The town is required to hold a public hearing to invite comments or objections to removal of specific trees; it will take place on Wednesday, May 22 at 7 p.m. at the DPW office (30 Lewis St.). Anyone who can’t attend may email or call DPW Superintendent Chris Bibbo at bibboc@lincolntown.org or 781-259-8999 (he will read aloud the emailed comments at the hearing).
The Lincoln Squirrel asked Eversource Arborist Matthew Mitchell some questions about this process; here are his answers.
Why has Eversource not done this in Lincoln in several years?
A few aspects to this question. Our tree program is two-pronged; we have a trimming program and a removal program. The trimming program maintains space around the primary wires at the top of the electric poles, usually as close to 10 feet to the sides and bottom and 15 feet above as we can while following safety regulations and proper pruning practices. This program prunes each circuit every four to five years. There are several circuits in Lincoln that get pruned in different years, with a large Lincoln circuit having been pruned just last year. So we are around town regularly, even if the trimming work isn’t as dramatic as outright tree removal.
Our removal program is not cyclical and is a little more subjective. Circuits with recently poor outage rates are targeted, but we also try to do removal work on circuits that aren’t getting outages yet but in my opinion have a strong potential to see a spike in the future. We want to be removing potentially hazardous trees before they cause outages or cause a danger to general public safety. If I do my job correctly, nobody will have known there was a possible issue at all.
It has been a while since we have removed public trees in Lincoln, but last year we were fairly active in town removing hazard trees on private property. The motivation for this project happening now is that I think the Lincoln forest is aging out of a young forest into a more middle-aged one, and part of that process involves trees accumulating injuries or poor structure that make overall failure more likely. Tree injury, mortality, or failure is a natural part of the forest life cycle, and it is all well and good when it happens in the middle of the woods, but when these trees are situated next to power lines, sidewalks, and homes then human action is needed to intervene and prevent them from interrupting the power we depend on or causing property or bodily injury.
A specific issue in the Lincoln forest is that in the last few years, Lincoln has lost the majority of its ashes to emerald ash borer (EAB). This bug is an invasive species from eastern Asia and because our native ashes did not evolve alongside it, they do not have the evolutionary adaptations of Asian ashes. The beetle causes a near 100% fatality rate in native ash in any locality it has been introduced, and it is why when you go camping you will often see signage asking campers to not bring off-site wood for campfires as this is the beetle’s main avenue of spreading. Other than expensive pesticide treatments on individual large and significant trees, the only cure for EAB is preventing it from arriving. Ashes with EAB make up the single most common species on our Lincoln removal list.
What are the criteria for selecting trees to remove?
Circuits are profiled by our certified arborists to assess trees along the power lines for removal and then reviewed and edited by myself. Obviously, dead standing trees are immediately added. When the tree is still alive, it is visually assessed from root to shoot for signs of stress, poor stem structure that makes failure more likely, open or hidden rot cavities that could be a breakage point, the presence of tree pests that pose significant risk to the tree’s survival such as EAB (but there are others that affect more than just ashes), and overall form and vigor. The majority of non-undergrowth, larger diameter trees on the list are on there because I believe they are likely to fail in the short to mid term future and I would like to get them removed before they do.
I specified size in that last point because a lot of the trees on this list are small undergrowth trees. They are healthy in and of themselves, but they have been selected for removal because they are of a species that have characteristics that make them unsuitable to be located under the wires. Cherries and elms are the two most common. These species grow faster than average, sprout aggressively when they are pruned, and usually do not take to being pruned to grow out and around the wires but stubbornly keep trying to grow straight upwards. These trees are difficult for our pruning program to control and even when pruned to arboriculturally correct and healthy standards are frankly an eyesore. It is more effective to have them removed outright as well as improving the aesthetic of the roadway.
There is a small handful of healthy, moderately sized trees on the list that do not have significant biological or structural defects. They are on there because they are actively touching our primary lines which carry thousands of volts. If/when friction wears away the wire coating, these trees will cause an outage by catching fire themselves and potentially (although very unlikely) acting as an electrical conductor for anyone who happens to be touching the tree.
What’s the timeframe for removal?
It depends on the contractor’s workload from other areas Eversource services, but I expect work to begin a few weeks after the tree hearing
What happens to all the wood?
The logs will usually linger for a week or two as the log crew is a separate crew to the removal crew. Because the trees we are targeting are often unhealthy to begin with, there is not much value in their lumber. Usually they are given to facilities that process them into chips for resale or industrial use, sometimes the town wants the wood themselves for whatever reason. It depends on each of our contractor’s individual system and geographical location, and it is not a part of the process I am much involved in.
If any abutters to trees being removed would like to keep the logs themselves or if they want chips for organic mulch, that is also an option if they let us know. Chips are measured by the truckload or so, if anyone wants them they usually need to have a full-sized garden or several yard trees.
Correction
In the April 17 article headlined “Planning Board discusses policies in wake of Town Meeting tumult,” the first paragraph on public comments had two proposed policies reversed. The corrected paragraph now reads:
For nonjudiciary issues — those having to do with general policy or zoning — members proposed following the Select Board’s policy of allowing a 15-minute public comment period at each meeting, with each speaker limited to two minutes. For issues regarding individual projects (site plan review, driveway curb cuts, etc.), the board will continue our current policy of allowing unlimited speaking time and prioritizing abutters.
My Turn: Submit comments to stop private jet expansion
By Alex Chatfield and Trisha O’Hagan
Dear Lincoln residents,
You no doubt have seen the “Stop Private Jet Expansion” yard signs throughout the town. We need everyone’s help now that the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) has been released by the developers.
This is your opportunity to send a message to Governor Healey’s administration, through this MEPA review process, to do the right thing – to use whatever means the governor and Secretary Tepper have within their power to derail this egregious proposal which makes a mockery of genuine decarbonization efforts by thousands of people across our Commonwealth.
Now that the DEIR is released, there is a comment period open until May 10. The number of comments received matters and our coalition has prepared excellent talking points to aid you in writing a letter or email.
To access the Stop Private Jet Expansion (SPJE.org) web site, click here. You will find a button on the page for the “DEIR Toolkit.” If you have any question about the Hanscom North Airfield Project and other ways you can get involved, please contact Trisha O’Hagan (pmokiwi@comcast.net) or Alex Chatfield (adchat@aol.com).
Once you write your comment, please reach out to some friends and family and get them to do the same. Working together, we can prevent the private jet industry and Massport from continuing on its reckless course of unrestrained growth in the midst of a climate emergency.
Gratefully,
Trish and Alex
“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.
Corrections
- In the calendar and the March 21 edition of “News acorns,” the registration link for “Three Unique Case Studies of Home Heating and Ventilation System Upgrades” on Monday, April 29 at 7 p.m. was incorrect. Those links have been corrected; click here to register.
- In bullet point #7 in the April 1 story headlined “My Turn: What happened at Town Meeting?“, the editor’s insertion of a slash incorrectly implied that the “second HCAWG member” and “RLF chair” were the same person when in fact they were two different people. The article has been corrected.
Glass, Taylor defeat challengers in town election; community center vote fairly close
In the two contested races in the March 25 town election, Select Board member Jennifer Glass defeated Frank Clark to win a third term, 64%–36%, while Gary Taylor bested Sarah Postlethwait to retain his seat on the Planning Board, 58%–42%.
The ballot question on funding for the community center, which required a simple majority, passed by a margin of 57%–43%. The gap was much narrower than the corresponding Town Meeting vote two days earlier, when residents approved the measure 81%–19%, easily surpassing the required two-thirds threshold.
Voter turnout was 35% as 1,744 of the 5,018 Lincoln residents cast ballots.
| Precinct 1 | Precinct 2 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Select Board (one opening) | |||
| Jennifer Glass | 705 | 382 | 1087 |
| Frank Clark | 407 | 196 | 603 |
| Write-in/blank | 39 | 15 | 54 |
| Board of Assessors | |||
| Edward H. Morgan | 836 | 429 | 1265 |
| Write-in/blank | 315 | 164 | 479 |
| Board of Health | |||
| Patricia Eileen Miller | 852 | 434 | 1286 |
| Write-in/blank | 299 | 159 | 458 |
| Cemetery Commissioner | |||
| Douglas Harding | 864 | 437 | 1301 |
| Write-in/blank | 287 | 156 | 443 |
| Commissioner of Trust Funds | |||
| Write-in | 69 | 43 | 112 |
| Blank | 1,082 | 550 | 550 |
| Housing Commission | |||
| Terry Perlmutter | 826 | 411 | 1237 |
| Write-in/blank | 325 | 182 | 507 |
| L-S Regional School District Committee* (two openings) | |||
| Catherine Bitter | 824 | 410 | 1234 |
| Maura Carty | 544 | 282 | 826 |
| Write-in/blank | 1,867 | 987 | 987 |
| Parks and Recreation Committee | |||
| Brianna Doo | 840 | 427 | 1267 |
| Write-in/blank | 311 | 166 | 477 |
| Planning Board (one opening) | |||
| Gerald Taylor | 641 | 311 | 952 |
| Sarah Postlethwait | 459 | 240 | 699 |
| Write-in/blank | 51 | 42 | 93 |
| School Committee (two openings) | |||
| Susan Taylor | 759 | 396 | 1155 |
| Yonca Heyse | 592 | 304 | 896 |
| Write-in/blank | 951 | 486 | 1437 |
| Trustees of Bemis | |||
| Miriam Borden | 830 | 424 | 1254 |
| Write-in/blank | 321 | 169 | 490 |
| Water Commissioner | |||
| Patrick Lawler | 847 | 426 | 1273 |
| Write-in/blank | 304 | 167 | 471 |
| Question 1 (community center funding) | |||
| Yes | 646 | 289 | 935 |
| No | 428 | 271 | 699 |
| Blank | 77 | 33 | 110 |
* Sudbury results were not available on Monday night.