The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

LLCT members join ribbon-cutting for new trail

Members of the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust (LLCT)  took part in dedicating a new portion of the 230-mile Bay Circuit Trail on Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary land on July 15.

Left to right: Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary Director Renata Pomponi; Kristen Sykes, Bay Circuit Alliance Director of Operations and Appalachian Mountain Club Director of Conservation Strategies; Mass Audubon President Gary Clayton; LLCT board member Andy Falender; LLCT board chair Meghan Lytton; and LLCT president Buzz Constable. Photo courtesy Mass Audubon.

The July 15 ribbon-cutting featured officials from Mass Audubon, the LLCT, the Bay Circuit Alliance, and the Appalachian Mountain Club.

The Bay Circuit Trail project began in 1929 as a proposal for a protected greenbelt through the Boston metropolitan area based on concepts reflected in landscape visionary Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace in Boston.

Lincoln, two other towns choose installers for Solarize program

Volunteers from Lincoln, Wayland, and Sudbury have selected SolarFlair Energy, Inc. to offer solar photovoltaic and New England Solar Hot Water for solar thermal and solar hot water options.

The move comes as part of the three towns’ participation in the state’s Solarize Mass program whereby residents can get lower pricing from an approved vendor of residential rooftop solar installations. The program helps consumers by keeping costs lower, ensuring that installations are of high quality, and offering ongoing support and troubleshooting.

Residents are encouraged to join SolarFlair and New England Solar Hot Water for an information session on Saturday, July 29 at 4 p.m. at Bemis Hall. Participants will learn more about how to determine whether their homes are suitable for solar, how they might qualify for financing and incentives, and how to sign up for a visit with the installer, and how to get a no-cost solar and home energy assessment. There will also be two other information sessions:

  • Tuesday, July 25 at 7 p.m. at the Wayland High School Auditorium (264 Old Connecticut Path, Wayland)
  • Wednesday, July 26 at 7 p.m. at the Goodnow Library in Sudbury (21 Concord Rd., Sudbury)

More than 20 installers submitted proposals to Solarize 2017 in the three towns. Proposals were reviewed by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), representatives of the towns’ energy committees and volunteers, and municipal representatives. Selection criteria included installer experience, locality, product and systems quality, equipment and installation warranties and pricing.

In addition to finding a vendor for solar photovoltaic, the three towns were also selected to initiate a pilot project, Solarize Plus, for solar hot water. Unlike solar photovoltaic, which converts direct sunlight to electricity, solar hot water transfers heat from the atmosphere directly to a hot water tank in your home. This technology can be more forgiving of shadier rooftops and/or smaller roof footprints that may not be suitable to accommodate solar photovoltaic. Currently, 0% financing is available for solar hot water through MassSave.

A February survey of Lincoln residents indicated strong interest in exploring investments in residential solar options. More on those results can be found here. To learn more about Solarize for Lincoln, Sudbury, and Wayland, visit the Solarize Mass website.

Correction

The July 14 article headlined “New pathway and sidewalk steps coming for library” incorrectly stated that the stone wall near the Library Lane entrance to the library would be removed as part of this summer’s work. The wall will remain, according to Library Director Barbara Myles. The original article has been changed to reflect this correction.

New pathway and sidewalk steps coming for library

An early before-and-after rendition of the “scissor walk” and landscaping planned for this summer, though the stone wall will remain (see galley below for more images of recommended improvements).

Work will begin this summer on a new set of sidewalk steps and paved pathway to improve handicapped access to the Lincoln Public Library, as well as replacement trees on Library Lane and landscaping on the building’s north side.

A “scissor walk” will be installed near the Library Line entrance to reduce the steepness of the sidewalk leading down to the entrance, along with new steps alongside.

The project was originally slated for 2016 after Town Meeting approved spending $53,904  for the work, but all of the subsequent contractor bids were too high, so the library went back to Town Meeting in March and received another $20,000, said Library Director Barbara Myles.

The improvements are one of several landscaping projects recommended in a 2014 report by library consultant Michelle Crowley Landscape Architecture of Boston. Also on their improvements list:

  • Parallel parking spots on the Trapelo Road side
  • A paved path looping counter-clockwise around the building from Five Corners to the Library Lane entrance, along with new plantings around the war memorial
  • A stone wall, expanded patio and new landscaping on the Trapelo Road side
  • More new trees farther down Library Lane

The total cost for everything recommended by the consultant was estimated at $250,000 in 2014. The library has applied for town funds under the Community Preservation Act but was turned down because the work did not qualify as creating “passive recreation,” Myles said. The 2016 and 2017 appropriations came from Capital Planning Committee funds.

The library eventually hopes to do everything in the consultant’s plan, but money, as always, is the issue. Next year the library plans to ask for money to pay for new central air conditioning units, because the current units are 28 years old and use freon, which will soon become unavailable for environmental reasons. School and community center projects are also in the planning stages for the town.

The Lincoln Garden Club is donating plants for the upcoming landscaping on the north side of the building. The new yellowwood trees on Library Lane will replace the crabapples that were cut down last year amid concerns that they were dropping petals and fruit on the sidewalk that created slippery conditions.

Click on an image below to see a larger version; click on the i to see captions.
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Drumlin Farm trail to become part of Bay Circuit Trail

Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary will mark its new inclusion as part of the Bay Circuit Trail (BCT) with a ribbon-cutting celebration on Saturday, July 15 at 12:30 p.m. and a volunteer work day.

A section of an existing Drumlin Farm trail will become part of the 230-mile BCT greenway, which arcs through 37 communities in eastern Massachusetts along hiking, biking, and paddling routes linking Plum Island to the north and Kingston Bay to the south. Signage and distinctive trail markers will indicate where the trail passes through the wildlife sanctuary. Drumlin Farm now joins Mass Audubon’s Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary in Sharon and Joppa Flats Education Center in Newburyport as conserved greenspaces that are part of the BCT.

The Bay Circuit Trail’s origins date to 1929 with a proposal for a protected greenbelt through the expanding metropolitan area  based on concepts reflected in landscape visionary Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace in Boston. After some initial progress, the ambitious conservation initiative ground to a halt for lack of funds and in the face of explosive development.

The long-dormant project regained momentum in the 1980s, spurred by conservationists, trails advocates, and the state’s environmental agencies. By 1990, the Bay Circuit Alliance had been formed. That group now includes hundreds of volunteers and numerous local, statewide, and regional organizations, including Mass Audubon and the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), which serves as the BCT’s administrative and stewardship manager.

Local management of the Bay Circuit Trail is typically the responsibility of the communities it passes through. In Lincoln’s case, the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust oversees stewardship, although Mass Audubon will continue to care for the section of the trail passing through the sanctuary.

As part of the day’s events, the AMC, in collaboration with local BCT partners, will lead a day-long Bay Circuit volunteer work event starting at 9 a.m. to support the new trail section and local conservation lands. To sign up for the volunteer event, contact AMC/Bay Circuit Trail Volunteer Program Supervisor Beth Gula at bgula@outdoors.org or visit www.baycircuit.org/events for more information.

“With the Bay Circuit Trail now passing through Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary, both sanctuary visitors and BCT ‘through-hikers’ will be able to enjoy enhanced outdoors experiences,” Mass Audubon President Gary Clayton said. “As a conservation organization committed to helping people connect with nature, we appreciate how the Bay Circuit supports that same important goal, and we are particularly happy to partner with the Bay Circuit Alliance and the Appalachian Mountain Club in this valuable work.”

“We are excited to celebrate this significant milestone for the Bay Circuit Trail in partnership with Mass Audubon and the Bay Circuit Alliance,” said John Judge, Appalachian Mountain Club President and CEO. “The sanctuary greatly enhances this section of the trail for the enjoyment of all who pass through by allowing it to be rerouted off-road to a protected conservation area in close proximity to numerous historic landmarks, including Drumlin Farm, the Codman Estate, and the Gropius House.”

Letter to the editor: support Bob Massie for governor

letter

To the editor:

Bob Massie is running for governor of Massachusetts. Recently I drove to Concord to meet him at an event sponsored by the Concord Democratic Committee. Massie is an inspiring speaker; he is approachable but most important he listens. His responses to the many questions were thoughtful, informed and convincing.

When Massie was asked about his stance on single-payer health care, I was moved by his unique personal story. As a child, he was unable to walk from the age of 4 until his family moved to France when he was 12. There he was able to benefit from the excellent universal health care easily available to all. He says health care is a right.

Local Lincoln green activist Wen Stephenson, author of What We’re Fighting for Now Is Each Other: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Climate Justice, sums up Massie’s “compassion and activism” in a recent article in The Nation:

“Massie taught for years at Harvard Divinity School; wrote the definitive, prize-winning history of the anti-apartheid movement… won the Democratic nomination for Massachusetts lieutenant governor in 1994 (when Democrat Mark Roosevelt lost the governor’s race to Republican Bill Weld); led Ceres, the international alliance of businesses, investors, and environmental organizations; created two influential sustainability organizations, the Global Reporting Initiative and the Ceres Investor Network on Climate Risk; and… became president of the New Economics Institute, leading its re-launch as the New Economy Coalition, a driving force in the movement to replace exploitive and extractive global capitalism with just and sustainable local economies. For the past two years, he led the Sustainable Solutions Lab at UMass–Boston, with an emphasis on climate justice in low-income communities.”

Gov. Charlie Baker has yet to fulfill even one of his campaign promises and has so far demonstrated that he does not have the long-term vision the Commonwealth urgently needs. Bob Massie’s political and managerial experience and his ability to bring people together from all points of view convinced me he’s the governor this state needs, now.

Massie has already visited 60+ towns in the Commonwealth and aims to visit all. When he comes to Lincoln, I hope you will meet up with him to share your ideas and ask questions.

Sincerely,

Jean Palmer
247 Tower Rd.

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Two new Lincoln police officers sworn in

New Lincoln Police officers Matthew Armata (center) and Joe Pellegrini with Town Clerk Susan brooks after the swearing-in ceremony.

Joe Pellegrini and Matthew Armata became Lincoln’s two newest police officers after being sworn in by Town Clerk Susan Brooks on June 30.

The new arrivals succeed Officer Robert Gallo, who retired last year after serving in Lincoln for 32 years, and Officer Robert Surette, a 14-year Lincoln veteran who took a new position with the Harvard University Police in October 2016. Armata and Pellegrini are the first officers hired in Lincoln since Matthew Forance, who joined the force in 2014, according to Police Chief Kevin Kennedy.

Pellegrini, 25, is not new to the Lincoln force—he was promoted after being hired as a 911 dispatcher in early 2016. He has a master’s degree in criminal justice studies from UMass–Dartmouth and was a dispatcher at Framingham State University before coming to Lincoln.

Armata is 26 and holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice studies from Fitchburg State University. He previously worked for an investment management company and the Boston Red Sox security staff, but “he always wanted to be a police officer,” Kennedy said. Both men beat out a lot of competition for their posts—there were more than 100 candidates for the two positions, he added.

Pellegrini and Armata are now doing a 10-week in-house training with more senior Lincoln police officers, “learning the town and procedures,” Kennedy said.

 

AmeriCorps crew restores section of Farrar Pond trail

A crew of AmeriCorps volunteers recently restored several eroded sections of trail on the eastern and southern shores of Farrar Pond that had become difficult to walk on due to erosion.

Fred Winchell and other members of the Farrar Pond Conservation Trust identified 10 spots in three sections of trail that needed the most work. A retaining wall and fill were installed to cover exposed roots and provide a level walking surface in one area. The crew also installed check steps—timbers placed across the trail to act as both low dams to slow water flowing down a trail and as steps for trail users. Some trail parts were also widened or rerouted slightly.

Over a 10-day period in late May and June, the five AmeriCorps crew members refurbished on a total of almost 8,000 feet of trail, including 250 feet of new trail and the 35-foot-long retaining wall.

Based in the Berkshires in northwestern Massachusetts, the Student Conservation Association’s (SCA) Massachusetts AmeriCorps program is a residential community of emerging leaders who devote five or 10 months to full-time educational and conservation service.

“Though our [Farrar Pond] projects were things we had little previous practice in and were hard work, we were motivated by visits from lots of furry and feathered friends. During one lunch break, Ryan played peek-a-boo with a weasel. Two swans made constant rounds with their four new babies in tow. And we were visited many times a day by our site contact, Fred [Winchell], and his friendly dog, Finnick,” AmeriCorps crew leader Caitlin Faulds wrote.

The project was funded by the Farrar Pond Associates via donations from pond abutters and other friends of Farrar Pond as well as a generous gift from Bob Davoli and Eileen McDonagh.

Photos courtesy SCA Massachusetts AmeriCorps and Fred Winchell; click here to see more.

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News acorns

Community Cops ‘n Cones

Residents of all ages are invited to meet Lincoln’s police officers and enjoy free ice cream and games at Community Cops ‘n Cones on Tuesday, July 11 at 6:30 p.m. on the lawn behind Donelan’s and Premier Dry Cleaner. Sponsored by the Lincoln Police, Donelan’s, Lincoln Woods, and the Rural Land Foundation.

Summer music on tap

The Parks and Recreation Department is sponsoring three more summer concerts, each beginning at 6 p.m. at the Codman Pool. For the first time, all four bands (including the Nays, who played on June 28) have direct ties to Lincoln. Admission is free. Pool use for non-members during the show is $5/person. Concerts may be rescheduled due to rain; check www.LincolnRec.com for the latest updates.

Wednesday, July 12 — Alter Ego
Talented, entertaining, and versatile, Alter Ego has been performing in the Boston metro area since 2005. They play a variety of music ranging from rock to country, including some originals, that appeal to all ages. They feature excellent vocals (six of seven band members sing) and strong musicianship.

Monday, July 17 — Parkville Zoo
Parkville Zoo plays original music that’s edgy, happy, philosophical, satirical and hopeful. Rich, three-part harmonies jump and swing from a structure of rhythmic wood and steel.

Wednesday, July 19 — Dadda
Not a Norwegian nanny or a German polka band, but four of Lincoln’s funkiest local boys playing the heck out of an eclectic mix of new and old rock classics.

Lincoln July 4 events on video

If you missed Lincoln’s parade or fireworks show on July 4, click here to see a video of the parade by Hal McAleer and click here to see the fireworks finale.

Library offers adult reading challenge, other activities

For grown-ups who don’t want to kids to have all the fun, the Lincoln Public Library has created its second annual summer reading challenge just for adults. Small prizes will be awarded, along with an invitation to a wine and cheese party on a September date to be announced. Participants have to read books in several categories including Pulitzer Prize winners, biographies of people you’ve never heard of, and books that take place in another country. Stop by the library to pick up your reading challenge form or click here to download the reading lists for children and adults.

Other selected events at the library this month (click here for more information in children’s programs or click here for featured adult events:

  • The Hampstead Players perform Beauty & the Beast for ages 4+ on Tuesday, July 11 from 4–5 p.m.
  • Flip Flop Hip Hop Dance Party for ages 6 and under on Wednesday, July 12 from 11–11:45 a.m.
  • Sing-along showing of the movie Grease for all ages on Wednesday, July 12 from 7-8:30 p.m.
  • “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” party for ages 8+ on Thursday, July 13 from 4–5:30 p.m.  (advance signup required; call 781-259-8465).
  • Nappy’s Puppets singalong for all ages on Thursday, July 20 from 11 a.m.–noon.
  • Caribbean concert by the Pan Loco Steel Band on Thursday, July 20 at 6 p.m. on the front lawn (Tarbell Room in case of rain).
  • Zoo New England for all ages on Tuesday, July 25 from 11 a.m.–noon.
  • Family Bingo Night on Wednesday, July 26 at 7 p.m.
  • Beatles Hour with Berklee College of Music Professor Lauren Passerelli on Thursday, July 26 at 7 p.m.