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

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Firefly talk and walk on Sunday

Every summer, the fields of Lincoln come alive with the ethereal silent sparks of fireflies. Sara Lewis, a long-time Lincoln resident and author of Silent Sparks: The Wondrous World of Fireflies, will lead “Lights in the Night: A Firefly Talk and Walk with Sara Lewis” on Sunday, July 23 starting with a talk at 7:45 p.m. in Town Hall and a firefly walk in the Smith-Andover Field across Lincoln Road at 8:15 p.m. Dress for weather and wear sturdy shoes. Apply any insect repellent before entering the field. Please use red LED flashlights, or regular flashlights can be covered with red cellophane. The rain date for the walk is July at 8:15 p.m.

Lewis, a professor of biology at Tufts University, has given a TED talk and written about firefly conservation for CNN and Undark Magazine. Limited numbers of her book are available at the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust office and at the Lincoln Public Library. This event is co-sponsored with Lincoln’s Conservation Commission.

Holy Cow! Garden herb walk

Come on a Holy Cow! Garden herb walk on Saturday, July 29 from 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. led by Jai Kaur (Annamaria San Antonio) in the Holy Cow! Garden at the Codman Estate in Lincoln (directions sent upon registration). Cost is $15 adults; free for kids under 12. Contact Jai Kaur at 781-738-1920 or asanajai@verizon.net to reserve your space, and mail a check to made out to Annamaria San Antonio, PO Box 266, Lincoln MA 01773. Holy Cow! Garden, which abuts Codman Community Farms is a private, nonprofit project that highlights sacred source in the mundane. Home-made herbal products will be for sale.

Show your art in the library

Want to display your art in the Lincoln Public Library? The application for displaying art in the library’s main gallery is available on the library website. The downstairs “Stay-Put” Gallery requires no application and has openings throughout 2018.

Flint’s Pond still too low for twice-weekly watering

Water levels in Flint’s Pond since 2010 (click to enlarge). The last two red X’s indicate levels in July 2016 and July 2017.

Despite the rainy spring and summer thus far, lawn watering via sprinklers is still permitted in Lincoln only once a week because Flint’s Pond has not yet rebounded to a level that would allow more water use.

Though watering is normally allowed two days a week in the summer, the Board of Water Commissioners banned all outdoor watering in August 2016 during the drought. The board relaxed it to once a week in May and maintained that restriction in June and July.

Precipitation for 2017 overall has been normal, with the first three months below normal and the second three months above. Although the Flint’s Pond’s water level has risen, it’s still markedly below where it usually is at this time of year, according to Water Department Superintendent Greg Woods.

“The water use by our customers has actually been below normal thanks to their compliance with the water restrictions. If the rainfall continues and our customers continue to conserve, we might be able to relax back to the two-day-a-week restriction next month,” he said.

The two-day-a-week schedule is the normal restriction for Lincoln from May 1 through September 30 as per the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) because Lincolnites use more than 65 gallons per person per day on average, “and we also draw more water annually from our water sources than allowed by our DEP permit,” Woods added.

Some have wondered why Flint’s Pond is still low when the nearby Cambridge Reservoir appears to be full. The reservoir filled up more quickly because it has a very large watershed to capture the precipitation and funnel it into the reservoir’s basin, Woods said. Flint’s Pond has a relatively small watershed and essentially sees a 1:1 ratio of precipitation and pond level increases, compared to about 2:1 for the Cambridge Reservoir. The Flint’s Pond dam is not overtopping or leaking and is experiencing the normal amount of seepage underneath, Woods said.

The water commissioners have open meetings on the second Wednesday of every month at 4:30 p.m. in the Water Department pump house to review the latest data and decide what (if any) water restrictions to impose. “We expect the water level to be lower in the end of the summer, so at the next meeting, we will compare the measured level to the normal level in August,” said Water Commissioner Ruth Ann Hendrickson.

See the Water Department web page for details on what types of watering ares allowed and when.

New outdoor sculptures coming to deCordova

Aaron Curry, “Homewrecker” (part of “Grove”), 2013, painted aluminum, 11 x 10 x 5 feet, courtesy Michael Werner Gallery, New York and London.

The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum is adding several large-scale works to its 30-acre park this summer.

Aaron Curry: Grove—three colorful painted aluminum sculptures ranging from 10 feet to 18 feet tall—is being installed near the front entrance in late July. JaeHyo Lee’s 0121-1110=113035 (Lotus)—an 18-foot-tall cone-shaped sculpture made from discarded pieces of wood—will be installed on deCordova’s main lawn across from the traditional 19th-century Carriage House in late July. Both installations will be on view for two years.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to display these monumental works of art in deCordova’s Sculpture Park, as each introduces a very different element to our campus,” said Sarah Montross, associate curator at deCordova. “Aaron Curry’s trio of vibrant sculptures will add an otherworldly presence to our entrance lawn, welcoming visitors with a bold splash of color and cartoon-like appearance. JaeHyo Lee’s wooden Lotus sculpture will bring a calming, organic quality to the main lawn and create a natural conversation with the surrounding trees and landscape.”

Also this summer, Torso—a granite sculpture by Reno Pisano shown in the museum’s first sculpture exhibition in 1950—returns to deCordova’s campus.

In early September, deCordova will continue its PLATFORM series with the outdoor installation of a large-scale photograph by French artist Noémie Goudal. Earlier in May, deCordova installed Hawaii California Steel (Figure Ground), a site-specific work by Brooklyn-based artist Letha Wilson, as part of the series.

JaeHyo Lee, “0121-1110=113035 (Lotus),” 2013, chestnut, 18 x 4 x 4 feet, installation view in Union Square Park, New York, 2013, courtesy of CYNTHIA-REEVES Gallery and Union Square Partnership.

Wilson will give a studio workshop at deCordova on Thursday, July 27 from 6–9 p.m., where participants can explore the representation of place through photography, painting, and sculpture while making their own work (registration required). She will also give an artist’s talk on Friday, July 28 at noon to discuss concepts and process behind the creation of her sculpture, including innovative methods for printing photographs onto steel. Free with admission or deCordova membership.

PLATFORM is a series of one-person commissioned projects by early- and mid-career artists from New England and the world that engage with deCordova’s unique landscape. The PLATFORM series lets artists expand their practice and visitors experience new approaches to contemporary sculpture. PLATFORM 19 was generously funded in part by the Robert Lehman Foundation.

Letha Wilson, “Hawaii California Steel (Figure Ground),” 2017, UV prints on Cor-Ten steel, 110 x 76 inches, courtesy of the artist, photography by Anchor Imagery.

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.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”53″ gal_title=”Library landscaping”]

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.