Over the course of 3 days, July 23 – July 25, 2024, Trustee Larry Samberg and volunteers Vincent Valvo and Colby Chase, with assistance from “go-fer” Trustee Eileen Samberg, demolished and replaced the bridge on one of the Hickory Trail segments. A hearty “well-done” to the crew.
On Saturday, November 4, SOLF Trustees Eileen Samberg, Larry Samberg, Brett Peters, and volunteer Kathryn Korostoff worked near the entrance of SOLF’s Eastbrook Farmlands. SOLF does periodic maintenance of properties even when there are no trails. To improve appearance at the street, the group cleared around the sign, pulled invasive buckthorn, removed entangling grape vines, and cut back a fallen maple. The previous weekend, Trustee Debbie Costine made a good start on the grape vines, which encouraged the group to head back the following weekend.
On October 12, 2023, employees from the SWCA Environmental Consultants office in Southborough volunteered at Bigelow Wildlife Refuge, spreading gravel along the path to the viewing platform. This is the second year that SWCA has volunteered its time! SWCA also sponsors our Chronolog project at Beals Preserve. Thank you, Ariel and group for thinking of us!
Recently Daisy Scout Troop #64042 did some trail work at SOLF’s little “Clark Grove” property on Highland St. They even cleaned our sign! We love that we’ve been able to create a small trail for a neighborhood to enjoy. Thank you troop #64042 and leader Phaea Crede !
On Monday, November 28, eight employees from the SWCA Environmental Consultants office in Southborough volunteered at Bigelow Wildlife Refuge, spreading wood chips and pulling invasive honeysuckle. Thank you, Ariel and group for thinking of us!
On Sunday, November 20, Cub Scout Pack 1 learned about and practiced trail maintenance at two of our properties, Beals Preserve and Templeman Woods.
The older Cub Scouts and their parents worked with Board members Brett Peters and Larry Samberg at Templeman Woods-Watkins Woods off Rt. 85 by the Mass Pike overpass. With some hard work, they improved trail conditions through addition of new trail markers, clearing limbs and other trail blockages, enhancing trail sight lines, and cleaning up trash and litter from the area. Big thanks to the Scouts and parents who stepped up to help out!
The younger Cub Scouts and their parents worked with Board members Whit Beals, Debbie Costine, Lawrence Spezzano, and Eileen Samberg at Beals Preserve, starting at the Red Gate entrance. The Scouts learned about the importance of water bars to channel water off the trail, and helped clear them. Then the group walked down the trail to the Riding Ring junction, where they learned about invasives, pulled bittersweet and small buckthorn and burning bush saplings, watched and helped Whit Beals use a “puller bear” to pull larger buckthorn and burning bush saplings out by their roots. Big thanks to the Scouts and parents!
We are happy to announce that there is now a small parking area at the Beals Preserve Main Street Field on Route 30. The entrance to the parking area is on the south side of Main Street, between two stone pillars, east of Northborough Road and west of Chestnut Hill Road. Pull into the fenced area (it is currently grass, but will likely be layered with wood chips), and park perpendicular to the road at the stone wall, to the right of the sign post. Walk down the field through the opening in the fence to the lane and then across the bridge over the Wachusett channel.
As of August 2022, there is now just off-road parallel parking available for one or two cars on a cleared wood-chip area. Please do not park on Bigelow Road as it has no shoulder and parking is not allowed in the turn-around at the end of Bigelow Road. (Alternatively, visitors can drive to Walker Street in Westborough and park at the SVT Sawink Farm parking lot. From the lot, it’s a 1400-foot walk along the old farm road to Bigelow Road and the entrance to Bigelow Wildlife Refuge.)
One of the challenges at Bigelow Wildlife Refuge is control of knotweed, primarily at the front of the property. Another is maintaining the trail to the viewing platform. Trustee Lawrence Spezzano has been instrumental in overseeing and organizing work projects. In the spring of 2022, Lawrence laid down wire mesh to slow the growth of knotweed and over time may stop the growth. In July 2022, a work party — Lawrence Spezzano, Whit Beals, Larry Samberg, Eileen Samberg, Kathryn Korostoff — weeded the front and the path, and spread a thick layer of wood chips.
Freddie Gillespie, chair of the Southborough Open Space Preservation Commission, has been recruiting volunteers to install a Pollination Preservation Garden at SOLF’s Beals Preserve. Preliminary work was done last summer and fall. After poison ivy control work and garden prep in June, volunteers did a major planting on July 16–17.
Volunteers did another major planting on Saturday, July 23, in spite of the heat wave. Volunteers, including SOLF Board Members Sally Watters, Debbie Costine, Larry Samberg, Eileen Samberg, and SOLF volunteers Brett Peters and Kathryn Korostoff, started early at 8 am and worked to almost 12 noon. Great job, everyone!
Volunteers worked again on Saturday, July 30, taking the project close to completion. And more work was done on Saturday, August 6.
The Pollination Preservation Garden is getting a lot of love from Freddie Gillespie and her volunteers. Here is how it looks on September 14, 2022.
Although best known for the rustic landscapes and hiking trails of our Beals Preserve, did you know SOLF also maintains about 20 properties and community spaces in town? SOLF trustee Lawrence Spezzano and volunteers having been working to remove invasives and beautify our newest property trail at our Bigelow Wildlife Refuge near the end of Bigelow Road in Southborough. If interested in helping, please contact SOLF at info@solf.org. When you come to work, bring gloves, firm rake or pruners, if you have them!
Lawrence has been laying down a wire mesh to slow the growth of knotweed. As the stems continue to grow, they will expand in diameter. At a certain point, the stems will push against the steel mesh and girdle themselves. The surface growth (stems and leaves) of the plant wilts and will eventually die, but the rhizome will continue to push new stems up through the ground (and wire mesh). This will continually kill the stems and will lead to the depletion of rhizome carbohydrate stores, which are required by the stems for growth.
In December 2021, members of the SOLF Board and a volunteer cleared invasive plants and brush around the Big Oak Woods sign post. In April 2022, members of the SOLF Board cleaned and repainted the post and hung a new sign.
Big Oak Woods
SOLF was the beneficiary of Robby Stewart’s hard work and skills as he finished his Eagle Scout project in the spring of 2021. After presenting his project several times to the Southborough Conservation Commission to get approval, he organized his troop to build a viewing platform at SOLF’s Bigelow Wildlife Refuge. The troop also removed many invasive plants to clear the way for the path to the platform. Viewers can now look out over a large wetland area to watch birds and other wildlife. Many thanks to Robby and Boy Scout Troop 1 for their hard work.
In March 2014, SOLF began a wildlife survey of reptiles and amphibians at Beals Preserve. The project was originated and is being directed by SOLF member Lawrence Spezzano of Southborough with the generous assistance of wonderful volunteers from Southborough and other communities! SOLF volunteers are continuing to collect evidence, including bird, mammal, insect and plant diversity through 2015. More volunteers are always needed, please contact SOLF at info@solf.org, if your are interested. The information already collected suggests relationships among species, their gender, length and mass, which could drive future conservation efforts in Southborough and neighboring towns! For more information on this project, and information about about what has already been found, click here.
