Long ago our town set aside Bliss and Laurel park to offer residents a natural escape, but the parks are in severe decline. Some citizens have recognized this and created a master landscaping plan to “enhance ecology in the heart of Longmeadow.” The group is called Longmeadow Citizens to Save Our Parks and their plan can be found on the town website here. I believe the restoration plans are really great, but I will not get behind the price tag – on the high end it could cost over a million dollars. As we all know, the town has some real money issues.
Why can’t we deal with this ourselves?
Invasive plants
Bliss and Laurel park are home to many invasive plants. If the town would give me permission, I could start removing them for free. Alternatively, we could decide to leave the park alone and transform it into a European/Chinese forest – killing the New England natives.
Every year we leave this problem, it will get exponentially worse, both in biomass that needs removal, seeds being dispersed, and the opportunity costs of not allowing native species to come back. It is best to plant native species right after removing the invasives. Plus… native plants are free! Just go collect the seeds… give them a little help over the winter… then transplant. Why should we buy plants from outside of Longmeadow? They could be clones, lack genetic diversity, or are not from the Pioneer Valley. We need to pay our debt to the park ecosystem and help it get back on its feet. It will take years, but future generations will be thankful.
In Laurel park, near the church, there is a very weak attempt at killing some of the Japanese knotweed. In my opinion the correct process is something like this …
- Cut down knotweed and keep in a pile on site to dry
- Inject rhizome with strong glyphosate, weak mixtures can make the plants tolerant to herbicide
- Come back 1 week later to plant native plants
- Come back for 2-4 years to spot treat and kill the rest of the knotweed
… but the DPW, or who ever did this, probably doesn’t care. There are many different treatment protocols, usually first time you can kill 70-80%, so you almost always need follow up.
Stream erosion
This is a huge problem that really speaks for itself. The whole town is suffering from this issue. Our stormwater management system is very out of date. During a storm, it is crazy! The amount of water rushing into Bliss/Laurel is wild (and many other places in town). The energy rips dirt from the stream banks. A lot of the Bliss park sediment has collected in Laurel park, making a wetlands out of the pond (good for removing pollution though). Swings in weather have made this worse, this year we had a drought all summer, but then a lot of rain came in the fall, causing more erosion. I think the town could remove the energy from the water by installing check dams. I wanted to calculate the flow rate of water, but the town refused to share the stormwater system GIS AutoCAD data with me. So if I want to calculate it, I have to reconstruct it from scratch based on what they submitted to the EPA. This is an expensive problem to fix now, and it will be more expensive in the future. Why not open source it? People in town want to help.
Trail management
Trails are currently not managed. Anyone can make a new trail anywhere you like! It is a free for all for dog walkers and kids who build forts. In my youth, I created a few new trails. I think three of them are still here now. This is wrong. We need to minimize the trails and maximize nature. If I am given the authority, I will happily manage this for as long as I live here.
Trash management
These new trash cans in town look nice, but are small and do not work well. Animals still get in and spread trash around the park. I wonder how much the town spent on these. Not sure what material they are even made of, probably terrible for the environment. The old trash cans are behind them, I guess the DPW never removed them.
Hello there
This is great. We need more people in Longmeadow who care about where we live!!!
Storm erosion Cooley Brook, best practice trail management, policies regarding dying, dead or dangerous trees in conserved landscapes, invasive species eraducation and reintroduction of native understory plants and replacement trees, restoration of the OkdxWater Supply District in Laurel Park including the abandonned reservoir…
All valid concerns identified by Longmeadow Citizens to Save Our Parks – many currently being addressed with constructive planning supported by existing grant funding, studies approved at Town Meeting, new grant applications under review and continuing outreach to boards and Town Administrators charged with oversight of these conserved places; ConCom, Tree Warden, Tree Committee, Park Board, Parks and Recreation and DPW.
Strengthening our outreach and partnerships with CT River Conservancy, US Fish and Wildlife/Silvio Conte National Wildlife Refuge, MA Department of Fish & Game, MA Department of Environmental Restoration.
We have been working at this since 2016; getting funding for hydrology and hydraulic study of Cooley Brook, doing water quality sampling, engaging in Source to Sea Clean-ups, CPA grants for tree planting. Currently supporting Town application for a grant to do trail mapping townwide including best practice maintenance guidelines…
You have a lot of energy. Consider reaching out by text to 413-847-2627 to learn more about each of these initiatives on the VERY CRITICAL issues you have noted. I encourage you to join our efforts in igniting greater community outrage and engagement.
Hi Fran, thank you for the really nice comment! The global outlook for nature is not looking good. If nature is my friend, I am going to be present and fight against its decline. If a real human friend was dying of cancer, would you have the guts to be there? Would you be present? I ask myself these questions. It is sad. I do not want to grow old and regret not helping. The situation is serious, and as you describe VERY CRITICAL! I am in the younger generation, and frankly traumatized by this stuff, even though some might not believe it. Claiming to be a victim or having emotional trauma is cliche to many in America. At every corner I expect a fight. I have been polarized and angry. I want to fight for nature. Im ready to fight for nature. I want to move quickly and make significant change. I do not want to spread hate, I want to work together and encourage love. But for those who fight against nature, you must fight against me too.
I will reach out to you this week. I will join your organization and help.
Terrific. I welcome your call. Progress is always slower than we want it to be, bureaucracy stalls momentum, frustration is a frequent state of being BUT building consensus is critical, knowledge and verifiable data is power and full community awareness and engagement critical to success. You have a voice. If we can join our voices with MANY others we CAN make a difference. There is power in reach out, collaboration and consensus building among disparate groups. It takes time but your energy and commitment can help us supercharge the process and galvanize our community to action.
Don´t talk bout my husband like that
Put ´em up young fella
Those are my fathers precious plants don´t call them invasive!!! >:(
Don´t you make me call up Big Bro
This big funny keep it up blud