acorn summer 2014

Boxford Trails AssociationBoxford Open Land Trust

Summer 2014

Due to Massachusetts’s highest court landmark decision on May 15, 2014, supporters of charities can now be reassured that their donations of land will support the recipient’s charitable purposes, rather than become the basis for a new tax liability. The victory handed to nonprofit conservation groups ruled that land they own and shield from development should remain exempt from property taxes.

In a case that has been closely watched by charitable conservation organizations, including BTA/BOLT, and local governments nationwide, the state Supreme Judicial Court denied an effort by Hawley, Mass., to tax 120 acres of woodland owned by the New England Forestry Foundation. Town officials contended the foundation had done little to make the land publicly accessible, but the court unanimously backed the charity’s argument that maintaining the forest and its wildlife habitats in of itself delivers a public benefit.

Preservation groups feared that a ruling for Hawley would open the floodgates for similar tax bills from cash-strapped governments, impeding their ability to buy and protect land.

We're excited to have a new, updated website at btabolt.org, that was unveiled in June. Our goal is make it easier for our members, and anyone interested in our mission, to learn more about Boxford Trails Association/Boxford Open Land Trust, who we are, what we do and our activities. As with any new endeavor, the new site is evolving with plans to add many pages in the next few weeks. We'll soon have a photo gallery page and would love to post pictures, taken by our members, of our trails and properties. Take a look, use the contact us page to give us your feedback.

Massachusetts Upholds Tax Break for Conservation Land

BTA/BOLT Launches New Website

Acorn

Summer 2014 the Acorn

BTA/BOLT, Inc. OfficersNatasha Grigg - PresidentAngela Steadman-VP, Administration/AcquisitionsNancy Merrill - VP, TrailsNancy Walker - SecretaryDavid Ingalls - Treasurer

Board Members At LargeBelinda Barbas Bev Ingalls Alison Chase Bonnie Lucas Steve Davis Andrew PlucinskiChris Delaney Barbara ShadeJudy Gore Richard Tomczyk Jessica Grigg Priscilla Welch

BTA/BOLT, Inc. (Boxford Trails Association/Boxford Open Land Trust) is a member of the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition, the Land Trust Alliance, and the Bay Circuit Alliance. We are a volunteer, private, nonprofit, tax-exempt organization dedicated to preserving and protecting natural and aesthetically important land and wildlife habitat, including fields, forests, wetlands, and trails to preserve the nature of Boxford. Founded in 1978, BTA/BOLT has helped protect over 100 miles of trails and over 1,200 acres of land and is supported by your membership and contributions. For more information, contact [email protected].

Stay connected with BTA/BOLT on Facebook and Meetup

visit our website for updated informationbtabolt.org

Is Your Membership Current?Please check the address label on this newsletter. If the number above your name and to the right reads 6/2015 or H, then your membership is good through June, 2015. Otherwise your dues are outstanding. Please bring your membership up to date by sending in a check. Mark 2015 membership on the check. Our membership year goes from July 1st to June 30th. Thank you for maintaining your membership!

Dog Show Bonnie LucasIt was a hot day for dogs and their owners on June 8 behind the East Boxford Fire Station

for the Annual BTA/BOLT Dog Show. Dogs of all sizes, shapes and talents circled the ring in the hopes of winning an award in categories that included smallest dog, best costume, best trick and best pair. Best In Show was awarded to Bridgette, a Border Collie mix, and her owner, Charlotte Hicks.


Don't forget - the annual BTA/BOLT horse show will be held on Saturday, August 2nd, at Ben and Carole Moore’s property on Lockwood Lane. The BTA/BOLT Horse Show has been an annual summer tradition in Boxford for more than thirty years. Spectators are welcome to come free of charge, and enjoy watching riders of all ages and skill levels participate in flat classes, jumping classes, dressage classes and trail classes. Lunch can be purchased on the show grounds. The flat and dressage classes start at 8:00 am, the trail classes start at 8:30 am, and the jump classes start at 9:00 am.

Please register horse and rider information in advance by mail. All registrations received after July 30 or done the day of the show will be subject to a $10 fee. Forms and event schedule are available at btabolt.org.

Toward the end of the day, many of the riders will stay at the show grounds and participate in various games on horseback, which is always fun. So grab your lawn chair, drop by, and see for yourself what this Boxford tradition is all about!

Horse Tales Angela Steadman

BTA/BOLT Dressage and Horse Show

Saturday, August 2, 2014, 8:00 AM

Lockwood-Moore Field, Lockwood Lane

Boxford, MA Show Secretary: Angela Steadman 23 Elm Street Boxford, MA 01921 978 887-9681 [email protected]

Please register horse and rider information in advance by mail.

All registrations received after July 30 or done the day of the show will be subject to a $10 fee.

ENTRY FEES: $12.00 per class $7.00perFittingandShowingclass $ 7.00 per Fun classes and Parent Fun class $25.00 per Dressage Class

Pleasehelpusandmailyourentries inearly. Checkswillnotbecasheduntilaftertheshow.Thisshowisun-ratedandisheldforparticipantswhoenjoyalow-keycompetitiveexperience.

DIRECTIONS: FromRoute95,takeexit51,EndicottRoad,towardTopsfield.Takethirdleft,approximatelyonemileontoLockwoodLane.CrossoverRoute95andcontinueuntilyouseesigns.Lockwood-MooreFieldisonyourright.


Saturday,August2,2014,8:00AMLockwood-MooreField,LockwoodLane,Boxford,MA

FITTING AND SHOWING (8 AM)Both classes in show ring

at the same time1.12yearsandunder2.13yearsandover

SHOW RING (8:30AM)3.WalkTrot/JogEquitation4.ShortStirrupEquitation5.JuniorEquitation6.SeniorEquitation7.BeginnerAdultEquitation8.AdultEquitation9.Parent/FriendFunEquitation10.Lead-lineEquitation11.Lead-lineSuitability12.WalkTrot/JogPleasure13.ShortStirrupPleasure14.JuniorPleasure15. Senior Pleasure 16. Beginner Adult Pleasure17. Adult Pleasure18.Parent/FriendFunPleasure

FUN CLASSES IN SHOW RING19.Lead-LineEggandSpoon20.WalkTrot/JogEgg&Spoon21.Egg&Spoon22.WalkTrot/JogCommand23. Command24.BreakandOut25.Sit-A-Buck

TRAIL RING(8:30AMTO1PM)26.WalkTrot/JogTrail27.ShortStirrupTrail28.JuniorTrail29. Senior Trail 30. Beginner Adult Trail 31. Adult Trail 32.Parent/FriendFunTrail

JUMP RING OPENS AT 9:00 AM

Division Jump Classes33.ShortStirrupEquitation-18”34.BeginnerAdult-18”35.JuniorEquitation-2’36.SeniorEquitation-2’6”37.AdultEquitation-2’6”

Special Jump Classes 38.OpenJumper-18”39.OpenJumper-2’0”40.StadiumJumperClassic-2’6”41.WindrushJumperClassic-2’9”42.LockwoodJumperClassic-3’0”

DRESSAGE RING (8:00 AM)43.2011 USDF Intro A44.2011USDFIntroB45.2011USDFIntroC46.2011USEFTraining1 orschoolingtestofchoice***

CLASS ORDERSECRETARY BOOTH OPEN (7:00 A.M.)

Classes will be divided if necessary

1 2

New Star t Time Show Secretary: Angela Steadman 23 Elm Street Boxford, MA 01921 978 887-9681 [email protected]

Please register horse and rider information in advance by mail.

All registrations received after July 30 or done the day of the show will be subject to a $10 fee.

ENTRY FEES: $12.00 per class$7.00perFittingandShowingclass $ 7.00 per Fun classes and Parent Fun class $25.00 per Dressage Class

Pleasehelpusandmailyourentriesinearly.Checkswillnotbecasheduntilaftertheshow.Thisshowisun-ratedandisheldforparticipantswhoenjoyalow-keycompetitiveexperience.

DIRECTIONS: FromRoute95,takeexit51,EndicottRoad,towardTopsfield.Takethirdleft,approximatelyonemileontoLockwoodLane.CrossoverRoute95andcontinueuntilyouseesigns.Lockwood-MooreFieldisonyourright.


Saturday,August2,2014,8:00AMLockwood-MooreField,LockwoodLane,Boxford,MA

FITTING AND SHOWING (8 AM)Both classes in show ring

at the same time1.12yearsandunder2.13yearsandover

SHOW RING (8:30AM)3.WalkTrot/JogEquitation4.ShortStirrupEquitation5.JuniorEquitation6.SeniorEquitation7.BeginnerAdultEquitation8.AdultEquitation9.Parent/FriendFunEquitation10.Lead-lineEquitation11.Lead-lineSuitability12.WalkTrot/JogPleasure13.ShortStirrupPleasure14.JuniorPleasure15. Senior Pleasure 16. Beginner Adult Pleasure17. Adult Pleasure18.Parent/FriendFunPleasure

FUN CLASSES IN SHOW RING19.Lead-LineEggandSpoon20.WalkTrot/JogEgg&Spoon21.Egg&Spoon22.WalkTrot/JogCommand23. Command24.BreakandOut25.Sit-A-Buck

TRAIL RING(8:30AMTO1PM)26.WalkTrot/JogTrail27.ShortStirrupTrail28.JuniorTrail29. Senior Trail 30. Beginner Adult Trail 31. Adult Trail 32.Parent/FriendFunTrail

JUMP RING OPENS AT 9:00 AM

Division Jump Classes33.ShortStirrupEquitation-18”34.BeginnerAdult-18”35.JuniorEquitation-2’36.SeniorEquitation-2’6”37.AdultEquitation-2’6”

Special Jump Classes 38.OpenJumper-18”39.OpenJumper-2’0”40.StadiumJumperClassic-2’6”41.WindrushJumperClassic-2’9”42.LockwoodJumperClassic-3’0”

DRESSAGE RING (8:00 AM)43.2011 USDF Intro A44.2011USDFIntroB45.2011USDFIntroC46.2011USEFTraining1 orschoolingtestofchoice***

CLASS ORDERSECRETARY BOOTH OPEN (7:00 A.M.)

Classes will be divided if necessary

12

New Start Time

Have you seen Chris Barensfeld around town with her Spotted Draft Horse team?

Don't forget to take your camera as you

explore Boxfordand then enter your pictures

in our

Nature of Boxford Photo Contestfor all the details, rules, and entry forms

go to our web sitebatbolt.org

Be sure to look for us on a tractor-pulled wagon at the

Boxford July 4th Parade


Natasha's Notes Natasha Grigg

Summer time! Not so lazy time. We have learned a great deal this past winter about degraded habitat, the death of bees, pollinators and other beneficial insects due to many factors, including the extensive use of pesticides in agriculture and, unfortunately, in private yards and gardens. But, we have also learned how to enhance our own environments for the good of the wildlife that share it with us and, especially, for the good of ourselves and our children. Our office has many materials that we can share on what to plant as fodder for our favorite insects and birds as well as for the beauty of our gardens. We can also grow our own organic vegetables, plant fruit trees and grow some amazing flowers, all without the use of toxic chemicals. There are excellent “home” remedies for what might ail your garden, but I have found over the 25 years of growing stuff in Boxford, that manual removal of the really small amount of “pests” has worked like a charm. We can eat/graze right out of the garden without having to wash anything - from plant directly to mouth! You can even buy organically started vegetable plants and herbs in almost any nursery. Some herbs at Ingaldsby Farm in Boxford, New Meadow Farm in Topsfield, on Asbury Street, and probably many others - just ask.

The importance of knowing how your vegetables were started, is knowing that the seeds were not pre-treated with neonicotinoids, the pesticide that is believed to be one of the reasons for massive pollinator mortality. They put the stuff on the seeds, or drench the soil, and then, when the pollinators come, it poisons them. Its use is intended for large scale agricultural production, but it has crept into the general trade. It is commonly used in ornamentals as well, especially those sold in the big box stores.

In any case, summer is the time to enjoy our wonderful green outdoors. I know I’m always wanting to sit in the hammock or the bench under the tree just to listen and watch all the activity, but somehow there is never time, between all that needs doing, the grand children, friends from long ago and the weeds - always flourishing and doing better than anything else! Happy gardening.

Also, a member just told us that they were visiting Andover that has a wildlife habitat award - a national program - where an individual household that provides, a tree, a birdbath, certain plants and shrubs, etc., qualifies being named a “wildlife habitat household”. What an engaging project for kids. Boxford may not qualify nationally, we are too small - 5 schools, 5 parks etc., but we could certainly do something like this - perhaps through the schools. Let’s talk about it. Anyone interested in managing this one?


Trails End Carole DavisEvery dog we have ownedhad a special trail in the woods.Even as puppies, they guided me,Before I could lead them.

Puddles dot some trails,Formed by grey sheets of driving rain,leaving tell tale rivulets.Over time a new path is formed,shaping adventures to discoveranother day.

Other trails are loaded with trillium.Yellow, white and magenta triangles of majestyringing in Spring,trumpets in an orchestra,Sounding off, April is heading home. In summer our pups romp,as we harvest bucket after bucket of polka dot blueberries..One berry for the pie, and one for the puppyas they cheerfully gnaw the vine.

The high ridge trail is perfect in Fall.Trees discard layers of summer dress, And stretch their bare arms toward the sun.shivering in the windas if to shake off the weather.Our dogs dash under mountains of multicolored leaves, sounding like crushed sea glassbelow their playful paws.

Harsh days of December are the most fun.Puppies leap through the snow,Flying through the air above the drifts,trapeze artistslanding and not caring where,unrecognizable as white iciclescling to their faces.

Nature is a fickle mistress,whose love may be stolen by the trumpetingsounds of a chain saw.She must be cajoled, persuaded and even boughtto assure continuing loyalty.like your favorite pup. Be forever watchful.Without unending vigilance, she might run away, and be lost to you forever.

Molly and Dodger enjoy a winter day with Carole Davis

Baltimore Orioles, red-bellied woodpecker, bobolinks, cedar waxwings, pileated woodpeckers, tree swallows, painted buntings, bluebirds, barn swallows, catbirds, a bob white on Topsfield Road and many others of the usual suspects!

Bird sightings


Annual Meeting

Greening Our Lawns Natasha GriggNow that summer is here and everyone is greening up,

what is frightening in this day and age, is that we, suburban homeowners, are some of the major polluters of our groundwater and atmosphere as well as being a major killer of living organisms in the soil and in our environment. It starts with the spring trip to the local garden supply store, looking for seed and

fertilizer to "improve" our lawns. These greenswards have been described as the "green desert" stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. What earthly purpose does this dead greenscape serve, except as a throwback to long ago England where the gentry had the luxury of great green meadows, not in agriculture, to look at, and mowed by sheep - a "product" I guess, because they ate them and made clothes from their wool. We don't even have that excuse! When you arrive at the garden supply merchant, you find shelf upon shelf of poisoned grass seed and fertilizer and the false promise that your place will look like that of an English Earl! Nothing but that particular treated grass will grow in the sterile soil. It needs constant watering and mowing and the assist of our local pesticide and herbicide dealing mobile "landscape" services. After they are done, usually flags are put in the area to indicate poison and advising no contact for awhile. After that our pets and children roll around on it. I no longer find it attractive (I used to) to see these monochromatic green carpets that look like astroturf in front of houses with no one ever visible outside. I like the places where the grass is textured in a variety of greens, with the occasional chrome yellow of dandelions and buttercups, the blue of runaway ajuga, the creamy white of Dutch clover. Think of the money we save by simply mowing occasionally, never watering - in August it turns tawny- and then having a second spring in September, when everything comes roaring back after the rains and the cooling nights. Think of how much healthier our gardens are and those who live in them and on them are! More birdsong, more dragonflies, more crickets, more bees!

For more information on this subject, surf the internet. The Environmental Protection Agency's web site is very extensive and informative. There are very many others, both pro and con.

Factoids: In 1999 (a long time ago! 74% of US households used at least one pesticide. Now??? As of 2011, the USA used 1.1 billion pounds of pesticides/herbicides = 22% of world consumption. Sales were approximately $12.5 billion!

Kelly Gill, the Pollinator Conservation Specialist, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Regions, for the Xerces Society, was the guest speaker at BTA/BOLT's Annual Meeting held on April 29, 2014 in Lincoln Hall in West Boxford. She spoke about creating pollinator-friendly landscapes and which New England native plants provide high quality resources for bees and other beneficial insects. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation (xerces.org) is an international nonprofit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat. Kelly also works for the USDA, helping farmers reintroduce flowering, non-chemically treated borders around their corn and soy fields to feed the bees.

The evening began downstairs with dinner and then everyone headed upstairs for the Annual Meeting before our guest speaker began her presentation. As part of our agenda, five people received an award of an engraved compass for completing all suggested walks in the Boxford Explored program.

Troubadours come to Boxford on the Bay Circuit Trail.This month the Mass Walking Group will be walking the Bay Circuit Trail and stopping at the

Boxford Library Green, Friday, June 20, to meet Boxford residents. They will present a musical concert from 6 – 8 pm. Everyone is welcome. Several local musicians will join in the music making.

These four young adults, led by Mark Mandeville, play the fiddle, banjo, guitar and sing. For the past four years, they have walked other long trails in Massachusetts and given concerts along the way. Kristen Sykes, the AMC Director of Operations – Bay Circuit Alliance, will accompany Mark Mandeville, Raianne Richards, Mark Kilianski, and Amy Alvey as they walk from Newbury to Kingston from June 17 – July 3, over 200 miles of the Bay Circuit. For more information, visit wwwmasswalkingtour.org.

The purpose of the Bay Circuit trail is to connect protected open spaces in an arc around Boston, thus developing a greenway. In Boxford, the Bay Circuit trail connects Georgetown-Rowley State Forest with the Bald Hill Reservation via Round Top, historic Chapman Lane, the Boxford Village Historic District, Boy Scout Park, Lockwood preserved parcels, and Lockwood Forest.

As part of the greenway mission, the Kelsey Arboretum perimeter trail connects the Bay Circuit trail with the Boxford rail-trail, eventually to be the BtoB or Border to Boston bike trail connecting the Georgetown and Topsfield BtoB bike trail segments.

The Kelsey Arboretum is open dawn to dusk and the public is welcome. A Seven foot high deer fence has been installed surrounding the Arboretum to prevent deer from eating the special horticulture collection planted in 1929 by Mr. Kelsey as the Kelsey Highland Nursery show garden. All fence gates must be kept closed, so please open then close the gates when you enter and leave.

The main entrance to the Arboretum and the Bay Circuit perimeter trail is

on Kelsey Rd near the exit of the Bay Circuit trail onto Hemlock Road and Kelsey Roads. The perimeter trail exits the Arboretum and continues thru an old nursery road and a trail to exit onto the rail-trail. Turn left and enjoy a quiet walk along this rail-trail. From Kelsey Rd., The Bay Circuit trail turns left on Hemlock road and winds over country roads and trails to the Boxford Historic District on Elm Street. Follow the Bay Circuit trail marking system of white dollar bill sized blazes .

Although it may appear closed when the gate is closed, the Arboretum is open everyday, dawn to dusk.

Summer 2014 the AcornTrail Buzz Nancy Merrill, Alison Chase

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