Park News: Summer 2000

Senior Picnic to Celebrate the Millennium

On Saturday, June 17, a special picnic in the park is being held for Arlington seniors as part of the Towns year-long Millennium Celebration. The Friends of Menotomy Rocks Park welcome the group to the jewel of Arlington’s park system.

Wall project receives major grant

A proposal-writing team led by FoMRP members Ed Heck and Sybil Carey landed a $10,000 grant to help fund the repair of the Hills Pond wall. The grant will be made to the Town of Arlington, and it comes from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s Small Lakes and Ponds program. This will be added to $12,000 that the Friends have committed to the project.

Wall repair is out for bids

The masonry work for the pond wall was recently let out to public bid by the Arlington Department of Public Works. Bid documents are available from the town purchasing agent, and bids will be opened on June 29th. Watch this space for more information about who will be doing the work and when. While construction is in progress, the water level will be lowered by about one foot.

Volunteers needed to prepare

Seven mature and beautiful buttonbush plants need to be transplanted before wall construction begins. They are growing along a crumbling section of wall that will be demolished, and this is the only way to preserve them. They will be temporarily planted about 75 feet north of their current location, a project that will require strong backs during a weekend in July. Dates will be announced on the bulletin boards. Other volunteers will be needed to water the buttonbushes during the August heat.

The weeds are growing!

After a series of bureaucratic misadventures, it recently became clear that the Friends’ effort to pay for the eradication of the Hills Pond weeds was not going to be accepted by the town. What began as a straightforward effort to donate $4,300 for weed elimination became much more complicated as first the Conservation Commission, then the Parks and Recreation Commission, became involved. The weeds will be growing happily until 2001, at which time the Friends group may once again vote to try and fund their removal.