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Long Lake Neighborhood Association, Inc.

The Lakeside Column
A source of local news around the LLNA neighborhood.

The LLNA hosted Mr. Whit Beals, Director of Land Protection at the New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) as a speaker this year at the LLNA Annual Meeting.  He gave a presentation on invasive plant species, a topic that is very important to our mission of taking care of Long Lake.  Mr. Dave Burke, a Wetland and Wildlife Biologist, joined Mr. Beals to speak on suburban predators.

To follow is an overview of each presentation from notes taken by Martha Folsom.

Invasive Plants: Whit Beals brought several samples of invasive plants found in the Littleton area and passed them around as he described how to recognize them, and how to best control and/or get rid of them if possible.

Glossy Buck Thorn – Has red berries that turn black and a speckled stem.  Note it still has its leaves.  A later season and early start give it a competitive advantage in displacing native vegetation.

Best Solution:  Can cut and apply herbicide to stem, but beware that by cutting it, the root mass doubles.    If can, uproot its shallow roots altogether.  Best time to pull is in the spring.

Multi-flora Rose – Red Berries.  Grows like a vine 20 feet up & more.

Herbicide of Choice: Trichlopyre, specific to woody plants.  This is also good for tough brush and poison ivy. 

 Oriental Bittersweet – Stems twine and grow upwards on themselves.  Berries are toxic. Native Bittersweet has fruit all at the ends.  Oriental Bittersweet has berries throughout branch.

Flowering Crabapple – Problem is growing, but not around here too much yet.

Burning Bush – Prouty Woods problem.

Japanese Honeysuckle – BAD!  Used in sloped areas on highway and median strips.

Best Solution: It’s a shallow rooted plant.  Pop up root mass.

Autumn Olive – Highway department used on Route 190/Route 2 in Leominster.  Shiny light green leaves.

Buckthorn – Scaly bark, sharp thorns, orangey inner bark. 

Japanese Barberry – Has oblong red fruit.  Plant can take over wetland areas.

Japanese Knotweed – Has a corm like a tuberous begonia.  Has been used in fill for road repair. Herbicide Treatment over 3 to 4 years can help.

Purple Loosestrife – One medium sized plant will put out 1/4 million viable seeds.  Can inundate it if plant is drowned.   There are two different kinds of beetles being released to cut down Purple Loosestrife problem. In 6 to 7 years we’ll be able to analyze amount reduced. Use seed free straw that is sterilized.  Mid to late summer is the best time to capture seeds before they spread.  Can cut flower and paint stem with Round Up.    Beaver impact as they create new environments for purple loose strife.

Water Chestnut – is on the move.  Nickel-sized chestnuts have spikes, floats on lake then sinks.  Travels by connecting to ducks that move from lake to lake.  Muskrats eat them.  It’s an awful problem.

Poison Ivy – is actually a native plant.  Good for song birds, not for us.

 Note 1: Trichlopyre is better than using Round Up.  IMPORTANT HINT:  Add a little dish detergent ½ tsp per gallon in mix which holds chemical to leaf.  Otherwise it might bead up and roll off. Can cut back to75% of recommended dose and will still work.

 Note 2:  Most invasive plants respond to disturbed areas and disturbed soils.  It’s best to re-stabilize with natural mulch hay bale to protect from erosion.  Dave says NO to normal hay bale.

We may be getting purple loosestrife due to mulch and hay bales filled with noxious seeds on disturbed site.

 
Suburban Wildlife Predators:  Mr. Dave Burke brought with him several skulls of small and medium sized animals, as well as a mounted 24-pound Fisher Cat and a Coyote pelt.  To follow are notes about the suburban wildlife predators found in the Littleton area:

Opossum – Moving from the south, northward as more trees are found on our landscape, Opossum are terrestrial and live in tree tops.  They feed on eggs.  Preferred food is seed, young animals, fruits, snakes, frogs, birds – partridge, rough grouse and other ground nesting birds.  Pheasant population knocked out due to Opossum.  They are limited by cold weather.  Ears are not furry, & can sometimes see frost bite.  Opossums play dead.  They can slow their heart rate to nearly nothing.  They can open their jaw to 120 degrees, to eat the largest of eggs.  So beware and don’t get bitten!  Neo-tropical Migrant Birds are especially endangered like Baltimore Orioles, Wood Thrush, Humming Birds, Barn Swallows, Thrushes, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.  When a nest is built in non-native bushes like honeysuckle, it’s easier for an opossum to climb the vines and eat their eggs.

Coyote – Coyote actually swam out to Monomoy Island to eat gulls, showing where there’s a will, there’s a way.  Typically Coyote are 25 to 38 pounds.  In Massachusetts some are up to 86 pounds.  They have collected wolf genes in N. Atlantic.  A long time ago coyote would have 14 young per litter.  Now, they typically only have 2 to 3 based on what Nature will allow .  The song bird population goes up when Coyotes come in. They have a mournful howl much like a wolf and coyotes now hunt in packs, usually male & female together.

Wood Rats – Wood Rats are native vs. Norway Rat (No-Way Rat) which are considered a city rat.  It’s bigger and more damaging.  Native wood rats can be found anywhere you find chickens and grain.

Raccoons - Resourceful, smart, small skulls so can get into 1 to 2 inch spaces.  Rabies really diminished the number of raccoons throughout the area.

Skunks – go for grubs in our lawns.  They dig holes and are egg eaters, omnivores, they’ll eat wasps, yellow jackets, larvae and eat turtle eggs which are a large reason that our turtles are on the decline.

Fisher Cats – Typically 9 to 20 pounds.  The mounted fisher cat Dave brought was 24 lbs.  They eat 2 to 3 times a day and are nocturnal, although typically they’ll eat at dawn and dusk. Typically, they are no danger to people, but feed on cats and other predators.  They are dimorphic.  Females are typically 1/3rd the size of males and are much quicker and agile. 

Red Fox – 15 to 20 lbs.  Always has a white tip on its tail. 

 Grey Fox – Silver – Cross fox – with a black tail.

 Box Turtle – It was also noted that humans are predators, too.  Our lifestyle has a dramatic impact on our environment.  Our pets in many cases are as big a threat to local wildlife populations as any animal listed above.  Our residential & Industrial development has proven especially threatening to turtles.  The Box Turtle is one of the rarest reptiles in Massachusetts despite it being long lived.  They will stay in the same 20 acres over a 25 to 45 year period.  One newly built road could kill off generations of turtles.  Urbanization is a big problem for impacted wildlife.

Thanks to both speakers for sharing their vast knowledge of Nature with us.  Both were terrific & informative presentations.

The Annual Meeting continued after the presentations with dinner and dessert at Theresa's home.  The elections were held and positions were filled for a two-year period as follows:  President: Steve Foss, Vice President: Jon Folsom, Treasurer: Dan Lord, Secretary: Linda Lord, Member of the Board: Martha Folsom.











Glossy Buckthorn










Multiflora Rose








Japenese Honeysuckle







Fishercat







Coyote







Domesticated cat on the prowl, as the predator


      Photo Sources - Internet and Martha Folsom