Arlington Land Trust

Protecting Open Spaces in Arlington

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ALT Scholarship Winners 2024

The Arlington Land Trust established the Arlington Land Trust Conservation Scholarship for graduating seniors at Arlington High School in 2024. The response was excellent, and we decided to award not one but three $1,000 scholarships to students who will be pursuing education, volunteer service and work in conservation, environmental protection or a related field.

We are pleased to recognize these three winners of the inaugural ALT scholarship program:

Tatem Kerr participated in an internship at Mass Audubon’s Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary taking care of resident goats, learning and utilizing best practices for composting, and teaching community service groups and school children about the environment. She plans to major in marine science and work to protect ocean wildlife from plastic waste, and may later explore becoming an environmental lawyer.

Miriam Oliveri-Schneider co-founded Full Circle Compost Service, a student-run, free and accessible food waste reduction service program. She also pursued an internship at Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm Wildlife Care Center, where she worked with injured animals and researched the causes. That experience influenced her goal to become a conservation biologist to study the effects of human pollution and environmental degradation on wildlife.

Clara Schneider has been actively involved in the Remembrance of Climate Futures Arlington project, which promotes climate resilience and advocacy, as well as in other internships to promote sustainable waste management and combat extreme heat. Her advocacy for various aspects of environmental preservation and experience on Arlington’s Debate Team have led to her goal of becoming an environmental lawyer.

We congratulate these students on their significant contributions to environmental issues in Arlington and wish them well in their future educational and career endeavors.

As a part of our conservation and education mission, we intend to open up the Scholarship application process to all Arlington-based high school seniors in 2025. We are grateful for the generosity of our members who make these awards possible. Thank you.

Important Mugar Hearing Set for July 11

The Conservation Commission will continue its hearing on the stormwater review aspect of the Notice of Intent (NOI) for Thorndike Place, under the Massachusetts Wetland Protection Act (WPA) received from Arlington Land Realty, LLC, the owner/developer of the site. 

The Zoom meeting will take place on Thursday, July 11, starting at 7 pm. Check the Con Com website for the final agenda, new correspondence and reports submitted for this hearing, and Zoom registration information.

The Commission hired GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. (GZA) in June as a third-party peer reviewer to provide additional geohydrologic expertise on the project’s compliance with regulations outlined in the Massachusetts Stormwater Handbook and Stormwater Standards. As documented in previous hearings, the Land Trust, through its hydrology consultants, and The BSC Group, as engineering consultants for the Applicant, have provided information from their respective groundwater monitoring and stormwater mounding analyses. 

This hearing is expected to be a critical review of the long-running and conflicting analyses and assessments provided to date. It could be the final hearing before the Commission arrives at its decision on the NOI. The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for July 25. 

Previous peer review and consultants’ reports, public comments, and other correspondence regarding the NOI hearing are posted on the Commission’s Thorndike Place Wetlands Permit web page.  

Mugar Hearing Continues on June 20

The Conservation Commission will continue its hearing on the stormwater review aspect of the Notice of Intent (NOI) for Thorndike Place, under the Massachusetts Wetland Protection Act (WPA) received from Arlington Land Realty, LLC, the owner/developer of the site. The Zoom meeting will take place on Thursday, June 20, starting at 7 pm.

The Commission has recently hired GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. (GZA) as a third-party peer reviewer to provide additional geohydrologic expertise on the project’s compliance with regulations outlined in the Massachusetts Stormwater Handbook and Stormwater Standards, as required by the Department of Environmental Protection. As documented in previous hearings, the Land Trust, through its hydrology consultants, and The BSC Group, as engineering consultants for the Applicant, have provided information from their respective groundwater monitoring and stormwater mounding analyses. 

Please note that GZA’s review is not expected to be completed by June 20, so discussion of the project and their findings may be limited. Future Con Com hearings are tentatively scheduled for July 11 and July 25. 

Check the Con Com website for the final agenda, additional correspondence submitted for the hearing, and Zoom registration information.

Previous peer review and consultants’ reports, public comments, and other correspondence regarding the NOI hearing are posted on the Commission’s Thorndike Place Wetlands Permit web page.

Restore Dark Skies Recording

The Arlington Land Trust presented a Zoom program, Restore Dark Skies for Arlington, on Tuesday, May 14, and we are pleased to share this recording for those unable to attend the meeting. Kelly Beatty, senior editor at Sky & Telescope Magazine, explained how light pollution disrupts wildlife, impacts human health, wastes money and energy, contributes to climate change, and blocks our view of the universe. Hear his suggestions and participants’ questions about how we in Arlington can take action to limit light pollution and reclaim the night sky.

Mugar Hearing Extended to May 16

On Thursday, May 16 at 7 pm via Zoom, the Conservation Commission will continue its hearing on the stormwater review aspect of the Notice of Intent (NOI) for Thorndike Place, under the Massachusetts Wetland Protection Act (WPA) received from Arlington Land Realty, LLC, the owner/developer of the site.
Check the Con Com website for the final agenda, additional correspondence submitted for the hearing, and Zoom registration information.

Numerous peer review and consultants’ reports, public comments, recordings of previous meetings, and other correspondence regarding the NOI hearing are posted on the Commission’s Thorndike Place Wetlands Permit web page. 

The Land Trust, through its hydrology consultants, and The BSC Group, as engineering consultants for the Applicant, both continue to collect data from their respective groundwater monitoring wells and test pits, and are expected to present additional findings. Another third-party peer reviewer may also be providing comments to address the project’s compliance with regulations outlined in the Massachusetts Stormwater Handbook and Stormwater Standards, as required by the Department of Environmental Protection.