News Stories

Volunteers Help Clear Burlington’s Landlocked Forest

Thanks to a group of diligent volunteers, Burlington’s Landlocked Forest is more walkable and enjoyable.

“Until Saturday, April 24th, a meadow in the Burlington Landlocked Forest was overrun by a nasty invasive plant called ‘bittersweet,’” a note from the Friends of the Landlocked Forest states. “On that day, volunteers from the Boston area Chapter of the New England Mountain Biking Association (NEMBA) and the Friends of the Burlington Landlocked Forest brought loppers, rakes, tarps, and hand-held brush cutters to the three-acre meadow and cleared it. The star of the day (pictured above) was a 28-inch wide, 375-pound Brush Cutter the Friends rented from O’Connor Hardware in Billerica.”

The meadow is a unique habitat – that is, a place for specific kinds of plants and animals to live. It was once planted in squash to feed cows at the Patterson dairy farm. Located near the southbound lanes of Route 3, just before the wetlands empty through a culvert into the Burlington aquifer, the meadow is a place where wildflowers get enough sun to bloom, where a unique set of birds can safely build nests during the summer, and hawks can search for prey scuttling among the grasses. Like the many trees in the forest, it serves as a “carbon sink,” a place where CO2 and other pollutants are taken out of the atmosphere. A nice place to visit and an asset in the fight against global climate change.

For a trail map and directions, visit the Friends of the Landlocked Forest web site at: www.landlockedforest.com