04/19/23 1

The Silver Maple Forest (Belmont Uplands) & The Impact of Development

Charles J. Katuska, MFS,PWS Consulting Ecologist

“The aesthetic, wildlife, watershed protection, and wood production values of these (suburban) woods will increase in every future decade” - Lloyd Irland

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What Is It ?

The Belmont Silver Maple forest is a mixed association of various wetland and upland plant communities on about 15 acres.

Silver maple (Acer saccharinum) dominates the central core of the site.

Unusual, relict forest community in this context

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The Belmont Silver Maple Forest

Little Pond

Little River

ARLINGTON

BELMONT CAMBRIDGE

Route 2

Acer saccharinum

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Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum)

A native floodplain tree species with specific autecological values - Provides an important wildlife food resource (newly broken buds) at a critical time of the late winter

High value food source for beaver, second only to alders

High value for cavity-nesting wildlife

Shallow fibrous root system well adapted to reducing erosion and stabilizing soils

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This well-grown, diverse, and regionally uncommon forest stand exists in a unique context

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Locally Unique Forest Context (USGS GAP Analysis for Biodiversity)

Spy Pond

Menotomy Rocks Park

Fresh Pond

BELMONT UPLANDS

LITTLE POND

City Infirmary

ARLINGTON

BELMONT CAMBRIDGE

Cambridgepark

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The Belmont Silver Maple Forest

Forested land always provides value to the urban environment Maintains and improves air quality

Maintains and improveswater quality

Reduces volumes of stormwater runoff

Provides important wildlife habitat

Recreation

Aesthetics

Educational Value

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The Belmont Silver Maple Forest

Provides additional site-specific functions and values here - Serves as an important “core habitat” adjacent to Little Pond and the Alewife Reservation

Size and Shape

Land Cover Type

Relative Seclusion in Context

Provides a significant reserve within a network of other habitat patches for the continued preservation of area-sensitive species

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Now, the Belmont Silver maple Forest is the site of a substantial development proposal -

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How would the Development (commercial or residential) of the Silver Maple Stand affect Forest values ?

Add pollutants and additional stormwater volume to an already stressed receiving water system

Directly eliminate core wildlife habitat and reduce the quality of remaining habitats

Reduce air quality in the immediate area and contribute to local/regional air quality problems

Eliminate the opportunity for recreation in the development area itself and reduce the quality of the recreation experience in undeveloped portions of he site

Eliminate the locally unique and regionally significant floodplain forest aesthetic experience

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Final Considerations The environmental values of the Belmont

Silver Maple Stand are not solely related to wildlife habitat or the protection of its surrounding wetlands.

The development of the Belmont Silver Maple Stand will substantially eliminate its forest values and will degrade the forest & forested wetland values of the remaining land and the adjacent public open space.

Potentially significant forest values do not flow to the community under current private ownership.