The Swellesley Report

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Dumping holiday greenery in Wellesley, the right way

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There’s a right way and a wrong way to dump holiday greenery in Wellesley. The Natural Resources Commission had seen Christmas trees dumped in parks and recreation areas, in Boulder Brook, at Rocky Ledges, and near the vernal pool in Kelly Field. The thing about just tossing them hither and yon with the idea that they’ll decompose eventually, is the eventually part. They take pretty much forever to go from ashes to ashes and dust to dust, and in the meantime the unwanted greenery can clog wetlands.

Here’s the right way to get rid of greenery:

Bringing Christmas trees and greenery to the RDF is the right way to dispose of them. This pile at the dump will eventually be ground into wood chips. From there, it will be used around town at playgrounds and for landscaping. Photo credit to a sharp-eyed reader who prefers to remain anonymous.

Here’s the wrong way to get rid of greenery:

This tree was dumped at the vernal pool near Kelly Field last winter. The frogs and salamanders there simply don’t have the equipment, training, or work ethic to deal with it. That’s a job for the RDF.

 

Decomposing Christmas trees at Kelly Memorial Park woods. (Photo via Wellesley NRC, 2016)

Now that you mention it, there is one other way…

Wellesley Christmas tree by burn pile
Here at Swellesley Manor, we’ve got our own way of disposing of our Christmas trees, and it’s all on the up and up. This is our tree next to the burn pile. Come spring, we’ll have our yearly burn and the tree will go up in flames so high I’ll wonder what that thing was doing in my house in the first place.
Wellesley spring burn, 2017
My able crew of pyromaniacs have just tossed the Christmas tree onto the burn pile, Spring 2017. This pic reminds me that it’s time for me to go down to the Route 9 fire station and get my burn permit. Here’s the entire post.

More pictures of my winter yard:

Wellesley, winter yard
This big branch liberated itself from our huge pine tree. It will get tossed onto the burn pile as soon as we can pull it out of the snow and ice. So there it will sit for a couple of months. Or maybe the river will rise and claim it for its own.
Wellesley winter yard
Look closely and you’ll see the most beautiful wasps’ nest. I can’t believe I sat reading all summer long directly underneath it, never knowing an entire hive of workers toiled right above me.
Other creatures have been busy, too. Something tells me the beavers are in flagrant violation of all NRC and Wetlands Committee rules regarding altering vegetation on the river.
Wellesley winter yard
The beavers have gnawed five trees on a small spit of land called Sometimes Island. Sometimes the narrow strip is an island, and sometimes it’s submerged.
The stick house on Sometimes Island. Both the snowman standing guard and the small table came from the RDF’s Give and Take Area, which is closed for the winter. Kids love to canoe or kayak by to see the who’s the latest Stick House resident.
The Charles River is frozen all the way across, for now. The rain that’s expected to start later today combined with temperatures in the 50s on Friday and Saturday will loosen the ice’s hold on the river.

There are lots of animal tracks, and even scat, out there on the river. Every spring when I’m out in the kayak I see the grisly evidence that at least one creature fell through and didn’t make it out.
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Comments

  1. Interesting story. It is hard to believe anyone would wantonly leave their tree on public land to rot. Where is Sometimes Island?

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