End of an era in
Rockport’s Millbrook Meadow
1912-2015. Atlantic Tree arborists
from Gloucester cut down 103-year-old willow in Millbrook Meadow.
Over a century of history came
crashing down in Rockport’s Millbrook Meadow Thursday (April 2) when arborists
cut down two fine old willow trees. The
trees had become dangerous—long past their expected life, the large upper
boughs were prone to fall off at any time.
Arborists estimate that the large willow in the center of the Meadow was
planted about 1912, when William Howard Taft was President of the United
States.
Removal of the two large willows is
part of the program for restoring the Meadow planned by Rockport’s Millbrook
Meadow Committee. Restoration is set to
begin in 2016.
For two years, a group of people in
Rockport have been on a campaign to save what they call “Rockport’s Green
Jewel”.
Millbrook Meadow and Mill Pond, a beautiful
four-acre spot right in the middle of Town, is badly in need of restoration.
When the Town finally got a new dam
to replace the one that blew out in a violent rain storm 1n 2006, a few people
started to see the clues. The beautiful
Meadow and Pond were slowly slipping away.
The Pond had become filled with
sediment over the years and now it was so shallow that cattails were starting
to fill it, and fish could no longer live in the shallow water.
The willows were losing huge boughs,
and had reached the end of their lives. And the Mill Brook was often flooding
its banks and turning the Meadow into a muddy, sloshy mess.
Millbrook Meadow Committee began a
campaign to restore this precious parkland.
With money from Lura Hall Phillips, a fund left in trust specifically
for the Meadow, they began. Town Meeting
voted more money, and then the people of Rockport voted an additional amount
from Community Preservation funds.
Working with the Department of
Public Works, they hired a contractor, and began the long process to restore
the Meadow and Pond.
Now, the contractor’s engineers and
scientists have poked and prodded, tested and sampled, to find out just what
was needed to bring the park back to vibrant life. They have prepared a Master Plan which
describes the many tasks that will restore the park, and now they are at work
on the actual design to do the work.
The actual restoration of the Meadow
and Pond is planned to begin next year, if the Town can raise the money for the
work.
Millbrook Meadow Conservancy, a
sister organization formed to look after the Meadow and to raise funds, began a
fund drive last fall, and so far have raised over $28,000.
Now a local donor who prefers to
remain anonymous has offered a dollar-for-dollar challenge match of up to
$25,000 for all new donations received between March 1 and September 14, when
Rockport Town Meeting will vote on appropriating vitally-needed Community
Preservation funds for the Meadow project.
If donors respond generously to the
challenge, the Conservancy will raise an additional $50,000 toward the total
project cost, which is now estimated to be just under $1,300,000.
Rockporters will have a chance to
see what is next for Millbrook Meadow at a public meeting Wednesday, April 15
at the Rockport Public Library’s Brenner Friends’ Room, from 7 to 9 p.m. Millbrook
Meadow Committee will unveil the Master Plan for the Restoration of the Pond
and Meadow.
This restoration will include
dredging the Pond. It will call for
rebuilding the Mill Brook, making it wider, and making it bend, so that it
won’t flood so often, and will be friendlier to eels, fish, frogs, turtles and
aquatic plants.
It will improve the drainage in the
Meadow. It will remove the alien invasive plants and plant new, native species.
In order for people to explore the forested parts of the Pond, and look at the
wildlife in the wetlands, there’ll be a path on both sides, and a wooden
walkway between them.
There’ll be a new play area for
children, and the Frog Pond will be dredged and rebuilt.
There will
be new plantings around the Frog Pond that make it into a quiet place to enjoy
nature.
It will plant new trees, including
replacement for the fine old willows. A gently sinuous path along the side of
the Meadow will be built, with low-level lighting and water for watering
gardens.
For more information about the plans
for the Meadow and Pond, visit
www.millbrookmeadow.org
or contact any member of the Conservancy or Millbrook Meadow
Committee.
-end-
Worker makes the final cut to
take down old willow by banks of Mill Brook in Rockport. In distance, another
tree cutting truck has been removing the large old willow in the center of the
Meadow. Photos by Millbrook Meadow
Committee.
Contact: Samuel W. Coulbourn, Chair, Millbrook Meadow Committee, 978-546-7138
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