As the year 2021 comes to a close, so does the inaugural year and the initial project of the new Conservation Committee of the Rotary Club of Weston and Wayland. One of the last days of the year witnessed the removal of debris and detritus created by the hundreds of hours spent by volunteers from the club, along with friends, Boy Scouts, and other members of the community. It took over 15 one-ton dump trucks to remove all of the invasive species that the workers cut down over the course of the last 9 months.
In the picture above, volunteers are pulling down a gigantic vine to add to one of six very large piles of brush created this year.
Since late March, members of the RCWW and other volunteers met on numerous Saturdays and Thursday nights to help reclaim the Sears Field from an infestation of invasive species that include: black swallow wart, bittersweet, multi-flora rose, and several others. These plants not only make it more difficult for the native ones to thrive by actively choking or crowding them out, but they are detrimental to native fauna like the monarch butterflies and other pollinators.The RCWW volunteers ripped up, lopped off, and chainsawed through thousands of pounds of these harmful species. The club also paid for additional field mowings to keep the harmful plants from flowering and using selective treatments to kill off the broad-leaf invasives. The town of Weston graciously removed all of the debris so that the field is ready for its next phase of work to begin in the spring of 2022!
In the picture above, The Town of Weston deployed a tractor and dump truck to remove large amounts of debris from the field.
This is only the first year of a five-year plan to fully reclaim the field from the invasives and to plant helpful pollinators that the whole community can enjoy! The Conservation Committee of RCWW will need all of the assistance it can gather in the coming years and welcomes all able-bodied souls to help however they can (or even come watch and socialize with other members of the club). Stay tuned in the spring for more cleanup dates.
Success! Wildlife, and more importantly, a Monarch butterfly, are seen enjoying the revitalized field!
If you would like to be a part of this amazing transformation and get involved, please email: president@westonwaylandrotary.
