Members of the town Friends of the Meadow Committee are heartened by progress being made this summer. The project had languished, but is now moving forward with restoration work even as an overall plan for City Meadow is devised.
Chairman Libby Borden said this week that the committee met Tuesday afternoon on Robertson Plaza to outline what will happen over the next three months. The committee has contracted with Native Habitat Restoration of Stockbridge, Mass., and Matt’s Landscaping of Falls Village to do preliminary work while plans are developed by Beth Romaker, manager of Meadowscapes, a division of Matt’s Landscaping.
“The first thing we will do is to mow the phragmites and cattails by June 15,” Borden said. “That will weaken the plants and in August, when they start to regenerate, they will be treated with herbicides.”
In the meantime, woody shrubs on the hillside will be cut and there will be spot eradication of invasive plants.
Matt’s Landscaping will do the work needed in the forebay to improve movement of water through it and will clean the gravel path that goes up the hill toward Route 44.
“The important thing is we will finally have a plan,” Borden said. Romaker will create a tentative plan that will then be critiqued and refined by the Friends members. Subsequent plans will address issues such as placement of sculptures and where trees will be planted. “But that’s all in the future,” she said.
Committee member Martyn Banks, a firefighter, reported that the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department, which is now planning its new firehouse, is eager to collaborate with the Friends about complementary plantings on the adjacent parcels.