DPW Explains Unauthorized Mowing on Fawn Lake Perimeter

By Kim Siebert MacPhail

Adrienne St. John and Kristin Dowdy of the Department of Public Works came before the Conservation Commission on July 24 to explain why vegetation on the banks of Fawn Lake had been cut down without authorization and to offer options for reparation for the Commission’s approval.

“Back last summer, the DPW received a call that there was furniture along the edge of Fawn Lake and that the vegetative strip of land at the bottom of the grassy area at Fawn Lake—approximately 50 feet wide—was to the point where it was causing a safety issue,” St. John explained.

Because of that concern, the DPW’s Grounds Manager Dennis Freeman sent the road crew to use its brush cutter to take down the vegetation in question, but St. John admitted that the job had been done in a way that was inconsistent with wetland vegetation standards. “Granted, it was mowed to the ground [but] it wasn’t Dennis himself that cut it, it was the roadside brush cutter. There was a miscommunication on our part as to what height it was supposed to be cut and we apologize,” St. John said.

“That was last fall,” St. John continued. “In mid-June, Elizabeth Bagdonas [Conservation Administrator] was at the site and noticed that the vegetation had been cut and called the DPW [to say that] the process of cutting was not acceptable to her and that we, the DPW, should take some action to resolve the [problem.]”

St. John said that a representative from New England Environmental—a firm that has previously done wetland mitigation work in Bedford—was called to perform a site visit of the Fawn Lake area and reported that the vegetation strip, even after mowing, is a “healthy stand”, although some invasive species are intermingled with desirable plants.

“There is some bittersweet and buckthorn [invasives] in there—and they are thriving,” St. John said.

New England Environmental provided two proposals for how the DPW could amend the error: remove all the vegetation and implement a “landscaped plan” with trees and smaller bushes; or leave the strip but remove the invasive plants and then periodically mow it to a height of 2-3 feet, rather than to the ground as was done last fall.

“If you take a walk out there today, you can’t tell that the vegetation has been cut,” St. John added.

Asked to speak for Bagdonas who was not able to attend the meeting, Stephanie Ide, Conservation Department Assistant, said that Bagdonas didn’t have a problem with the recommendation to leave the strip as it is but wanted to remove the invasive species. Chair John Willson agreed and said that the Commission would apply for Community Preservation funds to support the project, which New England Environmental would then execute.