By Lynn Atkins
Enter Burchard fields/gate. Parked at the end of Juniper Road to walk in and clear the tree reported by Liz Steele. First obstruction encountered was a pine snag about 7 inches. The second obstruction was: one live pine, 20 inches; one dead pine 22 inches; one small pine snag about 5 inches. These were across perpendicular and so did not take much time to clear. Cut some buckthorn in the area. Intended to cut the ash snag across trail near the end of Juniper Road (when I first encountered it it was frozen into the water) but someone had already cut it, probably Reese.
Drove into the Weston Reservoir and cleared the reported obstruction: very large pine (27 to 30 inches), a couple big healthy cedar trees and a maple limb. The pine was so big (and full of sap) I had to cut the rounds small. This took some time to clear b/c there were so many tangled branches and it is a road. Raked road of debris which was easy b/c everything was on top of the ice. Would not have been able to clear this safely without the micro-spikes on my boots. Cut back buckthorn (lots more needs to be done along this stretch but I have been chipping away at it). Just a couple people walked by me while I was working. One walker told me about another pine tree down on the fence - I thought she may have been talking about a tree I already cleared but when I walked up there with the dogs, I found it: medium to small pine trunk hanging on the fence and also a bent over birch tree. Spent some time here cutting (with hand saw) and tossing branches so it would be easier to walk under. At the road junction there were about 1,000 branches, in the road, brought down by a tree that did not fall on the road - spent time here tossing these branches into the woods. Also cut some vegetation that was growing into the road here. Generally, while walking, tossed branches.
Trails and road like an ice rink and even the dogs were having trouble gaining purchase (good thing I do not clip their nails).
Wildlife: barred owl vocalized at dusk.
Emails to Eben, Ed and William (MWRA) about the damage to the fences and second pine.
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