Opinion: Reedy Meadow Wildlife Doesn't Need A Boardwalk

A Letter to the Editor from Melanie Lovell:

I’ve been thinking a lot about the rail trail and what it really means to have a boardwalk running directly through Reedy Meadow. Perhaps the Partridge Island Trail - an area of Reedy Meadow featuring a boardwalk built in 1976 -can provide a lesson in terms of inviting the public into acutely sensitive wetland areas.

Though many come and enjoy the Partridge Island Trail responsibly, this particular area has also been a place where young people often loiter, especially during the warmer months. These boardwalk visitors regularly degrade the area by leaving garbage behind, including food wrappers, cigarette butts, plastic bottles, and aluminum cans.

In 2015, the Town of Lynnfield, via the Conservation Commission, purchased and installed trail cameras on trees along this boardwalk in an attempt to monitor both human activity and wildlife activity. Many attempts were made by Partridge Island visitors to dismantle these cameras despite the added tamper-resistant security cases surrounding them; one camera had been pulled down the trunk of the tree as the trail visitor attempted to pry it off. The safety cord prevented the vandal from taking the camera, though the camera was damaged in the process.

Another camera’s security case was burned (presumably with a lighter) in an attempt to remove it from its location. As most residents remember, also in 2015, a five-alarm fire destroyed 65 acres of Reedy Meadow as well as the observation tower at the end of the Partridge Island Trail. The fire’s origins were not believed to be spontaneous. Due to the poor quality of photos and the multiple attempts to dislodge the cameras by Partridge Island visitors, the devices were later removed.

The wildlife of Reedy Meadow is already in a state of degeneration; visit the “Lynnfield Marsh” site summary of the Mass Audubon website for more detail on what they refer to as a “degraded” habitat in “ecological decline” whose bird population has decreased “disastrously.” Yet the proponents of this Rail Trail are determined to have a boardwalk, supported by pilings, running directly through this delicate ecosystem, and then invite the public to traverse the area regularly.

Given the difficulty Lynnfield already has in maintaining and patrolling its existing wetland boardwalk, it seems foolish to spend our state tax dollars to create another opportunity for humans to disrupt the balance of these ecologically important areas. Just because we have the capacity to make Reedy Meadow accessible to foot and bike traffic does not mean that this is the right thing to do.

Melanie Lovell, Bourque