Latest Menace: Motorized Scooter in Willard's Woods

I saw somebody on a Motorized Scooter in the Woods today.  I told him this wasn't allowed.  I will also ask the ConCom whether such things like this are permitted.

The regulation is - [the following is prohibited]

Operate a motor vehicle (the term "motor vehicle" includes, without limiting the generality of the same, any car, truck, bus, motorcycle, motorbike or snowmobile) on conservation lands.

What he had was a motor vehicle but technically not a Motorized Bicycle, but a Motorized Scooter under Massachusetts Law.

Crimestoppers Notebook: Anyway, watch out for them and call the cops if they won't leave.  Take pictures.

Chiesa Farm Goat Alert!

Since we were banned from our rightful unleashed dog walking area by arbitrary and capricious (more about capra later) Conservation forces, we were forced to walk our dog in another Conservation area.  We picked Chiesa Farm.   We found out some new information about Chiesa.

• There are no longer any horses quartered there, so it seems permissible to go through the gate into the big field.  Everybody is doing it.  This expands the available land for dog-walking greatly.  Also, there is a nice set of stone benches on a knoll.
• There are often deer and coyotes in the early morning.
• A woman from town brings five or so Nigerian Dwarf Goats to graze there.  She drives them there in the back of a Volvo (Swedish Brick station wagon model). These are, of course, off leash.  No rules that I can see prevent anyone from grazing large animals on Conservation Land.  However, not if they ate flowers, plants, or shrubs - I suppose grass is a plant.  Goat guano need not be picked up.
• However, dogs and goats don't mix too well.  So keep your dog leashed if there are goats around. What should you do if your dog attacks a goat?  In a word, pay up. Quoting from www.dogbitelaw.com -  Massachusetts has one of the best laws for the protection of dog bite victims, especially young children. A dog owner or keeper is strictly liable for dog bites unless the victim was trespassing, teasing, tormenting or abusing the dog, or was committing another tort. A child under the age of 7 is presumed to have done none of those things, but the presumption is rebuttable.

Nancy Bryant : New leash rules are discriminatory

Just a quick note to bring your attention to the excellent op-ed by Nancy Bryant published in the Lexington Minuteman on September 30, 2010 entitled New leash rules are discriminatory


What can you do about it?  I am having Army personnel train my dog to sniff out evidence of ConCom discriminatory rule-making.

TRIP REPORT: Sutherland Woods, Lexington, MA

Sutherland was a playground/recreation area and was converted to Conservation Land, probably during the same period as Willard's Woods.  On the satellite image, you can see a big road on the bottom - this is Route 2.  The interchange is the Route 4/225 exit to Lexington. Sutherland forms the border with Arlington.  At the top end is a playground area including a ball field.  At the S bottom of the area is a MA State Highway facility with a large radio tower.  There is a cliff overlooking Route 2 protected by a fence.


Parking: Most of the Lexington Conservation areas have no parking lots.  There really isn't much on Sutherland Street.  Probably best to park on Aerial street or on Tarbell Avenue (and walk in from the W side).

Friends of Willard's Woods Google Group

Friends of Willard's Woods

Visit this group

TRIP REPORT: Chiesa Farm, Lexington, MA

Directions:  This place is near Willard's Woods.   Turn off Adams street at Hathaway.  Instead of turning right at Brent Road, continue down Hathaway and turn left at Sedge Road.  Sedge Road is the access road for the Diamond School.  Park at the end of the school near the loading dock.  There is new trail there under development.  Or park just before the baseball diamond near a large storage container.  

There is an unmarked trail across the street. It is also possible to walk from behind the Pilgrim Congregational Church, 55 Coolidge Avenue over the Chiesa property. 

Most of the land is still occupied as a horse farm, but there are some nice views looking S to the horse farm section.

Looking at the satellite view above, you are limited to the three fields NW of the green tree marker (one looks like a picture frame, one is shaped like NH, and the other smaller one consist of trees surrounded by a path).  

The whole area is 23 acres, but it looks like you can only go in about 10. Stone fences divide the fields and there is a gate into the horse farm.  

The fields are mowed.  Your dog might want to run around the plots.  Unless the horse farm goes away (not likely anytime soon), this place is too small to be of much interest to dog walkers.  If the horse farm were gone and if there were a parking lot right off Adams, this could be a fabulous dog area.

TRIP REPORT: Burlington Landlocked Forest, Burlington, MA

The Burlington Landlocked Forest (BLLF) is a very large area (almost 300 acres) that borders on Lexington.  In the view above, the big road at the bottom is Route 95, while the big one coming in from the N is Route 3.  The forest borders Route 3 and Turning Mill Road in Lexington.  It is not a conservation area and dogs are permitted off leash.  There are lots of mountain bikes some accompanied by running dogs, especially along the utility right-of-way (in the picture above, this is a light colored green strip running approximately horizontally).  There are about 6 miles of trails, with a very nice trail in the woods that is about a mile long.  The Friends of the Burlington Landlocked Forest have a website.


The land is designated as surplus municipal open space that Burlington owns.  It does however, enjoy some protection under Article 97. The utility right of way runs into Paint Mine, a Lexington Conservation area S of Turning Mill Road. The Town of Burlington seemed to be intent on flipping it, in hopes of making it a biotech research park.  So far no deal has been reached, so the prospect of chemical factories or BSL-4 level laboratories is speculative.

One of the disadvantages of the BLLF is that it is next to Route 3.  Above is a view of Route 3 you are likely see on the E side of the trails.  However, it is quite far away and down a steep cliff so your dogs are unlikely to run down to it.  If they are squirrel crazy or afflicted with wanderlust, maybe you shouldn't come here.