MethuenRailTrail

Since it was a very nice day, I figured I’d walk the trail at lunch. What I thought was a quick jaunt from Pine St. to Hampstead Rd. ended up being an hour of trash pick up and I never did make it past the Village Mall. It seems the serious winds we had the other day, picked up a lot of fresh trash from the homeless camp and dumped it on the trail. I guess I picked up over 100 plastic bags and food containers and a few pieces of Styrofoam, about 8 pounds. When I go out I try to use the one bag rule: pick up ONE bag of trash, be it cans, or bags or whatnot.

I usually over look larger pieces like the cardboard in the picture, or tires or shopping carts, as they will be there next time. I try to concentrate on ‘fresh’ trash and natural hazards, like plastic bags that can get caught in trees and interfere with animals. Today I also picked up a handful of mono filament, something that can easily kill a bird or fish.

On the other hand it was a very nice day. Without the foliage you can see a lot more than you can other times. I found several clusters of old rail road ties and a few more shopping carts.

I saw a male cardinal, found an owl nest and saw some old evidence of beaver activity. I also figured out that the MSPCA property along the tracks had once been landscaped with flowering shrubs and roses. These are quite buried behind a wall of invasive plants and vines in the summer.