MethuenRailTrail » Uncategorized

Keep an eye out for the Blandings Turtle

admin — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:35:05 +0000

The area along the Methuen Rail Trail from Spicket River to Hampshire Rd is home to the highly endangered Blandings Turtle. The Blandings Turtle nests in the Sandy soil along the sides of the railbed and hopefully will continue to do so after the trail has been constructed. These are very rare and we definitely have them here. For safety sake, the section of the trail that homes them will be constructed after the end of their Nesting season in September. So watch for those green helmet shaped little guys.

clearing the rail trail

admin — Mon, 09 May 2011 00:34:40 +0000

MRTA goes out trash picking once a month, and we find all sorts of things along the rail bed.

Spring Cleaning

admin — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 14:53:26 +0000

• Sat May 7, 201 1 8am – 9am Rail Trail Cleanup – Location: the End of Pine St

• Sat May 7, 2011 9a m – 12am Methuen Clean Up Day – Location: Methuen.

• Tuesday, May 10th, 2011, 7pm – 9pm – Methuen Rail Trail Alliance Meeting Location: the Nevins Library

Today’s Successful Cleanup.

admin — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 15:40:15 +0000

Thank you to all the folks who showed up. We made great strides removing obstacles from the north end of the tunnel at five corners.

Birding along the rail trail

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:02:50 +0000

I took a friend out birding today along the rail trail and through the Nevins Sanctuary. Among the birds we saw today were 3 Green Herons, 9 Great Blue herons, 1 Red Tail Hawk and believe it or not 1 Immature Bald Eagle. Unfortunately I didn’t have a long enough lens to get the eagle, but two of the Green Herons were cooperative.

Birders:Joyce Godsey & Christine Lewis
Location: Nevins Bird Sanctuary
Observation date: 7/27/10
Nevins Bird Sanctuary, Methuen

Wood Duck 6
American Black Duck 2
Mallard 4
Great Blue Heron 2
Green Heron 3
Killdeer 2
Rock Pigeon 1
Mourning Dove 2
Chimney Swift 9
Downy Woodpecker 2
Eastern Phoebe 1
Eastern Kingbird 3
American Crow 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2
Black-capped Chickadee 1
Tufted Titmouse 1
Gray Catbird 1
European Starling 2
Cedar Waxwing 2
Yellow Warbler 2
Song Sparrow 2
Scarlet Tanager 1
Red-winged Blackbird 5
Common Grackle 2
American Goldfinch 1

Spicket River Rookery, Methuen (the rookery is along the rail trail just past the MSPCA)

Mallard 8
Great Blue Heron 9
Bald Eagle 1 imm
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 2

Walking the right of way

admin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:27:07 +0000

Monday I joined Conservation Officer Joe Giarrusso and MBTA’s representative Bob Lavita out on the Methuen rail road right of way.

Bob’s goal was to identify any encroachments that have occurred where fences or pavement or buildings have migrated into the right of way. The MBTA has to settle these little land problems before they can lease the property to the town of Methuen. There were very few almost all in the center of town, none will impeded the rail trail project, but it will be up to the MBTA to either reclaim the land or have the occupier enter into a lease agreement for those few feet. All the MRTA would get out of the process is a few feet here and there but none of it is a crisis of any sort.

Bob seems to be most upbeat about our lease potential and not worried about getting MBTA approval for such a thing as in his words ‘they are doing it ‘everywhere’. Indeed the MBTA is anxious to lease land that they are not actively using.

The best we can hope for is approval by September until then we just put our efforts into promoting the project and recruiting new members.

Methuen Rail Trail Alliance Cookout 7/17

admin — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:28:50 +0000

Methuen Rail Trail Alliance Cookout
Saturday July 17th at 4PM
At Kelly Tondo’s house.
If you have planned on joining the MRTA now is the time!
Just send in an email that you will be coming
as well as bringing something yummy with your membership fee.
Take the opportunity to get brought up to speed on the project and meet the rest of the gang.

Remember
Next Meeting: 7:00pm July 13, 2010 @ the Nevins Library

Methuen Rail Trail Alliance Meeting 4/13

admin — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 19:40:45 +0000

the Methuen Rail Trail Alliance Meeting
will be held
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
7:00pm

Nevins Memorial Library
305 Broadway

Please attend if you, bring a friend if you like.
We are having a Membership drive

bike racks, lack thereof

admin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:54:47 +0000

just another reminder that Methuen needs bike racks.

Final Massachusetts Bicycle Transportation Plan

admin — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:52:07 +0000

Massachusetts Bicycle Transportation Plan

Download or View the Final Report in PDF format(882 kb) September 2008.

Download the Complete Printable PDF in Zip format(2,194 kb)

The Massachusetts Bicycle Transportation Plan prepared by the Executive Office of Transportation, continues to advance bicycle transportation by:

Providing a comprehensive inventory of existing on-road and off-road facilities (shared use paths), projects in the pipeline, and long-term facility proposals
Recommending a 740-mile, seven-corridor Bay State Greenway (BSG) network consisting of on-road and off-road facilities bound by a single identity and including on-road routes that parallel shared use paths
Providing an implementation strategy aimed at launching the BSG initially as mostly an on-road system, geared to both utilitarian and recreational travel, and complemented by a long-term investment strategy
Recommending other programmatic enhancements and interagency initiatives

Sponsored by Federal Highway Administration
Prepared for Executive Office of Transportation