Arlington's Great Meadows

Ellen Finnie

Open Space report released

The Town of Arlington has released its Arlington Open Space and Recreation Plan, 2022-2029. The Plan – the most recent since 2015 – will “guide the protection and enhancement of [Arlington’s] open space and recreational resources.”

Arlington Great Meadows (AGM) is featured in the Plan as the largest open space resource owned by the Town of Arlington. The action plan notes that the Friends of Arlington Great Meadows (FoAGM) have been an active group stewarding the AGM, and commits the town to “support FoAGM’s efforts to remove invasive plants and restore upland meadows and other habitats, to protect and support diverse wildlife and plant species and to provide public access and public events at Arlington’s Great Meadows.”

The Open Space Committee is responsible for the implementation of the Plan.

FoAGM 2022 Annual Report released

The Steering Committee of the Friends of Arlington Great Meadows has released the 2022 Annual Report, which will be submitted to the Town of Arlington. The report highlights key accomplishments, including resumed mowing of the upland meadow; the reopening of a public entrance with parking; the launch of the new website; and significant maintenance efforts by committed volunteers, especially focused on controlling invasive species.

From the Annual Report: Scouts from Arlington Troop 313 replacing boardwalk treads

The Steering Committee would like to thank the many dedicated and hard-working volunteers and supporters who made this progress possible, and especially for their ongoing commitment to Arlington Great Meadows as treasured open space in the Arlington/Lexington area.

Arlington’s Great Meadows wildlife now on iNaturalist!

There is a new way to explore and contribute to the nature of Arlington’s Great Meadows!  Visitors can now learn about plants, insects, and wildlife at AGM through the global crowd-sourced identification site iNaturalist, and can upload their own pictures to share with others.

iNaturalist is a global web-based project that can help you identify the plants and animals around you, connect to a community of enthusiasts and scientists, and contribute to a rich storehouse of data that is being used to understand and protect nature, including treasured local spaces like AGM. 

Thanks to the efforts of Andrea Golden, long-time AGM supporter and one of the founders of the Friends of Arlington’s Great Meadows, the iNaturalist site now has a presence for AGM.  The site has been populated with pictures that had already been in iNaturalist which matched AGM’s coordinates. So there are now over 1400 observations available.  These include trees, plants, insects, and mammals, which you can now explore (<- Click Here).

You can use AGM’s iNaturalist site to learn more about the creatures that inhabit AGM, or to contribute your own pictures and observations and add to the wealth of information about AGM.   

To learn from what others have posted, or contribute your own:

Andrea, who has established such sites for other open spaces in Massachusetts, says that “these sites add another way for visitors to contribute to their local conservation areas by recording flora and fauna they encounter. The AGM iNaturalist site creates a record of what organisms have been found, when they are most likely to be seen, and if they might be a concern, for example, if invasive plants or animals are present.”

The Friends of AGM are grateful to Andrea for contributing her time and expertise to making a home for AGM on iNaturalist, and we welcome this new way to describe and share and learn about the rich natural world of AGM.  

Hope to see you on iNaturalist!