Month: April 2018

UPDATE May 22: Sargent Nardi of the Massachusetts Environmental Police cites MGL Ch.131, s.43 and confirms poison is illegal to use on public or private land.

UPDATE, May 18: Pat Huckery of the Massachusetts Fish and Game states:
“On poison – with the exception of poison for mice/rats, the substance must be in an enclosed “dispenser.” All poison is illegal in MA regardless of public or private land. Poisoning opossum is illegal in all forms.”

UPDATE, April 18: Delia Kaye was unclear as to the legality of the traps and indicated that since this is private land, this is not under the NRC’s jurisdiction. However, the Concord Police assure me that there are NO traps in the woods at this time. We are still trying to understand why they were being used or considered, but we will update the site when we have more information. Thank you.

A comment received from the Pippen Land Trust:

“Thank you for posting the Pippin Tree Land Trust Forest Legacy Conservation information on your website. It is verification to everyone that this land is indeed private and as such a private property owner may allow dogs, stipulate dogs are to be on a leash, or not allow dogs at all. The easement restricts public use to the main trail only which is the trail that crosses the property directly from Estabrook Trail to Punkatasset Pond. It is not carte blanche permission to utilize the entire 73 acre forest it preserves. Logging is scheduled for sometime in 2018 and poison bate traps are set at various times. Please attend to your animals. Trails will be closed during logging due to the danger of falling trees and heavy equipment.”

April 18 from Pippin Land Trust:

To answer some email questions: If and when there are bait traps set, the site and the trail head will be so marked.
We had difficulties with opossums carrying EPM to our breeding farm which borders our forestry land some years back. Therefore we push back the bait boundaries into the woods for preventative measures. Dog owners should be aware that EVERY farm deals with rodent and pest control. It is always wise to be alert with your animals on the surrounding land. Our dogs were no exception.

Many thanks to the hundreds of Concordians who came out to vote at town meeting last night. The passage of Article 44 is a positive first step in having the NRC to use science and real data in their decisions concerning dog walking off-leash in the woods. We hope that there will be a more careful and thoughtful look at the overall impact of these decisions. This two year moratorium should be very helpful and allow for the concerns of all users to be considered. Thank you again for showing you care and for taking the time to participate in one of the oldest forms of democracy!

A very apropos blog in Scientific American: The March for Evidence

Article 44 is a non binding request asking the NRC to refrain from imposing any off-leash restrictions for a two year period. The passage of Article 44 at town meeting is critical for maintaining off-leash dog privileges. It sends a very clear message that our local government’s actions need to be based on real data and applicable science, otherwise, we do not accept them. This two year period will allow for us (and NRC) to collect real data pertinent to this decision. The spirit and intent of the Article is to open a dialogue with the town, in the hopes of finding a more acceptable scientific and fact based response.

Last night’s town meeting was longer than expected, so our moratorium on off-leash bans is postponed until tonight, Thursday, April 12. There is only one presentation scheduled before our Article 44, so we expect to be presenting around 7:30.

Please plan to be there and show your support for off-leash dog walking. We know there are hundreds of you who feel that this is one the many things that makes Concord so great. We also know we can do this responsibly, but we need the town to allow us the opportunity. It’s important that they realize we care deeply about this and show them our commitment to maintaining this revered privilege.

Please be alert to the possibility that the dog related Article 44 may come up tonight, April 10. If things progress as rapidly as they did last night, they may get to our proposal for a two year moratorium on off-leash bans sooner than we expected.

We have no control over when this gets presented, so we are asking everyone to tune into channel 8 or 9 (CCTV) especially at 9pm, and be ready to come to town meeting if it looks like they might get to us. Or, if you are a die hard (like my wife) you may already be planning to attend all of the meetings.

Tonight will begin with the marijuana dispensary discussion, followed by some innocuous zoning articles. If we are into those at 9pm, then we suggest you come to TM. I will also send out another email alert. We are hopeful that it will not be heard until tomorrow, but there is this distinct possibility.

And in case you question the importance of stopping the town from continuing this campaign, look at how much we have lost already and listen to this seven second clip where Delia says the solution to off-leash dogs is a dog park:

Total land already lost to off-leash use in just one year: