Chelmsford Land Conservation Trust

10/20/2025

The results of the Scarecrow Festival competition are in! With 310 ballots cast, the winners are...

People's Choice: #19 Pete the Cat
Judges' Choice: #7 Give a Mouse a Cookie
Honorable Mention: #21 Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein
Honorable Mention: #18 Mr. Potato Head
Honorable Mention: #29 Witch

Thank you to all of the scarecow builders and everyone who voted for making this a wonderful event every year!

The scarecrows are still up for visitors this week.

Builders, please clean up next weekend.

We'll see you again next year!

10/18/2025

What a wonderful day at Bartlett Park!
The Scarecrow Festival and Art on the Brook brought out so many families to enjoy the beautiful fall weather. Kids and adults alike had a great time voting for their favorite scarecrows — creativity was everywhere!

If you missed it, the scarecrows will be up all week for everyone to enjoy. 🍂🎃

(Posting a few photos of the crowd and a “child’s-eye” walkthrough of the scarecrows below!)

10/10/2025

Hay has been delivered! We will have volunteers in the park tomorrow morning to setup for the Scarecrow Festival and help pass out stands and hay!

09/30/2025

09/30/2025

Chelmsford Land Conservation Trust
Scarecrow Festival 2025
Participant Guide and Timeline

1. Pick Up of Materials
• A bag of hay, a stand, and instructions will be available for pickup at Bartlett Park starting Saturday, October 4, after 10:00 AM.
• Materials will remain at the park all week for convenient pickup.

2. Set Up Schedule
• Saturday, October 11 at 10:00 AM
• Hay bales will be installed in the park for the stands.
• Scarecrow set up officially begins.
• Location is first come, first served.

• Friday, October 17 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
• Evening set up is allowed with lighting provided.

• Saturday, October 18 from 7:30 AM to 10:30 AM
• No set up is allowed due to cars and vendors preparing for Art on the Brook.

3. Scarecrow Categories and Prizes
• Categories: Child Built, Adult Built, Special Recognition.
• Winners in the Child and Adult categories will receive a $50 Amazon gift card provided by CLCT.
• CLCT will determine category placement for each scarecrow based on review. All decisions are final.

4. Voting
• Voting takes place on site Saturday, October 18, from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
• All ages are welcome to vote.

5. Viewing
• Scarecrows will be on display Saturday, October 18, and Sunday, October 19, from morning until sundown.
• Sunday offers a quieter, informal viewing for those who could not attend Saturday or prefer a more natural park experience.

6. Photography
• Photography with the scarecrows is free.
• Professional photography is permitted as long as it does not interfere with guests.

7. Amenities
• A port-a-potty will be on site Saturday and most likely Sunday.
• Old Mill Coffee is nearby for coffee and snacks.
• Saturday will have a seating area, which will likely remain available on Sunday.

8. Removal
• Monday, October 20 – Friday, October 24: All scarecrows must be removed.
• Saturday, October 25: All remaining materials removed except for hay.

9. Hay Recycling and Community Outreach
• Non-profits and community gardens may pick up hay bales Saturday, October 25 before they go to recycling.
• Message CLCT to reserve hay bales and provide your name/organization.
• All costs are covered by CLCT to promote community outreach and celebrate open space.
• COSS will provide support for pick up and transport.

• Sunday, October 26 at 10:00 AM: A truck will arrive to pick up any remaining hay.

10. Accessibility
• The site is not fully accessible, but it is passable.
• Wheelchair users have successfully attended in past years, as long as the grass is not wet.

09/28/2025

Look for details soon.

🎃 CLCT Scarecrow Festival 2025 🎃*
📍 Bartlett Park, Chelmsford
🗓 October 18–19

✨ Free Stands! Free Hay!
✨ Prizes for Best Adult & Child Scarecrows!

Come and see scarecrows and join the fun! Perfect for families, friends, and creative minds of all ages.

📅 October 18th – Join us for Art on the Brook (11 AM – 4 PM)

*Art on the Brook will be setting up from 7:30 till 10:30, so access might be limited. Sunday is all-day viewing. Voting is only during Sat.

For details on pick-up, set-up, and removal, visit CLCT Facebook or email [email protected]

👻 Bring your creativity – we’ll provide the rest!

09/06/2025

🌱 A Huge Thank You! 🌱

What an amazing day at Plant a Garden in East Chelmsford! 🌼

After two years of planning, the Chelmsford Land Conservation Trust (CLCT) and community volunteers came together to expand CLCT’s Burbank Gardens by moving and planting more than 100 native plants from Sunny Meadow’s Pollination Preservation Garden — some of which had been nurtured there for this very moment. This new pollinator garden will be a lasting gift to the community and local wildlife.

✨ Special thanks to:

Giancarla & Lyne for planning, flagging, and design work

Chris for unlocking the COSS wheelbarrows and helping move soil and plants

Mike and his equipment for delivering a big load of soil

The Thanksgiving Forest Pollinator Garden crew

Our Community Garden volunteers

And the many individuals who came out to lend a hand

It was inspiring to watch everyone working side-by-side to bring new life to Burbank Gardens. 💚

📸 Be sure to check out the photos — and don’t miss the time-lapse video that captures the energy and teamwork of the planting!

08/23/2025

🌱 Burbank Gardens Pollination Project – Big Dig Complete! 🌱

This morning, a hardworking crew of CLCT volunteers dug more than 100 planting holes at Burbank Gardens, battling rocks, bricks, and buried stones along the way.

A huge thank-you to our partners at the Chelmsford Conservation Commission for lending us a battery-powered auger. It turned out to be the perfect tool for Chelmsford’s rocky soil — less kickback and a reverse gear that made clearing jams a breeze.

👏 Thanks to everyone’s effort, the “Big Dig” was finished ahead of schedule, and no additional digging sessions are needed. The site is now ready for the next phase on September 6th:

splitting native pollinator plants at Sunny Meadow,

transporting them to Burbank, and

planting them into their new home.

We look forward to seeing the new pollinator plantings take root and thrive at Burbank Gardens.

08/02/2025

A big thank you to the 9 volunteers—including two from CLCT and a few new faces—who came out to clear brush and downed trees around the Upper Orchard at Warren-Pohl Reservation this week.

After several rainy weekends slowed progress, it was great to get back out there. Once the Warren family farm, this land still brings people together with hands in the dirt and a shared love for open space. The Warren family, longtime Chelmsford residents and active members of CLCT, helped protect this special place for generations to come.

This volunteer crew is part of a growing community-led effort—independent of town programs—focused on ongoing improvements to Chelmsford’s open spaces.

07/23/2025

Aquatic Invasive Removal Underway at Freeman Lake

This morning, a mechanical harvester got to work removing invasive and nuisance aquatic plants from Freeman Lake. The main targets are water chestnut (Trapa natans) and variable milfoil (Myriophyllum heterophyllum)—both aggressive species that crowd out native plants and impact water quality.

Members of the Chelmsford Land Conservation Trust stopped by to see the process in action and learn more about how it works. We were especially curious whether a smaller-scale version might work for Russell Mill Pond, which has been experiencing similar vegetation issues. While the machine used today is too large for that site, it was really helpful to see how mechanical harvesting works up close.

Today’s work was done by a contractor hired by Chelmsford, with the focus on the beach area and nearby shoreline. The crew will be in town for another day of work.

Mechanical harvesting can be a good short-term option for managing dense vegetation without using herbicides. If you’re curious about the project, you can contact the Chelmsford DPW at 978-250-5228 x5235 or [email protected].

Here are some pictures and a 3.min. video at the end.

07/22/2025

Flying High at Bartlett Park! 🐾

On a beautiful July morning, nearly 200 people gathered at CLCT’s Bartlett Park for Flying High Dogs — a high-energy, family-friendly event hosted by the Chelmsford Library and the Friends of the Library.

The show was both entertaining and educational, featuring some truly impressive canine athletes!

📸 Check out some great moments from the event below. Big thanks to the Library team, the Friends, and everyone who came out to enjoy the fun!

07/15/2025

Every year, 3 or 4 freshwater mussel shells—like this one—turn up at or below the Russell Mill Pond dam, near the Millstream spillway. This one is likely an Eastern Elliptio, a common native mussel that helps clean water by filtering out algae, bacteria, and fine sediment.

What’s especially fascinating is that mussels like this were likely living in River Meadow Brook long before the dam was built in 1656. Although adult mussels stay put, their tiny larvae hitch rides on fish—spreading slowly through watersheds over time.

This particular find was located right at the edge of a NHESP Priority Habitat for Rare Species, an area recognized by the state as critical for biodiversity conservation. If the shell had belonged to a rarer species like the Eastern Pondmussel, it would have required reporting to the Massachusetts Natural Heritage Program.