Thursday, July 20, 2000

Salamander slows Estabrook project

By GREG TURNER
STAFF WRITER

Another rare species has been found in the wetlands at the edge of Estabrook Woods, a discovery that could force a redesign of Middlesex School's planned athletic field expansion project.

A herpetologist hired by the private school found evidence of the blue-spotted salamander this spring in a vernal pool near a proposed wetlands crossing to a 46-acre parcel beside the Lowell Road campus.

"We certainly know now that there's a salamander population in that pond, that uses that pond to breathe in," said Joanna Roberts, a Boston attorney who represents the citizens who oppose the project. "It's right beside where they want to build the bridge."

The amphibian is listed as a "species of special concern" by the Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program, part of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife.

The state already has determined that Middlesex School's project will not disturb the habitats of the Mystic Valley amphipod (a crustacean), [an endangered] dragonfly and the elderberry long-horned beetle. Wildlife biologists are still looking for evidence of a fifth species, the spotted turtle.

With the salamander's existence noted, however, the school faces a review by the state's endangered species program, one that could disrupt the expansion project yet again.

"The question is what does the addition of this endangered species - how does that affect the current plan?" said James Saltonstall, the school's business manager.

"It's too early to say," he said. "I think it may be a possibility depending on what the conversation with the Natural Heritage program determines."

Middlesex School is headed for an early October hearing in Boston, prompted by an appeal filed by 10 citizens that challenges the state Department of Environmental Protection's decision to allow the development to proceed. The DEP order overturned a unanimous 1995 decision by the town's Natural Resources Commission to deny the school a wetlands crossing.

This week, the school's attorney, Richard Nylen Jr., filed a motion to postpone pre-trial testimony until the endangered species review is completed.

"The burden is on the applicant [Middlesex] to demonstrate that the work will not have an adverse impact upon the habitat of the blue spotted salamander," Nylen wrote in the motion. "This may require a plan change to the project in order to include mitigation measures to protect this species."

Saltonstall said Tuesday that the DEP Administrative Court judge has yet to respond to the motion.

Estabrook advocates view the discovery of another rare species as one more reason the project should be stopped.

"I hope this provides an opportunity for some creative rethinking of the entire project, the alternatives to it, and the permanent educational value of a protected Estabrook Woods," said Steve Ells of Lincoln, a former director of environmental review for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a longtime Estabrook advocate.

The protests started when Middlesex School first unveiled the project eight years ago. "Easterbrooks Country," as Henry David Thoreau called it, consists of 2,500 acres in northern Concord.

The school's original plan called for the construction of soccer fields, tennis courts and faculty housing on a parcel east of the campus. The housing has been eliminated but the conceptual plans still include an 1,100-foot access road, an 8-inch sewer pipe and a 32-foot-wide, 120-foot-long steel-grid bridge over the wetlands.

Over the years, Middlesex officials have said repeatedly that the school has been willing to adapt its vision in response to citizen concerns and has put nearly one-third of its 330 acres into permanent conservation.

Because of the significant revisions to the project, and the possibility of further changes, Roberts said she will urge the DEP judge to return the project for a new review by the local regulatory commission. The citizens also plan to challenge the state's past decisions about the endangered species.

"It's now time that the entire project should be reconsidered on the community level," Roberts said.