Ecological Characteristics of the Silver Maple Forest (

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Ecological Characteristics of the Silver Maple
Forest (Belmont Uplands)

• David C. Morimoto, PhD
• Program Director, Natural Sciences and
  Mathematics
• Lesley College at Lesley University
• To save every cog in the wheel is the first
  precaution of intelligent tinkering - Aldo
  Leopold

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Main Points

• The Silver Maple forest is significant
  ecologically at many spatial and temporal scales.
• Its significance includes not only its ecological
  value (ecosystem services, habitat for species),
  but also its value to human health through
  passive recreation, as well as its educational
  value.

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Silver Maple Forest Local Ecosystem Value

• It is a unique part of an urban wild (Greater
  Alewife Ecosystem) consisting of a diverse
  habitat mosaic of forest, field, shrubland, and
  riverine habitat, over 130 acres in area.
• By virtue of its shape, it reduces the
  edge/interior ratio and provides more interior,
  core habitat.
• It buffers the adjacent Alewife Reservation and
  provides valuable habitat and hydrological
  functions, noise reduction, etc.
• It is floristically unique in the region.

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Silver Maple Forest Local Ecosystem Value

• It supports large predators, which are indicators
  of general ecosystem health. Species include
  Coyote, Red Fox, weasels, Red-tailed Hawk, and
  Great-horned Owl.
• Its core habitat could support forest interior
  birds like the Wood Thrush, which has been
  recorded in the SMF. Species like American
  Woodcock also rely on the forest.

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Ecological Complexity, Stability, and Resilience

• Ecological communities and ecosystems are
  complex, with many populations interacting in
  many ways, and many complex cycles of energy and
  materials.
• Most of the interactions are indirect (and thus
  difficult to perceive), but a few of the species
  play key roles.
• Complexity provides stability and resilience,
  otherwise known as balance in nature. Declines
  in complexity make ecosystems more vulnerable to
  decay and destruction.

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Elaine R. Ingram, Oregon
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Elaine R. Ingram, Oregon
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Landscape Scale Ecological Value 1 The Silver
Maple Forest is situated within

• a heavily developed urban-industrial-residential
  matrix, with a paucity of wild habitat.
• It is highly accessible to humans via converging
  human transportation corridors.
• It is adjacent to Alewife Reservation and along a
  bird migration corridor.

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Landscape Scale Ecological Value 2

• The Silver Maple Forest is situated along the
  border between municipalities and watersheds,
  thus representing unique opportunities for
  cooperative conservation measures .
• The Silver Maple Forest provides many ecosystem
  services, is valuable habitat, and represents a
  small but significant link in an otherwise
  developed landscape.
• Many migrant birds use the forest during
  migration.

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Mystic Riverand Charles River watersheds
SMF
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Little River - Alewife Brook subwatershed
SMF
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Little River - Alewife Brook subwatershed and
Lower Mystic River Watershed - drainage basin
SMF
FP
AR
MAC
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Belmont, Cambridge and Arlington regional Urban
Wild and drainage basin
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The Development (commercial or residential) of
the Silver Maple Forest would

• compromise the ecological integrity of the
  landscape.
• compromise the ecological integrity of the
  Greater Alewife Ecosystem.
• negatively impact populations of species that
  currently depend on the forest, in addition to
  decreasing the ecosystem services it provides.

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Other Considerations

• The educational value of the forest is extremely
  significant.
• The value of the forest for passive recreation is
  also very significant, particularly given its
  landscape context and accessibility.
• The whole ecology of an area includes these
  aspects of human living.