NORTHAMPTON — A patch of meadows mowed on Mass Audubon’s Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary near the Oxbow Marina this week had neighbors raising questions.
The nature conservation spans from Easthampton to Northampton, protecting a variety of wildlife living in the expansive grasslands over a stretch of 724 miles. So residents began to wonder why an area by Old Springfield Road was recently mowed.
Though those residents declined to go on the record, signs posted on the edge of the property that read “Nesting Season Please stay on marked trails or mowed paths” left them looking for answers.
The clearing, roughly 300 yards by 25 yards, was made by members of the Oxbow Water Ski Show Team ahead of a tournament this weekend. Jonah Keane, sanctuary director, said he was aware of the clearing of the meadow and explained that mowing of the high grass there has no negative impact on the local wildlife.
“We very much appreciate people’s concern and we welcome feedback. Our first priority is the wildlife that live there and we are not going to make a decision that has a negative impact on them,” Keane said. “We allow this to be used for parking because it is not going to have a negative impact.”
Keane said he gave farmers in that area the OK to begin mowing “just along the edge” of the meadows after July 15 since breeding season has wrapped up by then for American kestrels, bobolinks and Savannah sparrows residing there.
In late August, most of the meadows are mowed to prevent the grasslands from becoming a forest. Keane said he spoke with a resident concerned with the cleared meadow and he explained that the wildlife sanctuary wanted to be “good neighbors” with the water ski club.
“Parking cars on meadows after breeding season has no negative impact on the land for a one time thing,” Keane said. “We mow it back anyways (in the fall) and it’s after the time it would be detrimental to wildlife.”
Bobolinks, a small bird with a white back and black underparts, make their nests on the ground of hayfields and they can be found chirping on the wildlife sanctuary. Similarly, American kestrels live in tall grass in the sanctuary but in small bird boxes designed for them in the meadows.
The birds will linger in the area before migrating south, with bobolinks departing around mid-August and the American kestrels leaving in September, according to Keane.
Luis Fieldman can be reached at lfieldman@gazettenet.com