Arbor Day Event Includes Update on LOPA ActivitiesBy Lew Cuyler
Special to iBerkshires
02:10PM / Wednesday, April 29, 2009
iBerkshires photos
Robert W. Race speaks at the Arbor Day event at Onota Lake. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Arbor Day, the last Friday in April, was formally celebrated at Burbank Park on Friday, April 24, with speeches and the plantings of five trees along the walkway between the North Beach Parking area and the Controy Pavilion in memory of the late Beverly Mazurkiewicz, a civic activist who died last December.
About 50 attended the ceremonies at the Controy Pavilion to celebrate the contribution of trees to environmental well-being.
In a keynote speech, Robert W. Race, president of the Lake Onota Preservation Association, a citizen activist group for the betterment of the lake, particularly referred to the heavily forested surroundings on the west and north side of the lake.
"Not only do the trees provide a backdrop of scenic beauty for the lake, they are also serve as filters for the run-off of water into the lake, keeping it clean," he said.
The association, more generally known by its acronym, LOPA, is dedicated to keeping the lake healthy. The trees surrounding the lake, he said, play a major role in making the lake a major natural and recreational resource for the city and surrounding areas.
He used the occasion to spell out some of LOPA's accomplishments as an advocate for the lake. One of its primary jobs, he said, is to keep the lake free of invasive weeds that threaten swimming and boating.
That battle, he said, is being waged on two fronts: the widening of an outflow pipe at the north end of the lake later this summer which will enable deeper and more effective drawdowns at the end of the season and the application of spot herbicides in the spring in areas known to be particularly susceptible to invasive weed growth. The work is financed under a grant awarded to the city.
James McGrath, the city's Park, Open Space and Natural Resource Manager, served as master of ceremonies for the formal part of the program that took place in the Controy Pavilion. McGrath is also harbormaster for Lake Onota.
He, too, stressed the value of trees surrounding the lake as cleansing the run-off, stabilizing erosion concerns and providing a habitat for the Bald Eagle population that is beginning to develop on the west side of the lake.
"We couldn't do the work we do without the support of LOPA," he said.
 Mayor James M. Ruberto prefaced the formal program with the reading of his Arbor Day proclamation.
"I have known Lake Onota since I was a young boy," he said. "It's a waterway close to my heart and the city has the authority to keep the lake clean."
Referring to LOPA, he said, "We could not do it without LOPA's advocacy to protect this valuable natural resource."
About 60 people attended the ceremonies. In a prelude to the tree-planting, Arthur Stein paid tribute to the work Beverly Mazurkiewicz had done as a member of RSVP, the group of senior volunteers for community service.
"She loved her work and in particular, the youth literacy program," he said.
Submitted on behalf of Lake Onota Preservation Association. |
