The Hudson Conservation Commission met on March 9 to discuss several challenges affecting both ongoing trail maintenance and the review of The Meadows, a large mixed-use development proposed for Central Street. With late season snow still covering much of the ground, commissioners said the weather is complicating efforts to assess sensitive areas and complete scheduled fieldwork.
Commissioner John Walter raised concerns about potential vernal pools on the southern edge of the project site, where the property borders Benson Park. He asked whether the developer had begun marking environmentally sensitive areas.
“At this point, I’d say nothing is marked out,” said Selectman Liaison David Morin. “You guys still need to have your walkthroughs, and there probably won’t be anything done until then.”
A joint site walk with the Conservation Commission and Planning Board had been planned, but recent storms have made it difficult to evaluate wetlands or identify seasonal features like vernal pools. Chair Carl Murphy said the snowpack will likely delay the visit.
“I don’t think we’ll see much due to the amount of snow,” Murphy said. “We don’t know when the site walk will be.”
Despite the weather, the Commission has continued its trail maintenance efforts. Members recently held a Trail Work Day focused on the Hudson section of the old trolley bed trail, a project being developed in partnership with the Town of Pelham.
“We had a Trail Work Day this past Saturday, and we encountered quite a bit of snow on the trolley bed,” Murphy said. “We managed to walk to the end where the trolley bed becomes Pelham. We really couldn’t see much, so a group of us ended up going over to Musquash Pond and removing a couple trees across the Gumpas Pond loop trail.”
Secretary Chris Cameron confirmed that the loop trail is now clear. “It’s in pretty good shape; it just needs signs and blazing, right?” he asked, with members agreeing that the trail is nearing completion.
Another Trail Work Day is planned for March 21, with the goal of opening at least a narrow path through the trolley bed trail to prepare for spring use.
With warmer weather approaching, the Commission also discussed ways to better identify and document vernal pools, temporary spring wetlands that serve as critical breeding habitats for amphibians and other wildlife. Walter said many residents are unfamiliar with what vernal pools are or why they matter.
“A lot of people in town are interested in knowing about what a vernal pool is,” Walter said. “Basically, it’s a temporary body of water that provides a good habitat for animals to lay eggs in: salamanders, wood frogs, many other kinds of birds. In these ponds, you’ll find unusual kinds of insects and crustaceans where the acidity is perfect so fish won’t be there to consume a lot of the eggs.”
He noted that vernal pools often dry out in the summer, leaving behind mossy depressions that don’t immediately appear to be wetlands. Some also form as “seeps,” where groundwater rises to the surface in spring. “These seeps are just as valuable as other vernal pools,” Walter said.
Cameron said the Commission plans to incorporate vernal pool identification into its broader property management work this spring.
“We’re going to inventory our different properties, we’re going to inventory trail conditions and blazing, but we can also look for vernal pools if we see anything obvious when we’re out there,” he said. “In the next two months, we can flag it and maybe get GPS locations if we can to try and add the pools to the maps.”