Conservation Commission should 'throw in the towel'

Aug 22, 2014

To the Editor:

I attended last Monday's Selectmens' meeting on Sprague's Cove. I came out baffled.

I have a big question for the Conservation Commission: Why do you discount and ignore the vote at the last Town Meeting that denied you the funds to keep on poisoning phragmites?

You killed absolutely EVERYTHING down there when you say you needed to kill the phragmites.

You ripped out the cedars, willows, beach plums, tupelos, oaks, maples, wildflowers, and on and on...more than 35 varieties of plants.

You sought advice from the designers, ignored their advice, and stubbornly kept insisting that phragmites are ruining the basin's function.

You didn't read the plans (perhaps you can't read plans) of the basin and you didn't clean out the exit pipes, as your own management plans told you to

You cut all the willows that kept the geese away, when your own management plan said not to.

You didn't realize that the water level was too high, making the basin almost 50 percent smaller.  If you could read plans, you would have seen this from a quick look at them.

Your track record is horrible. Why don't you throw in the towel?

Annie Rockwell

Marion