Weston Conservation Commission Approves Eagle Scout Project and Frog Study

WESTON — April 11, 2023 — Weston Conservation Commission unanimously approved an Eagle Scout mill-site cleanup and a University of Connecticut wood frog study at its April 11 meeting. Chair Rees Tulloss led a five-member panel that voted five to zero to allow 16-year-old Scout Kieran Gavin to clear invasive barberry and buckthorn from a historic 1743 grist mill and chair factory foundation behind Crescent Street, with conditions barring chemical treatments and requiring administrative sign-off from conservation staff before work begins. The board also voted five to zero to approve a PhD study by a UConn researcher named Katya, who plans to survey vernal pools in Weston and Weyland as rural controls against Cambridge and Arlington ponds to test whether wood frogs are absent from urban areas due to habitat quality or dispersal limits — collecting no more than 10 percent of egg masses per pond under a state Scientific Collectors Permit. The commission additionally issued a full certificate of compliance for 29 Deer Path Road and continued a Notice of Intent for 27 Golden Ball Road to April 25.