Weston Conservation Commission Clears Four Old Permits, Eyes Monarch Butterfly Mowing Plan

WESTON -- June 9, 2026, Weston Conservation Commission closes four long-open wetland permits and debates mowing timing to protect monarch butterflies. The commission voted unanimously to issue certificates of compliance on four orders of conditions at 321 Merriam Street, covering construction work dating to 2002, after staff administrator ISIS conducted a systematic outreach effort to property owners with open permits. The board, with Chair Rees Tulloss and members Sarah Maas Scheuplein, Eileen Fava, Robert Mosher, and Alison Fronk Barlow present, also heard a final report from Charlie Hamlin of Waltham Land Trust on the Sears Land Driveway Field restoration project, run since 2022 with the Rotary Club of Weston and Wayland. Hamlin urged that town fields containing black swallowwort, an invasive Mediterranean plant that traps and kills monarch caterpillars, be mowed before June to prevent egg-laying on the toxic plant, displaying a Journey North map showing monarchs arriving in the Waltham area as early as mid-May. The commission agreed to experiment with a May mowing at the Sears field starting in 2027, with Rotary treasurer Mosher confirming the club will continue funding the contract, while staff acknowledged that five seasons of triclopyr herbicide applications at Hillcrest Corridor North have left the swallowwort population "still very widespread."