Boxborough Conservation Commission Approves $6,559 Invasive Species Plan for Patch Hill

BOXBOROUGH — July 1, 2026 — Boxborough Conservation Commission approves $6,559 invasive species management plan, $1,500 over estimate. The commission voted unanimously at its July 1 meeting to pay Oxbow Conservation Services for a Patch Hill invasive species inventory and management plan that came in above its original $5,000 December estimate, with Town Planner Ian Gilson attributing the overage to Oxbow's hourly billing structure. The five-area plan covers bittersweet, burning bush, multi-flora rose, Japanese barberry, and Norway maples; a separate $1,800 grant will fund a selective herbicide application later this season, which the commission wants scoped in a fixed-price proposal it can review before signing. Members also directed Gilson to have the conservation agent inspect the Hager Bridge, where beavers are building against the structure and have rendered the Inches Woods to Hager boardwalk trail impassable. The commission unanimously reappointed Liz Markiewicz as chair.