SAUGUS — Liam Martin, a ninth grade student at St. Mary’s High School in Lynn, planted a tree at Breakheart Reservation Park with Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll Saturday in recognition of Earth Day.
The tree-planting occurred after Martin, a star-rank Troop 62 boy scout, led roughly 50 volunteers in an effort to remove invasive species from the area.
Last year, Martin began service projects for a class assignment and for his boy scout troop. When his mother Julie Martin, who works as the director of visitor services and programs for the Commonwealth’s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), informed him of an invasive species problem at Breakheart, Martin decided to combine both projects into one.
Martin worked with Forest and Park Regional Coordinator Anthony Guthro and Breakheart Reservation Supervisor Brett Power to organize a volunteer-assisted effort to clear roughly 10 tons of invasive porcelain berry plants out of the reservation.
“Porcelain berries are not very good for the area because first of all, it will just kill out the trees and the surrounding area. There were two or three trees in the area that had been smothered by the porcelain berry. They’re dead now, but you could just see the porcelain berry hanging from it. The way you get rid of those is just chopping them off in the ground,” Martin said.
On Saturday, Martin decided to organize another clean-up event to clear garlic mustard plants, another invasive species, from the reservation. More than 10 St. Mary’s track runners volunteered to help remove the plants. Additionally, Martin’s event coincided with DCR’s Park Serve Day at Breakheart, bringing in a total of roughly 50 volunteers from community groups such as Friends of the Breakheart Reservation.
When Driscoll came by, Martin said he discussed his project with her before they planted a tree together in recognition of Earth Day.
“I explained to her my project — she seemed very impressed by it. After she showed up, we kind of walked around and I showed my project to her,” Martin said. “She seemed very interested in it.”
Julie Martin said she was proud of her son’s work and dedication. She added that she looks forward to seeing the positive impact that his projects will have on the area.
“It’s inspiring to see him so involved and engaged with a particular topic. The best thing about this is that there’s still ongoing work to complete in this whole entire area and eventually it will restore the meadow. It will be a great, great place where we can plant flowers and make sure the things that are planted there are native to the environment,” she said.
Martin said he has already started organizing the project’s third year and hopes to continue his work for as long as he can.
“It’s not an idea, it’s going to happen. There’s going to be year three, and it’s going to be here for year five, because the whole thing with garlic mustard is that the seeds last a long time. According to the former state ecologist, it’ll probably be seven years until we can just actually get rid of it,” Martin said. “After seeing what I’ve done for the first year, I’m very excited to say that I am looking forward to the next year and the year after that, and the year after that.”
