Boardwalk built to protect, provide access to Beverly Alt Reserve

BEVERLY, MA — The 2.6 miles of trails on Beverly’s 62-acre Alt Preserve are now more accessible and sustainable after the construction of a 50-foot boardwalk over a stretch of creek, vegetation and wildlife habitat.

The Essex County Greenbelt Stewardship built the boardwalk using black locust lumber, which is an exceptionally durable lumber that should last 15 to 20 years—double the expected lifespan of pressure-treated wood.

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“Black locust is an invasive tree that grows in this area, and its wood is more environmentally friendly than other types of timber,” said Dave McKinnon, the Greenbelt’s land manager and trail coordinator, who led the project. “Pressure-treated wood has chemicals that leach into the soil and can damage the landscape.”

The promenade took about nine months to complete from design to finish, with actual construction taking about two weeks.

“There are so many variables in a project like this,” McKinnon said. “You drive into the posts and they start to twist and all of a sudden that changes the way the plates are angled. So many decisions are made in real time. It was definitely a team effort; we spent a lot of time tossing around ideas. each other and solving problems’.

The boardwalk is 3 feet wide to accommodate a wheelchair or stroller, ramped at both ends, and spaced in a manner that does not present a hazard to children.

The boardwalk also allows light to shine through to keep the wildlife and vegetation below healthy.

The Greenbelt Stewardship team also created a small parking lot on the Alt Reservation property in 2023. They also built similar sustainable roads using black locust lumber at Arthur Ewell Reservation in Rowley and Woodland Acres in Rockport.

(Scott Souza is a Patch editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached @[email protected]. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)