As the Philadelphia-based commercial real estate firm O’Neill Properties continues to clear an eight-acre portion of the Belmont Uplands for the construction of a 299-unit apartment complex off of Route 2, the hindsight analysis has begun of what many believe is the destruction of the Silver Maple Forest situated on the border of Arlington, Belmont and Cambridge.

One of the first and most detailed reviews of the failed efforts to preserve a Massachusetts mainstay environmental preserve comes from State Sen. Will Brownsberger.

“As the saga of the Silver Maple Forest winds to a sad end, the question recurs: What will the state do to help save the forest? The discouraging short summary appears to be: nothing,” wrote Brownsberger.

 “It is with great sadness and a sense of defeat that I report these realities. For me, the Silver Maple Forest is a special place,” he said.

To read the entire essay, go here.