Newly planted saplings are growing in a small lot in The Port neighborhood where an affordable-housing developer cut down mature trees a year ago to make room for bike storage, after telling city zoning regulators there were no trees there.

Public meetings this week look at reshaping City Hall with new positions and changing how developer “linkage” fees pay for affordable housing; plans for The Middle East nightclub and restaurant complex; deciding the days for “Riverbend Park”; and much more.

Katydids are green insects camouflaged to look like leaves and often found at the tops of trees. It is not surprising, then, that katydids are more often heard than seen.

More than 60 people gathered in Danehy Park on Tuesday to learn how to help stop tree loss in Cambridge and hear longtime environmental supporter state Sen. Will Brownsberger give an update on current climate change mitigation efforts. 

Learn how raccoons were named, which president adopted one instead of eating it, how recently the Joy of Cooking included raccoon recipes and much more.

An irrigation system at Danehy Park broke for more than a month during this unusually hot summer and its drought, bleaching grass and endangering trees in a city already found to be losing tree canopy at an alarming rate.

A visit to Danehy Park in mid-August found 108 trees we categorized in a range from “poor” to “dead.” Of them, 87 were mature and classified as “significant trees” by city law.

In a look ahead at a week of Cambridge and Somerville events, there’s an exhibit of the art of Abraham Megerdichian, a concert by Mario Gotoh and the Finnish sisters known as Kardemimmit, poetry by Joshua Bennett, book readings and theater and “Sacred Songs and Rituals” with Yacouba Sissoko.

You might see a wolf spider in your yard, garage, shed or basement – at least the gleam from the largest of their eight eyes – because these are good nighttime hunting grounds.

Memorial Drive is a community asset. It shows what happens when people work together to listen to resident concerns, consider solutions and improve policies for everyone.