Autumn Lore by Kathleen Jenks As autumn returns to earth’s northern hemisphere, and day and night are briefly, but perfectly, balanced at the equinox, may we remember anew how fragile life is — human life, surely, but also the lives of all other creatures, trees and plants, waters and winds. May we make wise choices…
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In 2013, NCF’s Science and Stewardship Department started down the road of a wetland restoration project in Madequecham Valley that at the time seemed incredibly daunting. We idealistically set out to eradicate a 0.6 acre patch of an incredibly invasive plant, Phragmites australis, the common reed. Phragmites australis is a large, perennial grass, that has…
Read MoreThe Nantucket Conservation Foundation will be hosting its 57th Annual Meeting of Membership on Thursday, August 5th at 5 pm at the Nantucket Hotel on Easton Street. We are pleased to announce that Samantha Hoff, PhD Student at University of Albany, will be our featured keynote speaker this year. Sam is a graduate student Ecology…
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We are happy to share that the Science and Stewardship team at the Nantucket Conservation Foundation will be participating in a very exciting collaborative event next week as part of the the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative (NBI) Science Showcase Week. The NBI is hosting a full week of opportunities for the Nantucket community to enjoy. All…
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In the coming weeks, we at the Conservation Foundation will begin annual surveillance for the presence of southern pine beetles on Nantucket and we could use your help searching for potentially infested trees! The southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) is a tiny, blackish-brown beetle, approximately 2-4 mm in size, that’s less than 1/8 of an…
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We have great news to share from NCF’s Science and Stewardship Department! The scientific journal Wetlands Ecology and Management recently published our manuscript titled “Changes to spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata) habitat selection in response to a salt marsh restoration”. The work referenced in this manuscript stems from a long-term research project on changes to spotted…
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With Nantucket’s first real stretch of cold this winter and even some recent snow fall, it leads one to wonder about how wildlife survive constant exposure to wicked coastal New England weather. Even the most cynical wildlife biologist might find themselves “feeling badly” for the critters. How do they survive the bitter cold and windy…
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Spotted turtles are a relatively uncommon species of freshwater turtle in Massachusetts but Nantucket has fairly sizable and robust populations. Still, they are seldom seen, certainly not as frequently as their cousins, the other resident shelled reptilians, snapping and painted turtles. Spotted turtles are secretive and very picky about the kinds of habitat they prefer.…
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Every year at the end of October, we at the Nantucket Conservation Foundation celebrate International Bat Week along with our batty colleagues the world over as a way to highlight the important role that bats play in nature and to counter the narrative that bats are just spooky creatures associated with Halloween. This year, we…
Read MoreIf the fog would ever lift this summer, the view of the eastern Middle Moors from Altar Rock might look a little strange at the moment. Large swaths of scrub oak in the Moors have been completely defoliated for the third year in a row. The culprit is an outbreak of a native species called…
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