Salt marshes and shrub wetlands buried under the eroded sand dune at Hither Creek will likely never regenerate but new vegetation is recolonizing on top of the bare sand. Horseshoe crabs, piping plovers and even a state-listed plant are making there homes in the new habitat around Millie’s Pond.
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As an island in the Atlantic Ocean, Nantucket intimately understands the impacts of increased flooding frequency and storm events. For our community, adopting ways to increase our Coastal Resiliency is essential to maintaining quality of life, community function and ecological integrity on our little island. So what is Coastal Resiliency? Essentially, it is the ability of a coastal…
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Seeing the social media posts of family and friends off island in the autumn, it’s easy to think that Nantucket has drawn the short end of the stick when it comes to Fall Color. There was an instagram post earlier this week taken in Town on Nantucket under a pale yellow tree with the sad…
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The photos and videos on social media October 30th, 2017 were dramatic. Ocean waves in Madaket washing over the dune separating Hither Creek from the Atlantic Ocean, swirling under and around the stilt house and pushing sand into the southern end of Hither Creek. For a while during this story, it looked like Hither Creek…
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*Please note, this blog post was originally published in The Inquirer and Mirror on January 19, 2017 in the article series called Island Ecology. The Foundation’s Science staff will be regularly contributing to our local newspaper and reprinting articles here the following week.* As the shortest day of the year has passed and we officially…
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*Please note, this blog post was originally published in The Inquirer and Mirror on August 11th, 2016 in the article series called Island Ecology. The Foundation’s Science staff will be regularly contributing to our local newspaper and reprinting articles here the following week.* On the southeast end of Nantucket Island there is a large tract…
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*Please note, this blog post was originally published in The Inquirer and Mirror July 14th 2016 pg 4B in the article series Island Ecology. The Foundation’s Science staff will be regularly contributing to our local newspaper and reprinting articles here in the following week.* After a long spring drought with weeks of no rain in…
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The daffodils and crocuses may already be popping up around town in sunny spots but most of the native plants in Nantucket’s moors, grasslands and forests are still waiting for warmer and longer days to flower. Except for one! Hiding in the Middle Moors of Nantucket, in the low and open heathy expanses, the miniscule…
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February 2nd is World Wetlands Day, celebrated internationally every year since 1997 to commemorate the signing of the Convention on Wetlands in Ramsar, Iran. The Ramsar Convention represents a multi-national treaty which has facilitated work to survey, study, prioritize and conserve valuable wetland resources around the world and to promote the wise use of wetlands. World Wetlands…
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Unexplained die off of salt marsh plants, particularly along creek edges and the low tide line, has become an increasing issue along the New England coast since the 1990s. Along marsh creek banks and harbor edges, salt marsh plants (particularly salt marsh cordgrass or Spartina alterniflora) began disappearing, leaving behind large swaths of exposed soil, filled…
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