A recent NCF “Mornings for Members” walk at Windswept Bog (free to members of NCF with signup) highlighted some of our most beautiful native wildflowers. Natives are plants that arrived in a region without human help and in most cases have been in the neighborhood for enough time to become a vital part of the…
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Recently I heard a provocative statement to the effect that “garlic mustard is Mother Nature’s way of getting rid of deer ticks.” Naturally I needed to find out more. Could this actually be true? After spending hundreds of hours working with field crews managing this plant by hand-pulling in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, not to mention here on Nantucket,…
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Since arriving on Nantucket in January of 2008, I’ve found that the colder months offer some of the best opportunities to check out new places and get the lay of the land. With the summer tangle of scrub oak, grape and other greenery magically absent after leaf drop, you can see a lot more detail. You don’t have to…
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Recent rainy and windy weather may have finished off most of our autumn leaves, but there’s still plenty of color across the Nantucket landscape. The Science & Stewardship staff at NCF would like to wish you and your family a happy Thanksgiving, and encourage you to enjoy the natural beauty of the island around you. It’s deer hunting…
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When you visit this year’s Cranfest at the Nantucket Conservation Foundation’s Milestone Bog this Saturday, October 11th, please stop in at the Science & Stewardship table. We love to talk about what we do, and share our explorations of the Nantucket natural world! To share a taste of the scientific research and natural beauty we…
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A visit to the Middle Moors this spring, particularly a walk or drive along Pout Pond or Altar Rock Road, will reveal some strange new patterns on the landscape. This past winter, the Nantucket Conservation Foundation began creating larger brush-cut areas to act as firebreaks. These areas were selected strategically to protect homes from wildfire, and to…
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As spring finally warms up on Nantucket, you’ll begin to notice some of the shrubs greening up long before anything else. This is a good way to spot invasive non-native weeds in the landscape, such as Morrow’s bush honeysuckle (Lonicera morrowii), autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), and multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora). One of the classic definitions of a…
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This winter, Nantucket Conservation Foundation’s Science & Stewardship Research Technician/Field Supervisor Kelly Omand has been working with two students from the UMass Boston “Nantucket Semester” program that links in with our local UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station, on a focused research project in Squam. The students, Adrianna Plavetsky and Zannie Duffy, are part of a group living and…
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Now that it’s officially cold and blustery outside, it’s tempting to stay indoors all the time and wait until spring to visit your favorite nature areas and beaches. But there’s always something to see on the trails, shores, and ponds around Nantucket. Since everything gets taken back to bare bones in the winter, it’s a great time…
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During the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative Conference on Nov 1-3rd, 2013, a large group of conference attendees joined me to visit some of the largest, and likely some of the oldest, trees at Squam Swamp. These exemplary trees may provide clues to Nantucket’s land use history, teaching us more about how the forest has grown and…
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