The Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative (NBI) just held its 8th Biennial Biodiversity Research Conference from November 1-3, and the Foundation’s Science and Stewardship Department staff ecologists were active participants in this collaborative effort. The NBI is a partnership of nonprofit organizations (including the Foundation), academic institutions, government agencies, businesses and individuals that formed in 2005 with…
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We are very excited to have a Nantucket High School (NHS) senior, Lily Bartlett, volunteering for us approximately 8 hours per week for the entire school year as part of the School-to-Career program. This is the first time that the Foundation has mentored a student in this capacity. School-to-Career is part of a national program…
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by: Karen Beattie, NCF Director of Science and Stewardship The Nantucket Conservation Foundation’s Board of Trustees recently decided to retire cranberry cultivation on our Windswept Bog property (on Polpis Road) in order to pursue a watershed level wetland restoration project. These plans were covered in the Nantucket Inquirer & Mirror (our local newspaper on Nantucket,…
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by: Karen Beattie, NCF Science and Stewardship Department Director Nantucket has experienced an uncommonly wet growing season so far this year. The abundance of rain has produced lush and verdant vegetation across the island that is persisting into the recent hot and dry weather conditions more typical of summertime on the island. Take a walk…
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Nantucket’s sandplain grasslands are upland plant communities unique to this region of North America. Once common along the northeastern seaboard, residential, and commercial development and succession to shrublands has all but eliminated these habitats from other coastal areas from Long Island, New York to coastal Maine. It is currently estimated that between 85-98% of the…
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One of the frequent calls we get at the Foundation’s office during the fall, winter and early spring involves questions about the firebreak management work we are doing on our properties. Why are we cutting down the shrubs? Where will we be cutting next? Will we eventually be cutting down everything? The level of interest…
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Pest House Pond is small, brackish wetland approximately ¾ acre in size located along the shoreline of Nantucket Harbor between Monomoy and Shimmo. The pond and surrounding property totaling 3.6 acres was donated to the Foundation in 1973 by the Shimmo Association, with an additional 1-acre abutting parcel donated by Mrs. I. H. Burnside in…
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Take a walk or bike ride along the Milestone Bike Path near the Tom Nevers Road intersection or in the South Pastures area of the island (between the airport and Tom Nevers) and you will notice some dramatic clearing of vegetation and new open areas. Nantucket Conservation Foundation staff have been working on brushcutting management…
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Nantucket’s fauna is very unique – maybe more so for what is not here than for what we have. Numerous species that are common elsewhere in New England are missing from our assemblage of terrestrial wildlife, including chipmunks, possums, raccoons, skunks, fox, woodchucks, and coyotes. What we do have on Nantucket are several species of…
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by Elizabeth C. Buck It may seem like August has just arrived, and there is still plenty of summertime to be enjoyed by all, but our shorebirds are already thinking about fall migration. Nantucket is home to many nesting shorebirds that now have young fledglings ready to make their journey south to their wintering grounds.…
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