The hot and humid summer season is flying by. Sweltering days spent in social distance are blending together, leaving some of us to scramble for a moment of quiet and peace. We can all use an excuse for a walk on a breezy day, realign our nature connection, and take in the color and diversity…
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Some of our Science & Stewardship staff have taken time out of their busy schedules to engage in ecology education at a social distance. These methods of outreach in the times of Covid are creative ways to show our local & Off-island fans what research and ecology work we’ve been up to in quarantine. Dr.…
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These days, it seems like everything we took for granted as normal is getting cancelled, closed or postponed due to COVID-19. From a socio-economic perspective, it is apparent that this coming summer will be nothing like recent seasons here on Nantucket. For those of us who love nature and the outdoors, the ongoing rhythm of…
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This weeks blog comes from our local School-to-Career Intern, Lily Bartlett! Lily has been an incredible help and has been working hard on a wide variety of projects since she started with us in September . Thank you again, Lily! As coronavirus has taken over our usual routines, we can turn to nature as a…
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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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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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This is a great time of year to take a walk through the winding trails of Squam Swamp and see the season spring to life. This trail loop off Wauwinet Rd. takes visitors through eerily shaped stands of hardwood forest and past freshwater bogs filled with vibrant mats of sphagnum moss. Bunches of Cinnamon Fern…
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As winter brightens into spring and we all suffer through the “spring forward” time change, the trees and shrubs in our landscape are beginning to awaken from their winter dormancy. But until bud burst, you can still get out there and learn to recognize more of our Nantucket Flora in winter condition — let’s hope,…
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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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By Kelly A. Omand If you spend a lot of time looking upwards in the forests of Nantucket, you may have observed something sinister occurring in the canopy of our black oak (Quercus velutina) trees. When first noticed several years ago, it seemed like damage from the usual suspects; fierce storms and salt spray often…
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