Today was an exciting day for us here at the Nantucket Conservation Foundation! We were reunited with an old friend. In the summer of 2009, we received two separate reports of Eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina) – a male found in Surfside, and a female found at the Head of the Plains. At the time, these…
Read More
If you’re out and about on Nantucket this month and see super-sized umbels of white flowers that resemble Queen Anne’s lace but are the size of dinner plates, topping plants with beefy stems and large coarse leaves, it’s likely you have come across American cow-parsnip (Heracleum maximum). Typically found at the edges of wetlands and…
Read More
Each year, the Nantucket Conservation Foundation’s Science and Stewardship staff hires 2 Seasonal Ecology Field Assistants to help completely all of our many research and management related objectives over the summer and early fall season. Each year we look for people with strong experience in plant research, wildlife monitoring, invasive species management and an overall…
Read More
Over the last few years, homeowners and land managers have been watching the increasing insect damage to the island’s black oak trees. Last year, the Nantucket Conservation Foundation and the Nantucket Land Council teamed up to fund a student research project to study the oak gall wasp and parasitoids – tiny beneficial insects that prey…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
In 2015, to the great surprise and delight of the conservation community, we were able to add another species to the Island’s list of mammals – we confirmed the presence the Northern long-eared bat on Nantucket! It’s not very often that you can add a new mammal to your list – but this tiny, nocturnal…
Read More
*Note: this article was originally written in September 2017 and printed in the Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror in the November 30, 2017 issue Fall is finally here. The air is cooling down and drying out, the tupelo trees are turning red and the goldenrods and blazing stars are blooming in all their yellow and purple…
Read More
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…
Read More
As the weather begins to hint of September crispness, there are a couple of island wildflowers that signal the shift. You’ll know that change is in the air when swamp rose mallow and sea lavender reach their peak. Swamp mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos) is Nantucket’s native wild hibiscus. Rather than living in true swamps, this big…
Read More