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…
Read MoreBy 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…
Read MoreSince 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…
Read MoreDuring 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…
Read MoreAt this point in the year, we are all hungry for signs of spring. As Danielle wrote in a recent NCF Science and Stewardship blog post, peepers are singing spring songs in the marshes and ponds, and spotted turtles and snakes are emerging to bask in the sun. Otherwise, the landscape remains mainly a study…
Read MoreYou might never guess that the tail end of winter would be a great time to explore the forests of Nantucket, but it is! On February 21st, a group of warmly dressed visitors met in the Squam Swamp Trailhead Parking Lot on Wauwinet Road. The objective: to explore the forest of Squam Swamp in winter. Kelly Omand,…
Read More