6 Office Resolutions + Snowy Owls

Gabriela Silva

Meet Gabriela Silva, our Assistant Director at Wildlands Trust. She works behind the scenes to make sure our land protection and stewardship staff have the tools and funds to do their jobs well. As a New Years resolution, Gabriela is hoping to get outside more with her family! Over this past weekend, she visited the Little Conservation Area off Union Street in Marshfield. Approaching a dock on the ~75 acre preserve that overlooks the North River, Gabriela and her family bumped into friends they hadn't seen in over 4 years. Have you ever bumped into old friends or made new friends on the trails? Whether you answered yes or no - we invite you all to become our trail buddies through participating in our free Wildlands Trailrunners program.

Gabriela and son at Little Conservation Area off Union Street in Marshfield.
(Town CPA project)

View of the North River reached by trail on Little Conservation Area.

Next weekend, Gabriela plans to head to Duxbury Beach with her family to look for Snowy Owls. Here are some photos that Allison Gillum, Wildlands Trust Regional Conservationist - AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer, took of the graceful birds on Jan. 8, 2012.

Even though these birds appear on Duxbury beach almost every year, the last time I set out to observe them was on my 9th Birthday! Time flies...

Tell us about your new years resolutions (nature related resolutions) and winter wildlife sightings on our facebook page.

Need some inspiration for a nature related resolution? Here's a list of several office resolutions proposed by our staff and volunteers:

1. Compost our lunch scraps.

2. Participate in staff exercise (weekly walks / stretching series).

3. Get outside more with our families.

4. See many of our ongoing land protection projects come to fruition.

5. Save the Davis-Douglas Farm and create a center for connecting people to the land.

6. Use less paper.

Thanks for reading & don't forget to click "Join this site" so you can get our blog posts sent directly to your email inbox!

-Post by Sarah Kugel, Community Outreach Coordinator, AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer at Wildlands Trust (You can reach me at skugel@wildlandstrust.org)

The First Snow w/ the "Wildlands Trailrunners"

The "Wildlands Trailrunners" aren't just runners! We're also walkers and all committed to staying active, even as the temperature drops.

Yesterday the "Trailrunners" group set out to the Emery Preserve West, located off of Ship Pond Road in Plymouth, where we enjoyed the crunching of the first snow under our feet!

 

The group is now on break until after the New Year. Depending on snowfall, weekly walks/runs may switch to weekly snowshoe sessions. As a reminder, these meet-ups are free and open to the public, all ages and levels are always welcome! *If you would like to be notified via email of our events, please email a request to admin@wildlandstrust.org


-Post by Sarah Kugel, Wildlands Trust, AmeriCorps MassLIFT, skugel@wildlandstrust.org

Winter Trailblazing

Winter Trialblazing in Rochester, MA.

As the cold weather approaches, don't run inside and hibernate! The winter is one of the best times to enjoy your local conservation lands. Whether you enjoy hiking or snowshoeing, birding or cross-country skiing, there are great trails for you to explore this winter.

The Wildlands Trailblazers will be working throughout the winter to help maintain these trails for the enjoyment of the public. Below is a list of upcoming volunteer trail work days. All volunteer work days begin at 10am and run approximately 2-3 hours. Tools, training, and water are provided.

Upcoming Wildlands Trailblazers Work Days

• Saturday, December 10th, Harrington's Wilderness, Marshfield
• Saturday, January 21st, Delano & Rounseville II Preserves, Rochester
• Saturday, February 11th, Great River Preserve, Bridgewater

We hope to see you out on the trails this winter!

-Questions & RSVPs can be directed to Alex Etkind, Wildlands Trust Land Steward, AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer, aetkind@wildlandstrust.org

The Climate Lab at Old Field Pond

Integrating cutting-edge science with hands-on data collection opportunities for young students.

The Climate Lab at Old Field Pond.

Working in partnership with the Manomet Center for Conservation Sceinces, Wildlands Trust will be piloting the Climate Lab in spring 2012. This is an environmental education project in which middle and high school students will collect data on indicators and learn about climate change adaptation and mitigation. Engaged in standardized data collection, students will develop increased knowledge of local natural systems, the impacts of climate change, and a better understanding of scientific methodology. The students' work will contribute to a database on local climate change used by Manomet scientists, building on the climate change adaptation strategies already being developed by Manomet.

In preparation for piloting the program, Wildlands Trust and Manomet have been combining forces to plan the best and most appropriate climate change indicators measurable by students. Below is a series of photos from their visit at Old Field Pond, a property that lends itself well as an environmental classroom and as a place for students to enjoy the beauty of Southeastern Massachusetts.

Owl pellet with small rodent (mole or vole) bones.

Trevor Lloyd-Evans, Banding Director, with a monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus).

Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus).

Alex Etkind, Wildlands Trust AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer, with a garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis).

Raccoon (Procyon lotor) skeleton.

Sarah Kugel, Wildlands Trust AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer, with a praying mantis (Mantis religiosa).

Red maple (Acer rubrum).

Wolf spider (Lycosa carolinensis).

Field at Old Field Pond.

Old  cranberry bog at Old Field Pond.

Multiple generations of pitch pine (Pinus rigida) cones.

Frog pond.

Old Goat Pasture Pond.

Over the next few months, Wildlands Trust and the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences will be identifying study plots, demarking transects, and preparing the lab for its pilot run with students in Spring 2011.

For more information about the lab and inquiries about school groups visiting the lab, contact:

Sarah Kugel, Community Outreach Coordintor

AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer

Wildlands Trust

skugel@wildlandstrust.org

781.934.9018

Stewardship Training Field Trip - Part Two

Last week we posted about our stewardship training field trip. We visited a total of four properties. Here are pictures from the later two. To see pictures from the first two, please visit an earlier post called Nothing like fall in Southeastern Massachusetts!


Property stop #3:

Great River Preserve, Bridgewater

Does anyone know what this little snail is? They were all over the road.

Most of the Wildlands Trust crew.

Property stop # 4:

Beaverton Woods Trail, W. Bridgewater (Town Conservation Land -
Trail project and bridge construction facilitated by  Wildlands Trust
AmeriCorps MassLIFT volunteer, Allison Gillum).

Town River, W. Bridgewater

-by Sarah Kugel, Wildlands Trust Community Outreach Coordinator, AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer

A Collection of Our Favorite Photos!

It's amazing how New Englanders transition through the seasons! Here are some of our favorite photos from the winter. Remember all that snow?

Our hiking trip with Liam Murphy's Canine Fitness in the Myles Standish State Forest.

Temperatures below 0F for a week straight!

A Duxbury resident enjoying a walk at Cow Tent Hill Preserve during a "work snow day."

Wildlands Trust AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer, Sarah Kugel, with Conservation George in Central Park in NY.

Picnic table outside our office in Duxbury, MA.

Wildlands Trust AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer, Allison Gillum, snowshoeing at the Great River Preserve in Bridgewater.

Hardening Off Our Crops

Memorial Day is just around the corner... so as we take time to honor our soldiers, we're also in the process of hardening off our crops that we'll be transplanting into Bridie's Garden this coming weekend!

Sarah Kugel, our Community Outreach Coordinator, AmeriCorps MassLIFT volunteer,  giving the plants she's been raising in the greenhouse a breath of fresh air, taste of direct sunlight, and contact with the light spring breeze.

Our fingers are crossed that the last frost has already passed!

Allison Gillum, our Regional Conservationist, AmeriCorps MassLIFT volunteer,  tending to the little seedlings (that aren't so little anymore!).

Bridie's Garden is the community garden that we've started at the Plymouth Area Coalition for the Homeless in Kingston, MA this year. The food grown in the garden will greatly benefit individuals and families staying at the shelter in addition to those who receive food from the shelter's food pantry.

Have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend!

-Sarah Kugel, Community Outreach Coordinator, AmeriCorps MassLIFT, skugel@wildlandstrust.org