by George Moore
Last Winter, with a group of Boy Scouts and parents, we walked the J. Harry Rich Forest along the Nashua River in Groton. There had been a substantial snowfall two days earlier giving us several inches of powder, making the movement of animals much more evident.
We crossed the trail of a bounding fisher. This animal is a relentless hunter and now quite plentiful in our area. We tracked it in the dry powder as it zigzagged in search of a meal. Mouse, vole, or rabbit are lunch for the fisher. We followed until it straightened its course as if it had a new purpose. Finding no evidence of other animals in the vicinity, we continued, noticing the fisher begin to sweep left and right, poking its nose deep into the snow. After about twenty feet we saw where a ruffed grouse had exploded from its snow cave. These birds hunker down and let the snow cover them until the storm eases. Sensing the fisher’s approach, this grouse made its exit before the fisher was able to pinpoint its location. The fisher must have hesitated, startled by the shower of snow and the thundering wings.
After a few frustrated rolls in the snow our fisher resumed its hunt. We followed as it circled back toward the Nashua, where it soon had better luck: a mouse or vole most likely. There are not many leftovers from a fisher’s meal.
We ended our walk with a wrap up of the afternoon’s sightings. We had seen tracks of deer, grouse, and rabbits. The Scouts were impressed by the way a male coyote had claimed a small bush. “Hey, my dog does the same thing.” The fisher was the main focus of discussion. Witnessing the dramas of the natural world in our backyards is an effective way to get the stewardship message to the next generation.
When we track in snow, not only do we witness the predator/prey interaction but we sometimes see the lighter side of life in the wild. One such outing occurred as we walked with our two dogs along a dirt road not far from home. The dogs were interested in a culvert carrying a small stream under the road. Two otters had traveled the culvert, their path making a classic otter pattern. Their bellies and tails dragged leaving toboggan-like grooves in the snow, stubby legs barely reaching the ground. We followed down a hill.
We tracked them for probably half a mile to where the stream entered a pond. Between their exit from the culvert to their entrance into the pond these otters seemed to thoroughly enjoy their journey. From the bottoms of their toboggan slides they went back uphill to slide down again. Where gravity needed an “otter assist” there would occasionally be footprints on both sides of their slide.
They traveled in the shallow icy stream emerging to roll in the snow, cleaning mud from their coats. There was evidence of a game of “chew the stick”. They poked under fallen snow-covered trees and ran on stonewalls. One last swim in the open water as the stream entered the pond, one last cleansing roll in the snow and they were off, with an occasional tussle, across the frozen pond to a well-used den dug into the earth.
As this excursion took place in late January it’s likely their journey was either a honeymoon trip with pups to be born the next winter or a short break from family responsibilities with pups already in the den. If that had been the case, Dad would not be allowed in the den.
The critters are always there but without snow it’s much more difficult to tell their story. Both of these experiences took place just a short distance from home.
A guide for identifying animal tracks can be found at the MassWildlife website; http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/dfwpdf/dfwtrax.pdf.
George Moore is a retired firefighter, living in West Groton. He is an education consultant to the Nashua River Watershed Association and a registered canoe instructor and guide for the Nashoba Paddler in West Groton.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sustainable Holiday Decorating
By Ellen Todd
Christmas inspires us to decorate our homes with greenery and berries. In New England we are fortunate to find fragrant pine, fir and red berries growing wild, as well as for sale at garden centers, farm stands and even supermarkets. The ancient tradition of gathering evergreens to celebrate the winter solstice and related holidays connects us with past generations. Responsible collecting will ensure that future generations can enjoy the same traditions.
If you are buying trees, wreath and other greenery, they usually come from farmed sources, and are an important part of our agricultural economy. If you plan to collect your own greenery, get permission before gathering on land that you don’t own. Then, keep a plant’s growing habits in mind, and harvest responsibly. White pine seedlings grow very thickly in the understory and benefit from being thinned. Cut off selected seedlings near the ground, and use these fragrant, tiny pine trees for decorating. Juniper, fir, holly and other evergreens can benefit from artful pruning. Look for crossed branches that rub, or other damaged branches that should be removed, and branches that distort the shape of the plant. Try to leave these plants looking better than you found them.
Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) a deciduous holly with bright red berries, is widely available where holiday greenery is sold. I suspect that much of the winterberry sold is scavenged from the wild. In late fall many stands of this plant create blazes of red in low-lying areas, and by late November, the display is less spectacular. Only the berries growing in deep water remain – every accessible branch of berries is gone. This is unfortunate, as these berries are very nutritious for birds (though poisonous to humans.) If you want to be sure you are using responsibly harvested winterberry, consider planting a few winterberries in your own yard next spring. Within a few years you will be able to harvest winterberry for your holiday decorating while leaving many berries to feed birds in your yard. Ilex verticillata is easily found in nurseries and garden centers. Why not give someone a gift certificate for a winterberry as a Christmas or housewarming gift this year?
Two of our most invasive plants are also sources of red berries. Rosehips from the invasive Rosa multiflora, and Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), are sometimes sold at garden centers and can be found at the edge of woods and fields, and even in our own yards. When these plants are found, plans should be made to control and eventually eliminate them from the landscape. However, Barberry has bright red berries that can be substituted for winterberry. Rosehips are a beautiful addition to holiday decorations if your home décor clashes with the bright red of barberry and holly berries.
Be wary of using either of these berries in outdoor decorations. Well-loved by birds, they are the avian equivalent of junk food. Birds eat the rosehips and barberries in one yard and expel the seeds in another, where seedlings grow and contribute to these plants’ invasion of our woods, fields and yards. Help slow the spread of these plants by only using the berries indoors and burning them after the holidays. If your friends admire them, please advise them of the invasiveness of these plants and the need to control them. Be careful when disposing of them – birds can scavenge them from your compost pile as easily as from a wreath on your front door. Experts recommend storing them in a plastic garbage-pail until you burn them.
Consider composting your other holiday decorations. Cut flowers, evergreens and winterberry can all be added to a compost pile, which will provide fertilizer when you plant your own winterberry next spring. Cut evergreen boughs can be layered on top of your perennial beds as an insulating mulch to prevent frost-heaving and then removed come spring. Decking your halls mindfully is a stewardship matter!
Ellen Todd is a professional landscape designer who studied at the Landscape Institute of the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University. She is especially interested in sustainable design and other environmental issues.
Christmas inspires us to decorate our homes with greenery and berries. In New England we are fortunate to find fragrant pine, fir and red berries growing wild, as well as for sale at garden centers, farm stands and even supermarkets. The ancient tradition of gathering evergreens to celebrate the winter solstice and related holidays connects us with past generations. Responsible collecting will ensure that future generations can enjoy the same traditions.
If you are buying trees, wreath and other greenery, they usually come from farmed sources, and are an important part of our agricultural economy. If you plan to collect your own greenery, get permission before gathering on land that you don’t own. Then, keep a plant’s growing habits in mind, and harvest responsibly. White pine seedlings grow very thickly in the understory and benefit from being thinned. Cut off selected seedlings near the ground, and use these fragrant, tiny pine trees for decorating. Juniper, fir, holly and other evergreens can benefit from artful pruning. Look for crossed branches that rub, or other damaged branches that should be removed, and branches that distort the shape of the plant. Try to leave these plants looking better than you found them.
Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) a deciduous holly with bright red berries, is widely available where holiday greenery is sold. I suspect that much of the winterberry sold is scavenged from the wild. In late fall many stands of this plant create blazes of red in low-lying areas, and by late November, the display is less spectacular. Only the berries growing in deep water remain – every accessible branch of berries is gone. This is unfortunate, as these berries are very nutritious for birds (though poisonous to humans.) If you want to be sure you are using responsibly harvested winterberry, consider planting a few winterberries in your own yard next spring. Within a few years you will be able to harvest winterberry for your holiday decorating while leaving many berries to feed birds in your yard. Ilex verticillata is easily found in nurseries and garden centers. Why not give someone a gift certificate for a winterberry as a Christmas or housewarming gift this year?
Two of our most invasive plants are also sources of red berries. Rosehips from the invasive Rosa multiflora, and Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), are sometimes sold at garden centers and can be found at the edge of woods and fields, and even in our own yards. When these plants are found, plans should be made to control and eventually eliminate them from the landscape. However, Barberry has bright red berries that can be substituted for winterberry. Rosehips are a beautiful addition to holiday decorations if your home décor clashes with the bright red of barberry and holly berries.
Be wary of using either of these berries in outdoor decorations. Well-loved by birds, they are the avian equivalent of junk food. Birds eat the rosehips and barberries in one yard and expel the seeds in another, where seedlings grow and contribute to these plants’ invasion of our woods, fields and yards. Help slow the spread of these plants by only using the berries indoors and burning them after the holidays. If your friends admire them, please advise them of the invasiveness of these plants and the need to control them. Be careful when disposing of them – birds can scavenge them from your compost pile as easily as from a wreath on your front door. Experts recommend storing them in a plastic garbage-pail until you burn them.
Consider composting your other holiday decorations. Cut flowers, evergreens and winterberry can all be added to a compost pile, which will provide fertilizer when you plant your own winterberry next spring. Cut evergreen boughs can be layered on top of your perennial beds as an insulating mulch to prevent frost-heaving and then removed come spring. Decking your halls mindfully is a stewardship matter!
Ellen Todd is a professional landscape designer who studied at the Landscape Institute of the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University. She is especially interested in sustainable design and other environmental issues.
“Why Stewardship Matters”
We live in an area with extraordinary diversity of natural resources. In this region, geology, hydrology, and climate have combined to create a landscape with remarkable biological richness, ranging from concentrations of rare and endangered species to moose, fisher, bobcat, and coyote. The largest Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) in Massachusetts are located here because of this concentration of resources.
This column will explore some of the most interesting aspects of our natural resources and what we as residents and landowners can do maintain and improve them. The column will appear bi-weekly and will be written by local environmentalists, as well as other experts. It is sponsored by the Squannassit/Petapawag ACEC Stewardship Committee, a group of volunteers who, with the assistance of the Nashua River Watershed Association, are helping to preserve, restore and enhance the special resources of this area.
In the recent past the ecological richness of this area has been eroded. Wildlife habitat and biodiversity have been lost to suburban expansion and to an invasion of exotic plants, such as buckthorn and bittersweet, which displace more diverse and valuable native plants.
The Stewardship Committee believes that these disturbing trends can be changed because each of us can affect our environment in ways that, taken together, will make an impact. Invasions of plants can be slowed, and even stopped, if we learn to identify and control them before they take over. The way we landscape our yards can enhance, rather than take away from, our native ecology.
Stewardship is not just about taking care of our property, it is about how we interact with our landscape and our ecosystem. It is about understanding and responding to the natural world around us. The more we learn about our environment, the better we will be as stewards of it. To that end, some of these articles will be about the animals and the ecology around us. Others will be about identifying and managing the worst invasives in our area. Still others will present ideas on how to manage our properties to encourage wildlife and to enhance the overall ecosystem.
Our goal has been to help pass on a landscape and ecosystem that will be as rich or richer than the one we live in today, but the lesson of stewardship we have gained is that the more we learn about our environment and the more we work to restore and enhance it, the richer our own lives become. Stewardship of the environment is really not work at all, but rather its own reward.
In addition to these articles, the Stewardship Committee has set up a website, www.squannassit.org, which has links to related information sources. Through the website you can also join an interactive email group where questions can be asked and where environmental issues can be discussed. We encourage you to follow this column, to visit our website, and to join us in stewardship. Stewardship does matter.
Bob Pine on behalf of the ACEC stewardship Committee
Bob Pine is a landscape architect and a geotechnical engineer. He is a principal of Pine and Swallow Environmental. He has been involved with local and regional conservation and environmental planning issues in this area for 32 years. He currently serves on the Boards of the Groton Conservation Trust, the Groton Land Foundation, and the Nashua River Watershed Association.
This column will explore some of the most interesting aspects of our natural resources and what we as residents and landowners can do maintain and improve them. The column will appear bi-weekly and will be written by local environmentalists, as well as other experts. It is sponsored by the Squannassit/Petapawag ACEC Stewardship Committee, a group of volunteers who, with the assistance of the Nashua River Watershed Association, are helping to preserve, restore and enhance the special resources of this area.
In the recent past the ecological richness of this area has been eroded. Wildlife habitat and biodiversity have been lost to suburban expansion and to an invasion of exotic plants, such as buckthorn and bittersweet, which displace more diverse and valuable native plants.
The Stewardship Committee believes that these disturbing trends can be changed because each of us can affect our environment in ways that, taken together, will make an impact. Invasions of plants can be slowed, and even stopped, if we learn to identify and control them before they take over. The way we landscape our yards can enhance, rather than take away from, our native ecology.
Stewardship is not just about taking care of our property, it is about how we interact with our landscape and our ecosystem. It is about understanding and responding to the natural world around us. The more we learn about our environment, the better we will be as stewards of it. To that end, some of these articles will be about the animals and the ecology around us. Others will be about identifying and managing the worst invasives in our area. Still others will present ideas on how to manage our properties to encourage wildlife and to enhance the overall ecosystem.
Our goal has been to help pass on a landscape and ecosystem that will be as rich or richer than the one we live in today, but the lesson of stewardship we have gained is that the more we learn about our environment and the more we work to restore and enhance it, the richer our own lives become. Stewardship of the environment is really not work at all, but rather its own reward.
In addition to these articles, the Stewardship Committee has set up a website, www.squannassit.org, which has links to related information sources. Through the website you can also join an interactive email group where questions can be asked and where environmental issues can be discussed. We encourage you to follow this column, to visit our website, and to join us in stewardship. Stewardship does matter.
Bob Pine on behalf of the ACEC stewardship Committee
Bob Pine is a landscape architect and a geotechnical engineer. He is a principal of Pine and Swallow Environmental. He has been involved with local and regional conservation and environmental planning issues in this area for 32 years. He currently serves on the Boards of the Groton Conservation Trust, the Groton Land Foundation, and the Nashua River Watershed Association.
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