Newsletters

July 2016 - King Philip's Cave, Starflower, Tiger Beetle

WELCOME TO GREEN FUTURES!
JULY, 2016

 

“I am surprised and embarrassed to be a part of the first American generation to leave the country in far worse shape than it was when we first came into it.”

-Hunter S. Thompson

 

 

“If you're a Conservative, why aren't you out conserving the land?”

-Ken Kesey

 

 

A FEW INTERESTING ITEMS EMAILED IN THIS MONTH – CHECK THEM OUT

Shinrin-yoku (), Forest bathing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jPNll1Ccn0

 

Maine Woods National Monument. Here's what Lucas St. Clair has to say about that. http://acadiaonmymind.com/2016/05/qa-with-lucas-st-clair-on-maine-woods-monument/

 

Renewable energy at record levels. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36420750

 

From Earth Island Journal on a Maine Woods National Park. http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/a_park_that_begs_creating/ and http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/room_for_more/

 

C-SPAN on ozone, H.R. 4775. http://www.c-span.org/video/?410831-1/patrick-ambrosio-ozone-air-pollution-standards-bill

 

Burning biomass is not carbon neutral. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/06/16/the-huge-flaw-in-how-congress-is-approaching-burning-wood-for-energy/

 

The importance of menhaden …or as we call them in our neck of the ocean ...”pogies.” https://psmag.com/remember-the-menhaden-c37eadde3004#.jwf466u0s

 

Don't blame environmental regulations, blame the market. http://www.hcn.org/articles/why-is-logging-dying-blame-the-market

 

LEDs bad? http://phys.org/news/2016-06-ama-affirms-human-health-impacts.html

 

 

 

Courtesy Sera Bray

 

SAVE THE CAVE – With apologies to Robert A. Heinlein - A community which allows its history to be destroyed has no past and no future.

If you know the history of Freetown, Massachusetts, you know the town had an active human presence starting 10,000 to 12,000 years ago when the last glacier that covered the area was receding and Paleo-Indians and large herbivores moved in following the glacier's retreat.

 

Add the more recent arrival of Pilgrims, Puritans and the rest of us since the mid-1600s and you have a town rich in human history. Much of that history is available to everyone within the confines of the wonderful and expansive collections of the Freetown Historical Society. Although some of the significant historical sites in town have been saved, many have not.

 

One that has not is King Philip's Cave in Rocky Woods. Yes, it should have been set aside long ago, but it wasn't.

 

The owner of the portion of Rocky Woods where sits the granite boulder cave intends to level the forest and build and install a solar array on the land within 50' of King Philip's former hideout.

 

Surely substantial acreage can be set aside and public access accommodated for this fascinating artifact of Native American history. Our state legislative delegation should be involved. State open space funding is available to compensate the land owner. He should not be allowed to compromise this historically valuable site that is part of Freetown's heritage.

 

There will be a public hearing on the solar array project at an upcoming Freetown Planning Board meeting in July.

 

 

ANOTHER DUMB MOVE AND BAD DECISION BY THE MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION AND RECREATION (DCR)

As mentioned in a previous newsletter the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is so dysfunctional that we'll have to wait for new leadership before we'll see any improvement in how that state agency manages our priceless public forests and parklands.

 

The hillside and the Watuppa Wampanoag Heritage Trail that ran along the crest of that hillside are still waiting, 4 years this coming December, to have the damage caused by DCR's negligence repaired.

 

Despite being told, many times, that the agency is underfunded and understaffed DCR suddenly found some apparently “mad money” that they just had to spend before the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

So, did they spend it on repairing the damage caused by their negligence? Nope.

They spent it on a miniscule section of the “official” dirt bike track that is located in a wetland, where it shouldn't be. Two years ago we suggested DCR reroute that portion of the dirt bike track around the wetland, part of the headwaters of Terry Brook. Rerouting would have actually increased available dirt bike mileage. DCR ignored our suggestion and instead built an OHV road across the wetland.

 

The private outfit DCR hired to do the filling of the wetland and armoring of the trail, that shouldn't be there, did a great job ...but while viewing their work we couldn't help thinking how much better it would have been if they had been hired to work on and repair some of that damaged hill and trail at Rattlesnake Brook.

 

More on DCR wasting our state tax dollars and not following their mission statement in next month's newsletter.

 

 

Filled wetland and widening turns the “official” single track dirt bike trail into an unofficial OHV road. Way to go DCR!

 

 

CELEBRATING THE ALFRED J. LIMA QUEQUECHAN RIVER RAIL TRAIL – Now, let's “daylight” the Quequechan's falls

If you read the recent “Info Alert” we emailed out you know the Alfred J. Lima Quequechan River Rail Trail is a spectacular success and it hasn't even had its official “grand opening” yet.

 

Let's keep the momentum going and restore the rest of this long abused river that gave Fall River its reason for being and its name.

 

Recent Fall River mayors have been a disaster and we're not sure the present one is any different, but now might be the time to dust-off the old plans.

 

To read about previous and ongoing attempts to “daylight” the river go to http://www.greenfutures.org/and type Quequechan into the “Find: (keywords)” box under “Site Search.”

 

 

BIORESERVE FLORA OF THE MONTH – Starflower (Trientalis borealis)

Twinkle, twinkle little starflower, blooming in the forest bower.

 

Preferring shade and deep moist soil the starflower really does twinkle when one comes upon a colony of the bright white flowers scattered about the forest floor deep in the dark woods.

Starflower is a perennial that blooms from late May through mid-June. The plant grows from long rhizomes (underground stems that sprout shoots growing up and roots growing down). Each starflower shoot grows into a stalk reaching 6 to 8 inches in height.

Each starflower stalk ends in a spiral of five to nine lance-shaped leaves. From the center of the spiral sprout one or two smaller stalks bearing white star-shaped flowers. Most of the half-inch in diameter flowers have seven petals, a few have eight. The flowers are pollinated by forest bees and shortly after small seed-bearing capsules form. Starflower seeds overwinter in the leaves and woody debris on the forest floor. They germinate the fall of their second year.

Starflowers are found across Canada and in the Pacific Coast states, Mid-West, New England and down the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia.

 

 

 

 

BIORESERVE FAUNA OF THE MONTH – Six Spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata)

Photo - Stefani Koorey

 

In the photo, above, is the six spotted tiger beetle. It is green, but is not an emerald ash borer although often mistaken for one by neophyte citizen entomologists.

 

The emerald ash borer is an invasive alien species, originally from Asia, presently destroying North American ash trees. Although spotted only fifty miles away, emerald ash borers, as of this writing, have not yet made an appearance in the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve (SMB).

 

Aware of the devastation emerald ash borers can inflict on ash trees, tree enthusiasts, hikers, hunters and others, watching for the eventual arrival of the borer, are often fooled misidentifying the bright green six spotted tiger beetle as the ash borer. Nope, you've got the wrong beetle.

 

The six spotted tiger beetle does not eat trees. It is a predacious beetle feeding on any insect it can overpower, including emerald ash borers.

 

Six spotted tiger beetles are easy to identify ...if you're paying attention. They are a bright, iridescent, metallic green to blue-green with six, sometimes more, white spots on the lower back and sides. Since they are predators they have large eyes to see their prey and long legs to run it down. The also have fierce-looking white mandibles to secure and kill what the catch. These beetles are one-half to three-quarters of an inch in length.

 

Six spotted tiger beetle prefer deciduous forests and are found from Ontario and Quebec south to Florida and Texas and east of Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas to the Atlantic coast.

 

The six spotted tiger beetle is very common in the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve (SMB) and they are often seen on hiking trails hunting for caterpillars, ants and anything smaller than they are.

 

Tiger beetles mate in early summer and the females deposit their eggs in sand/gravel patches along trails and wood roads. The young burrow, vertically, underground and once they have their burrow dug they turn around and face upward with the top of their camouflaged head capping the burrow entrance. When a small insect or other arthropod comes along they spring up from the burrow entrance and grab the unfortunate creature with their large mandibles.

 

The larvae spend a year and overwinter in their burrows. They then pupate, undergoing complete metamorphosis, emerging as adult beetles.

 

Next time you go for a walk in the SMB, or other area woodland, watch for this colorful “wolf” of the insect world possibly sharing a forest path with you.

 

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JULY – Our warmest New England month

Take a closer look at summer.

 

What wildflowers are blooming in July? Identify summer birds? Learn the names of trees by studying their leaves, flowers and seeds?

 

All sorts of natural places to go and natural things to see. Go outside and check it all out. You might not want to do it in December.

 

Here are some local contacts for finding natural areas for summertime exploring in our neck of the woods. Don't forget sunscreen and mosquito repellent. Maybe water and a snack too.

 

*Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust (DNRT) - http://dnrt.org/trails/

*Westport Land Conservation Trust - http://westportlandtrust.org/places-to-walk/

*Tiverton Land Trust - http://www.tivertonlandtrust.org/properties.php

*Rehoboth Land Trust - http://www.rehobothlandtrust.org/projects.htm

*Rochester Conservation Commission - http://www.rochestermaconservation.com/pdf/explore-rochester-trail-guide.pdf

*Assawompset Pond Complex - http://www.lakevillema.org/open_space_minutes/OpenSpace%20Plan/Pages%20from%20Open%20Space

%20Plan%202011%20Final%20Draft-8_full_appendix-K.pdf

*Wildlands Trust - http://wildlandstrust.org/ourtrails/

*Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game - http://maps.env.state.ma.us/dfg/masswildlifelands/

*Massachusetts Audubon Society - http://www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/wildlife-sanctuaries/wildlife-sanctuaries-list

*Audubon Society of Rhode Island - http://www.asri.org/refuges/wildlife-refuges.html

*Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management - http://www.dem.ri.gov/maps/wma.htm

*The Trustees - http://www.thetrustees.org/places-to-visit/locator-map/?referrer=https://www.google.com/

 

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