Newsletters
December 2016 - Big Brown Bat, Turk's Cap Lily
WELCOME TO GREEN FUTURES !
DECEMBER, 2016
“To be whole. To be complete. Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from.”
-Terry Tempest Willliams
“My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earth's loveliness.”
-Michelangelo Buonarroti
THINGS SOME READERS FOUND INTERESTING AND EMAILED IN – Check them out
Forest bioenergy is not “carbon neutral.” http://whrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/PB_Bioenergy.pdf
Direct action against fracked gas pipeline. https://indypendent.org/2016/10/22/pipeline-cometh
False promise of woody biomass. http://www.nrcm.org/blogs-of-nrcm/consequences-hope-environmental-century/switching-from-whiskey-to-beer-and-the-false-promise-of-woody-biomass/
Does increased forest protection correspond to higher fire severity in frequent-fire forests of the western United States? http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.1492/full
Don't like the DCR and not fond of Howie. Do like the photograph. https://howiecarrshow.com/its-the-law-move-over-for-hacks/
Protected forests burn less severely than logged.http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2016/10/26/study-protected-forests-public-land-burn-less-severely-logged-areas
Vanishing wildlife. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/10/27/wildlife-has-declined-58-since-1970s-report/92821780/
Old turtle on the Vineyard. https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2016/08/02/presidential-turtle
Nature inspires. Artist knits her own fungi and other things. http://leighmartinart.com/about/
Another state agency headed by a Governor Baker crony. http://www.wcvb.com/news/5-investigates-some-environmental-cops-staying-home-while-on-duty/42376278
Paris accord moves forward. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/04/paris-climate-change-agreement-enters-into-force
Dumb to burn forests for fuel. http://origin-nyi.thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/303530-the-extreme-unwisdom-of-burning-forests-for-fuel
Access Northeast pipeline project still a threat. http://www.unionleader.com/Energy/Eversource-says-pipeline-project-still-on-track-despite-adverse-rulings-11042016
FREE RATTLESNAKE BOOK – Tear down that dam
.JPG)
Rattlesnake Brook flowing free.
Yes, hooray!!! ...a dam is coming down. Thanks to the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration (DER) and its many partners on this project.
Apparently DER is one of the few state agencies actually following its mission statement. Here it is: “The mission of the Division of Ecological Restoration is to restore and protect the Commonwealth’s rivers, wetlands and watersheds for the benefit of people and the environment.”
Rattlesnake Brook flows almost entirely within the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve. It begins in springs, seeps and bogs near the top of Copicut Hill in Fall River and flows northwest through mostly protected forested land until it merges with the tidal waters of Paynes Cove at the Assonet River, Assonet Village, Freetown.
Along its way, from uplands to saltwater, the brook was dammed in three locations ...and almost a fourth. The furthest upstream dam was constructed in the early 19th century to power Doctor Nathan Durfee's mill. Next, a couple of miles below, was Baker's Dam. The final dam on the brook, the one being removed right now, is the Crystal Springs Bleachery Dam.
The “almost a fourth” dam was an ill-conceived, make-work plan by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the 1930's Great Depression. That dam would have been constructed near where the remains of Baker's Dam are today. The water impounded was to be named Lake Metacomet.Fortunately, the Great Depression ended and the CCC disbanded before any construction took place.
Historically, before the dams, Rattlesnake Brook hosted runs of anadromous fish (those that run upstream to spawn), such as alewife, blueback herring, rainbow smelt, white perch and salter brook trout. Unfortunately for these fish seeking the freshwater of Rattlesnake Brook in which to spawn, one day, they found the Crystal Springs Bleachery Dam blocking their way right at tidewater at the mouth of the brook.
This dam prevented fish ...except for catadromous fish like American eels that live in freshwater but spawn in the ocean ...from reaching their natal waters. American eels have the ability to leave the water and slither around and over dams.
With the dam gone these fish will now be able to access more of the brook adding to their numbers and to the biodiversity of the Bioreserve.
With the dam gone, hopefully some day soon, Rattlesnake Brook's hills and valley, which have suffered terrible erosion and damage from illegal off-road vehicle (OHV) activity due to Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) negligence, will be repaired by a future, more responsible, DCR.
It's not only anadromous and catadromous fish that need a free-flowing and clean Rattlesnake Brook. Mink, otter, muskrats and raccoons are dependent on the brook for food and shelter as are wetland birds, amphibians and reptiles.
A somewhat unusual Rattlesnake Brook resident is the banded sunfish. Banded sunfish are tiny members of the sunfish family. These beautiful fish are only found in small brooks and rivers along the Atlantic coast. The banded sunfish was our Bioreserve “Fauna of the Month,” for February, 2016. You can read more about the banded sunfish here: http://www.greenfutures.orgcontent=VgFmOw1rEp3mzn4w
Photo – The Lynwood French Collection
The Crystal Springs Bleachery constructed on the dam and dike, 400' long and 30' wide, that harnessed the waters of Rattlesnake and Terry Brooks creating the bleachery's mill pond. The mill burned to the ground on December 14, 1955.
Compare this present photo to the old one above. In this photo you are looking across the drained pond to the dam and dike, where the excavators are presently working and where in the old photo the long, red brick Crystal Springs Bleachery Mill was located.
SHAME ON DCR – December's DCR photo of shame
DCR negligence. Someone could die or be seriously injured.
Red pine (Pinus resinosa) is not native to southern New England. Thousands of them were planted, usually in evenly spaced rows, on old worn-out farmland and waste land during the Great Depression by President Franklin Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).
Having been planted outside their northern native range they've had difficulties making it through our hot summers and now with global warming, alien insects and diseases they don't stand a chance. Most, if not all, of the red pines within the Freetown State Forest and greater Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve are dead.
Red pines were hit hard by Diplodia blight (Diplodia pinea), a fungal disease, many years ago and they've since been finished off by the alien red pine scale (Matsucoccus resinosa).
DCR annually proposes various pointless logging plans on our public forests that they mismanage throughout the state. Plans to cut and sell healthy, growing trees. One of the excuses they use is that they have to cut trees to make “healthy” forests.
Forests predate human existence on earth and apparently were healthy and thriving before we came along and decided that unless we cut them down and sell them off they would become “unhealthy.” When was the last time you walked through an old growth forest in Massachusetts? Never? Was it because the old growth forests all died off because they were unhealthy ...or was it because we cut them all down?
In the photo, above, the dead and falling red pines border a popular forest road utilized by many hikers. DCR says they are understaffed and underfunded, yet they seem to have plenty of foresters and funding to annually propose money-losing, taxpayer subsidized, logging projects.
One would think DCR would give preference to removing most of the dead pines ...leaving some in the back for woodpeckers ...before they fall and injure someone. Apparently not.
FALL RIVER'S ALFRED J. LIMA QUEQUECHAN RIVER RAIL TRAIL – Keeping it neat and clean
Thumbs up to the City for removing the paint vandalism shown in this photo.
Thumbs down to the city for not yet removing “Dick Devil” from the rock at the Rodman Street entrance to the trail and removing the cross from the rock directly across from it. There is also a “Jason” and some random paint vandalism on the asphalt surface of the trail east of Quequechan Street. The city has the equipment. A little checking and minimal effort, once a week, to remove the beginnings of this stuff will prevent it from spreading and ruining a wonderful urban amenity.
BIORESERVE FAUNA OF THE MONTH – Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus)
Photo courtesy Matt Reinbold - CC by SA 2.0
Some of the nine bat species in Massachusetts are extremely rare. Some may very soon be extinct due to white-nose syndrome (Pseudogymnoascus destructans), a fungal disease that infects those bat species that hibernate for the winter in cool, damp, caves and mines. Fortunately, three of our four largest bat species migrate south for the winter avoiding damp caves and the deadly disease.
The fourth large species, the big brown bat, doesn't head south for the winter. They hibernate locally.
Lacking damp, cool caves and mines in southeastern Massachusetts our big brown bats hibernate singly or in groups in dry tree hollows, cool attics, steeples, barns and other old buildings, from December to April, avoiding the white-nose fungal plague.
In summer these bats spend their daylight hours hanging about in some of the same places they used for hibernation, but also under loose tree bark, in rocks and ledges, and in crevices under bridges. They will also use man-made bat houses in the summer. They are more likely to use bat houses where natural roosts are lacking.
Big brown bats have brown fur and black ears, eyes, nose and wings. They average 5 inches in length, weigh about an ounce and have a wingspan averaging 14 inches.
The New England bat species with the largest wingspan, 16 inches, is the locally rare hoary bat. Another large bat, the red bat, common in summer in the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve (SMB), has a wingspan of 12 inches. The red bat was our July, 2014, SMB “Fauna of the Month.” You can read about the red bat here: http://www.greenfutures.org/?content=GeboIh6rthgQ7Sp0
The big brown bat has a wide range extending from coast to coast and from southern Canada down through Mexico to northwestern South America.
All Massachusetts bat species are insectivores. While flying, big brown bats emit ultrasonicecholocation clicks and chirps for navigation and also for finding and identifying the large night-flying moths and beetles they feed on.
Big brown bats mate in the fall. In early spring pregnant females leave their winter roosts and join together in maternity colonies.
Baby bats are called pups. Big brown bat pups, one or two, are born late spring/early summer. They stay with their mother for most of the summer learning to fly and hunt for insects. By late summer/early fall the young bats go off on their own.
Big brown bat predators include owls, raccoons, fishers, weasels, black racer snakes andchiroptophobic and ignorant humans.
BIORESERVE FLORA OF THE MONTH – Turk's Cap Lily (Lilium superbum)
Most would agree the Turk's cap lily and the wood lily are the two most attractive members of the lily family (Lilliaceae) found in the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve (SMB). Although rather similar looking from a distance, up-close it is easy to tell them apart.
The Turk's cap lily grows best in sunny wet meadows, wetland edges and along the side of roadside ditches and streams. The wood lily prefers rich, but drier soil.
To get a wood lily description and see a wood lily flower check out our September 2016 “Bioreserve Flora of the Month” here: http://www.greenfutures.org/?content=Ygpsw38SOo0jQJkR
The Turk's cap lily is a perennial plant growing from a large bulb. It has one central stem up to 5 feet in height surrounded by whorls of 3 to 7 green, linearly-tapered leaves.
The yellow-orange to red-orange lily flowers average 3 inches across. The inner surface of the petals and throat of the flower contain numerous red to red-purple dots. The flowers are hermaphroditic, each flower having male and female parts.
At the top of a mature stem are two to as many as ten flower buds, each hanging down from its own smaller stem. Particularly vigorous plants may also have smaller flower stems growing from where the topmost leaf whorls attach to the main stem. All these flower buds open mid to late summer.
Each flower has six, long, pollen-bearing male anthers that are covered with yellow to orange pollen.The stigma, the female part of the flower, grows upward from the flower's center and has an orange-brown to black tip. Pollen landing on the tip of the stigma begins fertilization. Like the wood lily the Turk's cap blossoms are not fragrant. Pollinating bees, butterflies, other nectar loving insects and hummingbirds are attracted by color and size only.
Once pollinated, green three-sided seedpods form. By fall the seedpods have matured, split open, releasing many flat-sided brown seeds.
Deer, rabbits and hares will eat the plants. Mice and other small forest rodents will eat the bulbs. Mice and seed eating birds will eat the seeds and seedpods.
WONDERFUL EDITORIAL – In the latest issue of Massachusetts Wildlife, the quarterly magazine of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife)
Director Jack Buckley of MassWildlife has an interesting editorial in the latest issue of his agency's magazine. The title of the editorial is “Legacy at Risk.”
Director Buckley's editorial is about the challenges of managing and maintaining the public property in their care and some of the “new” staff and initiatives to help do that.
All good stuff, however the portion of Director Buckley's editorial that we can, unfortunately, identify with is toward the end of his piece where he writes, “Sadly, despite all of these initiatives and programs, our public lands and stewardship efforts are threatened by illegal dumping and an invasion of off-highway vehicles (OHV), such as dirt bikes and all terrain vehicles. One of the most troublesome portions of our monthly Fisheries and Wildlife Board Meetings are the images our District Managers share documenting the constant and high volume of trash dumping and trail damage resulting from illegal OHVs on MassWildlife land.” We have estimated over 230 miles of OHV trespass damage that would cost over $4,000,000 to repair.”
Director Buckley ends with, “People should be as offended when these incidents occur on public land as they would be if it was in their yard or neighborhood.” He then tells readers that if they encounter dumping or illegal OHV activity to notify MassWildlife or the Massachusetts Environmental Police (MA EPO).
Not disagreeing with Director Buckley, but unfortunately one call to EPO Dispatch is usually enough to turn off most callers.
We've called. They always take the complaint and are polite and professional, but the EPO is always “six towns away” or busy and will respond hours or even days later. Yes, they are underfunded and understaffed. “Underfunded and understaffed” is the mantra of all state agencies.
Many individual MA EPOs are great people, but leadership and management have long been a problem. Too much political patronage and political interference in the agency. Sad to say, but MA EPOs are another dysfunctional state agency headed, as is Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs which oversees the EPOs and DCR, by Governor Baker cronies.
Until a concerned public along with private land trusts, the large statewide environmental organizations, fish and game clubs and others come together and fight to reorganize state agencies that fail our fish, wildlife and public lands nothing is going to change.
Massachusetts Wildlife is a neat magazine with great photography and interesting articles on ...of course ….Massachusetts wildlife.
If you are not a subscriber to Massachusetts Wildlife ...but would like to be ...subscriptions are $6/year or $10/2 years. Address: MassWildlife, I & E Section, 1 Rabbit Hill Road, Westborough, MA 01581
WINTER – About to begin
Some folks love winter and some don't. If you live in New England you don't have to love winter ...but you should at least learn to tolerate it. One way to do that is to do winter things. There are many outdoor activities like hiking/walking in area woodlands and forests that one can do at any season of the year, but in winter one can see much further into the forest, the air is crisp and clean, and there aren't any flying insects about and no mosquitoes sucking your blood.
Some winter specific things to do, or at least try, are cross-country skiing, skating on a pond, identifying winter birds or trees, snowshoeing, sledding, building an igloo, fat tire biking, snow camping, ice fishing, identifying critter tracks in the snow, skijoring with your pooch, ice boating, walking a winter beach searching for a snowy owl, etc.
Photo – Heathera Skidog
Have cross-country skis and a dog? This might be the winter to try skijoring.
Too stormy to venture outdoors? How about reading some winter-themed poetry while sitting by the fire with something to eat and something to toast the season with? Heigh-ho the holly, this winter life is most jolly.
Here's a Shakespearian poem to get you started:
Blow, blow, thou winter wind
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship if feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then heigh-ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly.
Freeze, freeze thou bitter sky,
That does not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As a friend remembered not.
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then heigh-ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly.
Click on our Calendar to see if there is anything of interest.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!
<Back
Social