Newsletters

December 2009 - Winter Birds, Mystery Stones, Allied Waste

WELCOME TO GREEN FUTURES!
DECEMBER, 2009

“The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists and other subversives. We intend to clean them out, even if it means rounding up every bird watcher in the country.”

-John Mitchell, Former U.S. Attorney General

 
“This ain’t no party. This ain’t no disco. This ain’t no fooling around.”

-David Byrne (Talking Heads)

WINTER BIRDS –

Lynn continues to lead winter birding walks and talks in the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve every Tuesday morning at 8:30 a.m. “Communists,” friendly “subversives,” …and just regular folks are all welcome. Binoculars, winter clothing …including gloves and hat …are all you need.

Along with our avian permanent residents, here year ‘round, a variety of winter bird species fly south from the even colder Canadian north to spend a “milder” winter with us here in southeastern New England. Gives one a whole bunch of new birds to view, from those encountered in our summertime forests.

Here’s a partial list of what the Bio. Birders have recently been seeing:

Hooded merganser, common merganser, bald eagle, Cooper’s hawk, red-tailed hawk, great horned owl, downy woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, yellow-bellied sapsucker (yes, for you non-birders, there is such a bird), brown creeper, ruby-crowned and golden-crowned kinglets, cedar waxwing, pine siskin, white-breasted and red-breasted nuthatches, winter wren, dark-eyed junco, white-throated sparrow, tufted titmouse, black-capped chickadee, and many more.

The birding enthusiasts meet at Fighting Rock Corner …at the intersection of Wilson, Blossom, and Bell Rock Roads, Fall River.
 

MYSTERY STONE 4 ? –

We recently received an email from an individual announcing he’s discovered a new “mystery stone” close to the boundary line between the Freetown State Forest section of the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve and the city of Fall River’s industrial development land.

We’re not sure which side of the line the stone is on …and we want to see the stone close up and personal …so we’ll be leading a walk out there to check things out. We will report our findings to the state historical/archaeological authorities. We want to see these “mystery stones” archaeologically examined, recorded, and preserved.

Our October 2008 e-newsletter contained an article on a walk we conducted to view the known “mystery stones.”

Here are the three recorded “mystery stones” –

MYSTERY STONE 1 -

MYSTERY STONE 2 -

MYSTERY STONE 3 -

Here’s a photo, provided by stone finder Larry, of the fourth possible “mystery stone.” What do you think?

 
As we asked back in October, ’08, of the three recorded stones, “What do you think they are?”

Professional and amateur archaeologists, anthropologists, historians and many others have many opinions, but can’t agree on who worked the stones, when or why.

What was their intended purpose? Are they ancient directional markers, remains of pine tar kilns, old property boundary stones, Norse altars, millstones, cider press stones, grave markers, just more cryptic messages left by Miguel Corte-Real?

We will be leading a walk to view possible “new” Mystery Stone 4 on January 13, Sunday, 12 p.m. We will meet at the intersection of High Street, Copicut Road and Bell Rock Road, in the Assonet section of Freetown. For those interested, if time permits, we will also visit Mystery Stone 1 …and possibly others.

Walk cancelled if there is snow cover or inclement weather.
 

PROTECT OUR STATE FOREST -

Because the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) has  long allowed inappropriate and sloppy logging on our public lands under its stewardship,  growing citizen outrage has forced DCR to undertake drafting a new Stewardship and Management Plan for State Forest Lands.

DCR will be holding five public forums in February to discuss the plan’s draft recommendations. DCR has a Technical Steering Committee overseeing creation of the new management plan.

Of the five planned February forums one will be held in our neck of the forest. That forum will be held at the Taunton Public Library, 12 Pleasant Street, Taunton, on February 11, Thursday, 5 to 7 p.m.

We support selective logging to maintain a variety of forest types. We want to see mature, “old-growth” stands as well as younger successional forest habitat …forest management that provides habitat for all native species of flora and fauna.

We do not support extensive clearcutting or “whole tree” harvesting to fuel biomass burning facilities. A forest, in as urban a state as Massachusetts, is a terrible thing to waste.
 

THE DUMP THAT ATE A CITY ? -

The Allied Waste mega-dump hovers over Fall River’s municipal drinking water supply. The highest topographical feature in Bristol County it continues to grow …its appetite insatiable. Profligate humans are all too willing to continue feeding the beast.

Allied Waste recently received permission to add more waste to Mount Trashmore’s steep southeast slope.

When will we ever learn?

 

WINTERTIME –

The early snowstorm, just prior to Christmas, had folks outdoors cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling.

Don’t stay home …go for a walk in your natural environment. Mother Nature guarantees no black flies, deer flies, horse flies, yellow jackets, wasps, dog ticks, deer ticks …or mosquitoes …at this time of the year.

Global warming might soon negate these guarantees …so take advantage while you can.

Click on our Calendar for interesting things to do. Happy 2010 to all good stewards of our shared environment!

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