News and Events for Nantucket Island
When you hear the word “milkweed” you probably think about monarch butterflies. Maybe you’ve even spent some time looking for monarch caterpillars on plants. What you might not realize is that Nantucket boasts six species of milkweed with at least four easily seen around the island. These plants are important to more than just monarchs. They play an important role to many other creatures in the environment.
You may have noticed, driving up Polpis Road or riding along the bike path towards ‘Sconset, a unique red pergola along the road flanked on either side by two stone lions. Once marking the entry to a private yard and secret garden, now these sentinels are welcoming spirits to a newly restored island oasis.
Nantucket is often thought of as a virtually tree-less landscape. Picturing the conservation lands and open space, we often think of rolling grasslands and the open moors. But take a look closer.
Our native orchids are remarkable for their diversity and their adaptations. Almost all of our orchids are rare and confined to specialized habitats. For some of our native orchids, these specialized habitats have meant a rarity or potential extirpation from the island. There are some species, however, that are still locally common enough that you may be able to catch a glimpse of one of these special native plants.
As the weather warms the island seems to spring to life. It’s not just the daffodils and birdsong. As you walk along the bike paths and travel on roads, some of our Nantucket turtles are on the move as well. Fresh out of hibernation, our smallest freshwater turtle, the Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata) is moving about travelling to springtime feeding and breeding grounds…
by Dr. Sarah Treanor Bois Director of Research & Education at the Linda Loring Nature Foundation If you have read this column before, you know that I have a love-hate relationship with invasive plant species. I love to research and write about them and I hate to manage them. They […]
by Dr. Sarah Treanor BoisDirector of Research & Education at the Linda Loring Nature Foundation Years ago my husband and I eloped on a Nantucket Beach. We couldn’t decide exactly which spot to say our “I Do’s.” As we weighed the pros and cons of each location, a Northern Harrier […]
by Dr. Sarah Treanor BoisDirector of Research & Education at the Linda Loring Nature Foundation I went out to Long Pond by First Bridge recently and came upon a family visiting the pond for the first time. A young girl of the family, maybe 6 years old, suddenly gasped with […]
by Dr. Sarah Treanor BoisDirector of Research & Education at the Linda Loring Nature Foundation Nantucket is a resilient community. Historically, we have weathered many storms and come back; the great fire of 1846, the end of the whaling industry, and countless hurricanes, a sewer main break. Predicted sea level […]
