Current Projects

Birds abound at Cedar Hill

The View from the side of Cedar Hill Reservation in Northborough
By Laura Mattei
Six years ago we plunged into an ambitious project to restore shrubland habitat on the top and south-facing slope at the Cedar Hill Reservation in Northborough.  Before we started the project, the former pasture was a mix of old field, shrubs, and small trees.  Over several years we cleared 16 acres.  
The land clearing was simple, but dealing with the resultant surge of invasive plant growth was not.  Bush honeysuckle and Oriental bittersweet grew back with a vengeance in grand profusion.  Invasive plants love disturbance and lots of sunlight.  Over several years, we hired certified applicators to selectively spray herbicide on the invasive plants.
If you take a walk at Cedar Hill today, you will find a mix of grasses, forbs and shrubs.  We have significantly increased plant diversity throughout.  Based on the results of our photo-point monitoring and vegetation survey, we have significantly reduced invasive plant cover; however, we must remain vigilant.  We will most likely need to do another herbicide treatment to keep the invasive plants under control.  
Our primary goal for the project was to create habitat for shrubland bird species that have suffered recent population declines.  We succeeded!  Within just a few years, target bird species arrived to nest at the site.  These birds include the perky prairie warbler, the buzzy blue-winged warbler, and the stunningly beautiful indigo bunting.  While Eastern towhees had already been common at the site, we would have lost them had we let the land succeed to forest.
What’s missing?  Native shrubs.

2011 Turtle Survey Summary

Join us for the The Great Turtle Search, which will run through mid-June.A group of volunteers participating in the Great Turtle Search at SVT's Memorial Forest.  Photo by Ray NavaSVT's Director of Stewardship, Laura Mattei, shows off a painted turtle during a recent count that was part of the Great Turtle Search at SVT's Memorial Forest.  Photo by Ray Nava
By Erin Snook, SVT-Americorps Community Outreach Coordinator
The goals for the Great Turtle Search were: 1) to reach out to local communities and involve neighbors in conservation by providing an active learning opportunity, and 2) to survey common and rare turtles living in the Desert Natural Area (including SVT's General Federation of Women's Clubs of Massachusetts Memorial Forest in Sudbury and Marlborough) to gain a general sense of turtle presence.  
        From April to June, we conducted 15 formal turtle surveys that brought over 130 volunteers into the Desert Natural Area.  With advice from turtle experts, we focused our search on areas where we thought we were most likely to find turtles.  On most of the surveys, volunteers were able to find turtles, especially when they were held on warm, sunny mornings.  The majority of the turtles seen were painted turtles (Chrysemys picta).  The official count on painted sightings (those recorded on data sheets by survey leaders) is 16, but we know from anecdotal accounts that the number was much higher; probably closer to 50.  The occasional snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentine) was also seen and several turtle nest sites were documented in sandy areas.  There is a video of a nesting snapping turtle on Nature Sightings.

Vernal Pool Monitoring

The SVT Vernal Pool monitoring program is a citizen research effort to study vernal pools in the watershed. Since 2005, twenty volunteers have been “getting to know” vernal pools in their community, counting salamander and wood frog egg masses, assessing vegetation, and determining how the pool water level changes over the course of the year. 
Vernal pools are critical breeding areas for a variety of organisms. Mole salamanders (including spotted salamanders and blue-spotted salamanders) and wood frogs live in upland forests for most of the year, but in the spring they move to nearby water to reproduce.  Many researchers and others eagerly anticipate this spring migration, which sometimes manifests as a spectacular “Big Night,” with hundreds of animals moving on the first warmer, rainy night of the year. Shortly thereafter egg masses can be found in the vernal pools. 
Cowassock Woods, Framingham. This pool is part of a larger wetland area, and it is the one monitored pool that typically dries up. Monitors have found wood frog and spotted salamander eggs here. Fingernail clams and caddisfly larvae are also found.Gowings Swamp, Concord. Monitors have surveyed this large swamp area and found wood frog and spotted salamander eggs. Fish fry have also been seen, which means that this pool doesn’t technically qualify as a vernal pool.Memorial Forest, Sudbury. Wood frog, spotted salamander, and blue-spotted salamander eggs are found in Memorial Forest. The pool is located in a forested area that keeps it mostly shaded, and it is usually the latest to get amphibian eggs.Mineway Brook, Sudbury. This pool has woods on one side and houses on the other. A variety of invasive species, including buckthorn, multiflora rose and bittersweet are found here, along with native species.Ralph Hill, Billerica. We have only monitored this pool for three of the five years, and we have found wood frog and spotted salamander eggs.

Invasive Mappers

One of the volunteer teams working to map invasives at the Desert Natural Area, L-R - Karin Paquin, Anne Marie Brostrup-Jensen and Betty Wright
SVT endeavors to maximize the biological and ecological value of its properties. In some cases this requires active habitat restoration. Designing and enacting a management plan for a successful restoration requires an initial assessment of current conditions. The cover story of our June 2009 newsletter focused on restoring biological diversity at the Desert Natural Area, 900 acres of conserved lands in Marlborough and Sudbury, and the location of SVT’s Memorial Forest. One of the important surveys that we are conducting is locating and mapping invasive plant species. 

Desert Natural Area - An Adventure in Restoring Biological Diversity

The management plan will prioritize management actions to maintain the pitch pine-scrub oak communities and associated habitat features known to support targeted species.
January 27, 2011
“Whip-poor-will...whip-poor-will...whip-poor-will...”
The call of the whip-poor-will is one of the magical sounds that you can hear on an evening walk in June through the Desert Natural Area.  On an early morning foray, you may hear the ethereal flute of the wood thrush and the cu-cu-cooing of the black-billed cuckoo.  Other biological treasures include high quality vernal pools with blue-spotted salamanders and wood frogs, pure streams that support native brook trout, and secretive wood and box turtles. 
The 900-acre Desert Natural Area straddles the City of Marlborough and the Town of Sudbury.  SVT’s 220-acre General Federation of Women’s Clubs of Massachusetts Memorial Forest is at the heart of this area.  The Women’s Federation donated the property to SVT in 1999.  White pine-oak forests, pitch pine- scrub oak barrens, red maple swamps and open marshes create a rich mosaic of habitats.  The site is historically known as “the Desert” due to the predominance of well-drained sandy soils.

Beetles Released!!

Marlborough High School teacher, Linda Ryan and students from her environmental science classes raised beetles for release as part of the project. A.J. Purcell, a biology teacher at Fay School in Soutborough, and Dan Stimson helped to bring potted plants into a release site along Hop Brook at SVT's General Federation of Women's Clubs of Massachusetts Memorial Forest.Adina Gvili, an SVT volunteer, helped release beetles.
In July, Sudbury Valley Trustees and our partners released thousands of purple-loosestrife-eating beetles to six wetlands in our watershed:  French’s Meadow in Concord, Lincoln conservation land, Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Sudbury, Hop Brook marshes at SVT’s Memorial Forest in Sudbury, and Jericho Hill in Marlborough.  Many volunteers assisted throughout the project – from digging up loosestrife rootballs to raising loosestrife and beetles, to releasing beetles and conducting monitoring.  Partners involved in the project include the Town of Lincoln, US Fish & Wildlife Service Eastern Refuge complex, Concord Land Conservation Trust, Fay School, and Marlborough High School.

Gowings Swamp, Concord

Overlooking Gowings Swamp in the fall. Photo by Cherrie Corey
Concord-Carlisle Community Chest and local residents sponsor botanical inventory
Download the final Historical Survey and Botanical Inventory report (PDF, 3.06 MB)
Gowing’s Swamp, named by Thoreau for it’s landowner in the mid-1850’s, is an 8.9 acre acidic wetland complex located in a protected, glaciated hollow on the eastern side of a glacial kame known as Revolutionary Ridge.  A kettlehole bog, at the southern end of the wetland, contains specialized plant communities that are locally rare in Southern New England.  The natural area provides habitat for a diverse range of wildlife.  “Unlike any other bog in New England, Gowing’s Swamp found its way into American literature by virtue of significant passages in Thoreau’s Journal”, says botanist Ray Angelo, and has been visited and studied regularly over the last 160 years by Concord naturalists, literary and historical scholars, and has been the subject of ongoing scientific studies. Over the years, it has also served as an outdoor classroom for local schools, community groups, and environmental organizations.

Wolbach Farm Garlic Mustard Pull – A Great Success!

Adina Giulli and Jennifer Lown help to remove garlic mustard at SVT's Wolbach Farm.Betty Wright and Cam Shorb help to remove garlic mustard at SVT's Wolbach Farm.Kathleen Lang and Betsy Athan help to remove garlic mustard at SVT's Wolbach Farm.
For the first time in 4 years of annual pulling, we have finally seen significant progress in reducing garlic mustard and increasing native plant flora abundance.  This year, eight volunteers assisted at the annual “pull.”  For the first time since control was initiated, we were able to remove all of the flowering (second year) garlic mustard.  The effort is not over; we will have to go back again for the next few years to continue to pull out the new plants that germinate and second year flowering plants.  Garlic mustard is a biennial which means that the

Asian Longhorned Beetle – ALERT!

An adult Asian Longhorned Beetle.  Photo courtesy of USDA Forest Service.
The Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) is threatening the integrity of our forests.  This non-native pest is damaging many of our native hardwood trees in the greater Worcester area.  There is currently a massive effort to remove and destroy all infected trees within a large quarantine area around Worcester.  There is a distinct possibility that ALB has escaped out of this quarantine zone.  Please learn how to identify the tell-tale signs of ALB and be sure to look for them on trees in your backyard, neighborhood and the natural areas you visit.
 
More information can be found at these web sites:
http://massnrc.org/pests/pestFAQsheets/asianlonghorned.html

Highway Underpass Monitoring

A wildlife underpass beneath Route 2 in Concord.
Sudbury Valley Trustees has been working with the Town of Concord's Natural Resource Commission through the Concord Wildlife Passages Task Force to monitor wildlife use of underpasses beneath Route 2 in Concord.
Concord Wildlife Passages Task Force
The mission of the task force is to monitor wildlife use of the four wildlife underpasses installed by MassHighway along Route 2 in Concord. To evaluate the effectiveness of the underpasses in providing safe passage for wildlife under Route 2 and to implement measures to increase the effectiveness when possible. To recruit and manage volunteer participation in these efforts. To facilitate communication between town and state government departments pertaining to wildlife passages.

Turenne Wildlife Habitat

This year marks a significant achievement in the effort to improve wildlife habitat and reduce invasive plants at the Turenne Wildlife Habitat. This reservation contains 18 acres of woodland and meadow located on Oak Hill in Southborough. After walking through an oak-hickory forest with dramatic rock outcrops, the visitor passes through a native plant bird garden and is then treated to a spectacular view of Wachusett Mountain in the distance. 
The original gift of land included an old tennis court which had been stripped of asphalt and left to grow wild. Beginning in 1995, the site was transformed into a native plant bird garden through the efforts of neighbors, volunteers, the local gardening club, and SVT staff. The garden was planted with native wildflowers and shrubs that attract birds and butterflies.

Vernal Pool Exploration

Laura Mattei and Marta Hersek recently led a vernal pool exploration at Greenways Conservation Area in Wayland. Families spent the afternoon learning about vernal pools and the local wildlife that depend on them. Take a look at our activities schedule for more opportunities like this.
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