1953Sudbury Valley Trustees2013Celebrating 60 Years of Conservation, Collaboration and Community

Sudbury Valley Trustees (SVT) is partnering with the Organization for the Assabet, Sudbury and Concord Rivers (OARS) to monitor and protect local streams.  OARS received a $20,768 grant from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust. The grant funds work to assess, protect and restore streams with native brook trout in Sudbury, Hudson and Marlborough. This funding will enable OARS to assess current conditions, establish longer-term stream temperature monitoring to assess climate change impacts, and identify threats to habitat in the four Sudbury River streams known to have wild brook trout populations. Other partners include the Sudbury and Marlborough Conservation Commissions, Greater Boston Trout Unlimited, and USGS Conte Fish Research Laboratory.

“It is wonderful to find native brook trout living so close to the metropolitan Boston area,” noted Suzanne Flint, project leader and OARS Staff Scientist.  The proposal and effort builds on the results from the joint effort by MassWildlife, GBTU, SVT, and the Sudbury Conservation Commission, investigating streams in the town of Sudbury. The OARS project will contribute to a cutting-edge study of the impacts of climate disruption on local habitat and wildlife by the USGS Conte Lab.  OARS’ water and air temperature monitoring will be the eastern-most trout habitat data of the larger climate change study. “Native brook trout are a key cold water species for measuring the impact of climate disruption on local habitat,” she added.

Visit our Desert Natural Area Pitch Pine/Scrub Oak Habitat Restoration and Prescribed Fire FAQs pages for information about this project.  Information will be updated there throughout the restoration project.

In 1995, our regional botanist, Frances Clark, described the north field as being “rich in both upland and wet meadow plant species.”  She went on to say that “the field has the greatest diversity of butterflies of any other habitat at the Greenways Conservation Area.  The numbers and coverage of invasive exotic species is low at this time.” 

Sadly, over the last 17 years, the quality of the field has dramatically declined.  The native flora diversity has declined precipitously, as has the number and diversity of butterflies.  Glossy buckthorn has spread and dominates the central and eastern portions of the field.  Multiflora rose is also common in the field.  Native plant diversity has declined with sensitive fern being dominant.

SVT initiated limited habitat restoration from 2005 to 2007.  With a grant from the Massachusetts Landowner Incentives Program, we hired a contractor to clear the field perimeters of invasive shrubs.  However, the glossy buckthorn in the field interior remained a problem that would require use of herbicides to effectively control.

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.

Download the final report and maps from SVT's Invasive Plant Species Mapping of the Desert Natural Area (updated March 2011)

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. 

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.

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.

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

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.
 

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.

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.

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.

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.