Contact Us: if you have questions/comments, would like to volunteer, or would like an information session, write us at tidmarshRestoration@gmail.com or call directly; Glorianna Davenport, Tidmarsh Farms, 617-642-7934.

A Reminder: Tidmarsh is a privately owned, posted property. Unauthorized use is prohibited!

Glorianna Davenport

July 20, 2017

Fruits and Seeds

Glorianna Davenport

July 20, 2017

11 Oct, 2014 Author: administrator

Harvest time has arrived. In addition to harvesting cranberries, we are out scouting for fruits and seeds. A neighbor, who had joined us for a seed collection workshop last weekend, sent us this wistful image of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) seeds exploding out of the pod - poised to take flight, promising to find a patch of soil or to the Tidmarsh seed bank for future survival.

No matter how glorious sight, common milkweed, as its name implies, is to common for us to collect. Thanks to our botanists, Irina Kadis and Alexey Zinovjev, we can go after seeds of species that are less common or seeds we need to collect in bulk to help jump start the transitional areas post restoration incursion. In the category of rarer species, they were able to harvest some seed pods from purple pitcher plants (Sarracenia purpurea). These pods are true art works with many seeds packed in. As Irina and Alexey note these carnivorous plants only survive in the harshest of environments - sphagnum peat bogs. Explore the life cycle of this plant through photos posted on their amazing website , http://www. salicicola.com. Go to the "photo search engine" and type "Sarracenia" in the line "genus name contains"; page through the photos by clicking on the forward arrow. Really, try it out now

Meanwhile our researchers continue to collect data. We are delighted that the Tidmarsh property supports deep and enjoyable learning. While sampling soil moisture can be wet and mucky, it is always fun. Christine Hatch (University of Massachusetts - Amherst) is helping us build a soil moisture database; soil moisture is one of the critical indicators of wetlands, and hence an important metric for success of the over all restoration. Kate Ballantine's students from Mt Holyoke College are busy analyzing data collected this summer and have just launching a new study about the impact of bio char on restoration sites. More samples

Knowledge sharing is key to bring up the next generation of scientists and practitioners. Sean McCanty (working with Alan Christian at University of Massachusetts - Boston) holds an impromptu workshop while collecting samples calculate whole stream metabolism. Jon Woodruff's sedimentology class at University of Massachusetts - Amherst spent an overnight collect more cores which we hope will provide further information about the groundwater-peat interface at Tidmarsh and also take cores in Bartlett Pond, where Jon is studying past inundation events. Brian Mayton (MIT Media Lab Responsive Environments Group) is deploying more sensors to enrich the data sets accessible through Virtual Tidmarsh. On a recent, outing Gershon harvested a few cranberries to take back to the lab.

Sean leads interns through the collection process

Meanwhile Danielle Hare puts the finishing touches on her Master's Thesis, "Hydrogeological Control on Spatial Patterns of Groundwater Seepage in Peatlands". Congratulations Danielle and thank you. Your hard work and thoughtful analysis brought together in a document not only influence our design but also provide an insightful basis for Living Observatory's future outreach and educational programing.

Alex Hackman(DER) continues as the most ardent champion of this project; he often begins a tour at Eel River, so people can more clearly envision the outcome of the Tidmarsh restoration. Together Alex and Eric Hutchins from NOAA, will be on site Saturday November 1 at 8:30 AM to help with a clean up of the Fresh Pond Connector. Volunteer for this event and you will help our cause, while having fun and spending quality time with two enthusiastic champions of this restoration. See you at 8:30 at the bridge on Bartlett Road!!!

Alex introduces restoration at Eel River

Glorianna Davenport

July 20, 2017

A Moving Forest - by Evan Schulman

Glorianna Davenport

July 20, 2017

27 Jul, 2014 Author: Evan

The restoration plan at Tidmarsh is composed of many moving parts. One of them is the planting of 8,000 Atlantic White Cedars ("AWC") which is scheduled for 2016 and 2017.

But we don't have 8,000 AWC: so on the 1st of November last year the trio of Davenport, Hackman and Schulman went to Eel River and collected seed cones from the recently planted AWC at that restoration site. At home, the seed popped out of the drying cones, and spent the winter in our refrigerators. Talk about a long, dark winter. This spring Glorianna germinated several batches of the seeds giving us more than 5,000 seedlings.

The plan, as it was revealed to me, was to move these small treelets to Northeast Native Habitats ("NNH") run by Tony Reiber, a professional grower in western Massachusetts. Tony would care for them until they were ready to plant in the 2016 time frame . By the time we were ready to move them, each seedling was in its own little cubicle in a flat of 50 such compartments. Each flat was approximately 21 inches by 11 inches. We could not stack them, so we needed a truck with 160 square feet of shelf or floor space. We could not find trucks with secure shelves for rent: we ended up with a monster truck 26 feet long and 13 feet high. Understand, the biggest machine I have driven for some time is an old pickup truck.

On the 23rd of July I retrieved our rental: Glorianna, Evan, Henry Eshbaugh & some interns from Mount Holyoke College loaded it with the flats in roughly 30 minutes. Glorianna & I then set off for Montague Massachusetts, some 150 miles distant.

With pick-up and return, the trip was almost an eight hour continuous adrenaline rush. After I got somewhat comfortable with the machine, we motored on the highways at roughly the 65 mile speed limit. We passed very few cars or trucks, but we were passed by everyone else, even 18-wheelers, some at great speed, others just inching by us. I now feel very strongly that they do not make the lanes on our highways wide enough.

We arrived at NNH: Tony helped us unload and sent us on the return trip.

Thought for the day: maybe we can get Mr. Putin to drive a big truck: it is hard to feel overly aggressive after eight hours on the road.