Go time!

28 Sep, 2015        Author: administrator

Pre-Construction meeting

On September 21st, we hold a pre-construction meeting in the Tidmarsh barn.  The contractor, SumCo, confirms that they will begin bringing equipment to the site on October 1 and that work will begin in earnest on October 5.  SumCo will begin work at the Northern end of the site, the Red Maple Swamp. We discuss the challenge of managing the site during construction. Signage will be posted at each of the main entrances notifying people that this is now a construction site and not open to the public except for specific volunteer assignments and scheduled tours. I keep thinking that we should be able to come up with a more innovative plan.  Suggestions, anyone?

Following the meeting, Alex took folks from NRCS around the site to familiarize all of them with the construction plans and sequencing. First stop is the east/west channel that crosses the bogs just south of the island. Funny - we have been talking about these actions for nearly 5 years; Alex and I can recite them backwards and forwards. It seems as if we know what we are doing, but how will nature respond?  That is the question of the season.

Alex explains restoration actions

Summer Journal

21 Jul, 2015        Author: administrator

We are delighted that so many of our researchers have visited the site this summer.  Here are a few highlights.

June 22 Living Observatory (LO) held a session with our principals to discuss our future path. After lunch, Alex lead a tour to introduce this group to Tidmarsh West.  Based on lessons learned from the Tidmarsh Restoration site and Eel River, we begin to see the design for this portion of the property in our minds' eye.

Alex, Joe, Kate and Halsey climb to look over bogs

July 1  Edgar Franck, a student of Alan Christian at U Mass Boston, defends his Masters thesis.  Nice work, Edgar.  Now you have presented, you have a few more weeks to get that document finalized.

July 6 & 7  Tom Dimino and Sean McCanty of the U Mass Boston Freshwater Ecology Lab are on site to do the Summer sampling of invertebrates and a fish count.  Claire Easterman, an intern in the plant nursery, joins their workshops. Claire will start at U Mass Amherst as an undergrad in the fall.  Meanwhile Tom and Sean are raising money for their bio-diversity research on Experiment.com.  Help them reach their goal by making a donation here.

Found: fresh water mussels in stream bed

July 6       Evan and I were present for the maiden voyage of Vasant's terrestrial sensing quad-copter.  The mechanism can be controlled via a headset; images merge with the virtual Tidmarsh.  The maiden voyage showed great promise even if cut short by unplanned control issues. The terrestrial sensing laboratorywas recently founded at the MIT Media Lab.

Physical and virtual merge

July 10      Brian Mayton, Gershon Dublon of the MIT Media Lab,  volunteer Patrick O'Shea, Evan, Moses and I, all pitch in as Brian Spires leads a mission to extend the ComCast network.

Evan helps get the ditch witch out of trouble

Gershon and Brian explore the next locus for a sensory experience

July 17 & 18      David Boutt, a GeoHydrologist from U Mass Amherst joins his former student, Danielle Hare, and hubby Martin Briggs (USGS) as they measure the groundwater discharge rate of the big seep.described by Daniel et al in her thesis and resent papers.  You can find more about Danielle's masters thesis here.

Doing the seep measurement shuffle

Christine Hatch (U Mass Amherst and DTS expert) explored the water content of peat across the property with her new student, Carrie.  On Saturday, they were given a tour of the Green House by our botanists, Irina Kadis and Alexey Zinovjev.

Carrie shows off a peat core (cr: CHatch)

Irina give Carrie and Christine a tour

Mike Bove, founder of Object Based Media at the Media Lab, arrived with Arata and Valerio to install the first Live Object at the stump pile -- Alex you are the star!  Eventually, Live Objects will allow visitors to tour the property, learn about the science and meet most of the Living Observatory and Restoration team.

Calculating the range of the Live Object?

We look forward to many more visits!

Genetic bio-diversity: a new frontier for Tidmarsh

22 Jun, 2015        Author: administrator

Yesterday we celebrated the summer solstice.  We began the day with a fabulous rain storm; just past noon, we placed some annuals from our nursery in the former impoundment; and in the evening we enjoyed the final hours of the longest day of the year with Professor David Boutt, one of our Living Observatory Scientists.

Today is the day after - a shorter day during which we began communication with our selected contractor and hosted a meeting of Living Observatory principal investigators.  This meeting highlighted work by many students and invited a discussion of the big science questions that drive our exploration and learning about wetland restoration in South Eastern Massachusetts.  As part of this exploration, we celebrate the contributions of Alan Christian, Sean McCanty and Tom Dimino who are raising funding for their PhD work on Experiment.com.  While I have highlighted their site earlier this month, today is a special day. For the next 12 hours or so you can create a 2 x 1 match for your contribution.

Join me here and support a critical component of research at Living Observatory. Thanks in advance!