C10 Stewardship at Park's Vernal Pool
IMG_7252 Vernal Pool Field Guide IMG_7256 american beech tree snow fleas snowflea WalkwayToLookOverTheWater SurfaceOfSnowFlea2 IMG_7268 SalamanderHabitat2 SalamanderEggHabitat P3070160 ReflectionInIce IMG_7267 P3070152 P3070145 P3070144 P3070141 P3070139 LayersofCanopybehindStudents IMG_7263 IMG_7265 HighBushBlueberry AboveSeenFromBelow
We kicked off our Spring Community Stewardship Project! We have decided to make art based on a vernal pool in Minuteman National Heritage Park. We parked at the Hartwell Tavern entrance and met with two special people. Margie Coffin Brown, who is the Resource Manager at Minute Man National Historical Park. Students were first curious to learn about her "swag", and were surprised to learn that her officially issued pins have real gold in them, and she needs to return them when she retires from her career of park service. She was a knowledgable and approachable guide, who answered many questions and identified lots of plants and trees, including white and red oaks, American Beech, sugar maples, and white pines as we walked down the Vernal Pool Trail.
Matt Burne also joined us for our fist walk to the vernal pool at Minuteman National Heritage Park. Matt is an expert vernal pool biologist and the author of “Field Guide to Animals of Vernal Pools.” (He generously gave our group a copy.) He was formerly the vernal pool ecologist with the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife’s Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program and is currently the director of conservation for the Walden Woods Project, which preserves the land, literature and legacy of author and naturalist Henry David Thoreau. Matt came with nets and an eye for finding early signs of spring. He pointed out "snow fleas", also known as "springtails" collecting on tree roots and along the surface of a brook. According to the Ecological Society of America, unlike fleas, springtails are not parasites; they feed on decaying organic matter in the soil (such as leaf litter) and, therefore, play an important part in natural decomposition. Snow fleas in particular are able to withstand the bitter temperatures of winter thanks to a “glycine-rich antifreeze protein,” as reported in a study published in Biophysical Journal. We also looked at bright green mosses that were fat with water, texture and color. Springtails, mosses, and flickering black-capped chickadees were among our earliest signs of Spring's arrival.
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