Drastic New England Drought

 By Selby Vaughn

“That [person] is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.”  Henry David Thoreau in his Journal.

New England has had a remarkably hot and dry summer, which is evident in much of the plant life throughout the Boston area. 

Coast pepperbush leaves droop as their wetland habitat dries out.

Due to the drought, many plant leaves are drooping and drying out, causing an early-onset senescence of plants which would normally take place in the autumn. 

A patch of dry, yellow, and wilting ferns. 

These drought conditions also affect fruit development, causing fruits like blueberries to shrivel up like raisins. This could lead to starvation among animals like squirrels and chipmunks that rely on these plants. 

Huckleberry plant with shrivelled fruit and dry leaves. 

The extreme high temperatures and drought we have seen within the past month may persist as climate change continues to affect our environment. While some plants may be able to withstand the drought, others may die from these extreme conditions. 

Conservation of Native Pollinators

 By Selby Vaughn

Katia Landauer, Prof. Primack and I visited conservation land at Breakneck Hill in Southborough to meet with Rob Gegear, a professor of ecology at U-Mass Dartmouth. 

Rob points out abundant native pollinators.

Rob is a huge advocate for creating more effective native pollination ecosystems, a more expansive system way of conserving native pollinators than more typical pollinator gardens. 

Rob's native pollination system.

The native pollination system which Rob has planted uses a wider diversity of native plants to encourage a wider diversity of pollinators. 

Meadowsweet, a plant favored by many native bees.

Most pollinator gardens tend to use ornamental plants and cater mainly to honeybees and common bumblebees. Rob’s garden, however, uses native plants favored by a wide variety of native pollinators, such as bee balm and shrubby St. John’s Wort. His goal is to create native pollinator systems that will increase native biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. 

Observing native pollinators in a natural environment.

Three Falls in One Park

 Richard B. Primack

“Who hears the rippling of the rivers will not utterly despair of anything.” Henry David Thoreau in his Journal.

Letchworth State Park, south of Rochester, NY, was established to protect the deep and immensely beautiful valley of the Genesee River.  The park is remarkable for having three spectacular waterfalls. The upper falls lies below an immense railroad bridge.

The upper falls

The wide middle falls lies below the historic Glen Iris Inn.

The middle falls

The Glen Iris Inn

The lower falls is in a deep gorge. Vultures and hawks circle above, riding updrafts from the gorge.

The lower falls

The steep sides of the gorge create highly varied local conditions supporting fifty tree species, making it one of the most diverse temperate forests in the world. 

Forests growing along the sides of the gorge

And yet this wonderland faces grave threats to its trees:  the emerald ash borer is killing the ash trees, and oak trees and other species are being defoliated by spongy moth caterpillars. And recently the woolly adelgid insect has arrived in the park, threatening to destroy the groves of hemlocks shading the forest paths at the top of the valley.  

Ash trees are dying due to insect attack