Residential developments, historically perceived as a threat to wildlife habitats, are taking on a positive role through a new Nature Conservancy program called the Vineyard Habitat Network.
Residences that can actually foster healthy habitats? It’s not only possible, it’s being done already, habitat officials say.
It’s safe to swim in the water — again. That was the word on Seth’s Pond from West Tisbury health agent John Powers Thursday morning, only one day after the freshwater pond had been closed for swimming.
The popular swimming pond off Lambert’s Cove Road has been closed for most of the summer due to high levels of enterococci bacteria, organisms that may indicate the presence of fecal coliform bacteria. Seth’s Pond closed three times throughout June, then again for six weeks in July and August.
Outside Union Chapel last Saturday evening people lingered on the stairs; little girls doing each other’s makeup and mothers making small talk, all the while keeping an eye on the green doors behind them. At 7:30 p.m. sharp, the doors of the chapel opened and the people streamed inside, running to the closest seat and marking their territory in preparation for this summer’s edition of Built on Stilts.
After coming from Nantucket to the Vineyard on Wednesday, Cormac Collier first noticed the trees lining the roads that wind through Chilmark.
“We took a little tour on the western side of the Island, and the one thing I was most amazed about was . . . the forests that are here. We definitely have some similarities in terms of geological formations and vegetation, but the amount of mature forests that are here is pretty remarkable. It’s definitely nice to come here, because we don’t have forests like you,” he said.
Last weekend, brightly-colored rides and parts of the ferris wheel began to appear on the Agricultural Society field in preparation for the annual fair starting this Thursday, August 16. Also on Saturday morning in Vineyard Haven, Tim Laursen put the finishing touches on another piece of fair-bound machinery: his hand-welded pig smoker.
This is Mr. Laursen’s and friend Everett Whiting’s third year at the fair doing business as Local Smoke, serving up pulled pork sandwiches from their Island-raised pigs.
From a failed heath hen reservation to a red pine plantation gone wrong, the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest has weathered its share of management experiments.
In 2012, the forest’s plants and trees can breathe easy, as the forest recently has been designated as a state reserve by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).
David Foster, Harvard University forest director and historian for the Correllus state forest, said the designation has guaranteed a better future of the forest.
