THE HIVE Will be Buzzing! Turning a Lawn Into a Meadow
Saving: Shells, Horseshoe Crabs, Plovers, and Dark Skies on Nantucket And Pigs, Too Walking Coast to Coast
SIMPLE / SMART / SUSTAINABLE / STORIES Coastal Resilience · Recipes · Resources · Tips · How-to’s (and Why-to’s)
President Victoria Riskin
CEO Raymond Pearce
Editor Jamie Kageleiry, editor@bluedotliving.com
Chief Financial Officer David Smith
Associate Editors Lucas Thors, Julia Cooper
Senior Editor Brittany Bowker
Copyeditor Laura Roosevelt
Creative Director Tara Kenny
Designer/Production Manager Whitney Multari
Design and Production Vesna M. Nepomuceno
Digital Projects Manager Kelsey Perrett
Digital Assets Manager Alison Mead
Web Producer Grace Hughes
Contributing Editors Will Kinsella, Sam Moore
Ad Sales Josh Katz, Megan Stetzel, adsales@bluedotliving.com
Ad Sales Support Grace Cox
Consumer Marketing Laurie Truitt
Bluedot and Bluedot Living logos and wordmarks are trademarks of Bluedot, Inc.
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved.
Bluedot Living: At Home on Earth is printed on recycled material, using soy-based ink, in the U.S.
The Nantucket Bluedot Living Green Guide is published annually and is available at newsstands, select retail locations, inns, hotels, and bookstores, free of charge. Please write us if you’d like to stock Bluedot Living at your business.
Editor@bluedotliving.com
Sign up for the Nantucket Bluedot Living newsletter, along with any of our others: the BuyBetter Marketplace, our national ‘Hub” newsletter, and our soon-to-be-launched Bluedot Kitchen: bit.ly/BDL-newsletters
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Most of the Bluedotters working on this magazine are based on the “other” island. Some of us have been traveling back and forth as we worked on launching a Bluedot Green Guide on Nantucket, and realizing we previously only went to Nantucket on the SSA special boat to cheer on our football team. Turns out there are a lot of reasons to visit beyond watching our team lose to you!
PHOTO BY RANDI BAIRD
and designed their homes. We wanted to celebrate the changemakers and the hard workers who are addressing climate change in our communities every day.
We launched Bluedot Living as a print magazine on Martha’s Vineyard just over three years ago. We knew there was a lot of great reporting on
Since that first magazine and newsletter, we’ve gone on to launch newsletters in eight locations, from Boston to Los Angeles, as well as several national newsletters including the soonto-be-launched Bluedot Kitchen. We will be launching a biweekly Nantucket
all of these (reaching more than 300,000 people), we are aiming to “connect the dots.” We want to use local stories to inspire people in other communities to share resources and solutions, and to celebrate the treasures — people, places, wildlife — we have in our own backyards.
I’ve been inspired by how passionate, kind, generous, and organized Nantucketers are (turns out having one town per island has advantages over having … six). I especially want to thank Remain, which has supported our Nantucket Bluedot Green Guide launch, as well as the Osceola Foundation, Inc.
And we could not have done this without Will Kinsella, who suggested story ideas, wrote stories, supplied images, and connected us to, well, everyone. Very grateful, Will.
From news about local climate issues to planet-friendly recipes and tips on sustainable shopping, Bluedot Living delivers enlightening and eco-conscious ways to reduce our impact on Earth.
YOUR DAILY DOT
Questions and answers for everyday eco-friendly living.
Strive to buy less, but when you do buy — buy better.
THE HUB
On-the-ground reporting highlighting a universe of ideas and changemakers.
THE BLUEDOT KITCHEN
Discover recipes and waste-saving kitchen ideas.
Sign up here for Bluedot Living Newsletters! COMING SOON
Recycle, compost, volunteer, write your rep, buy secondhand.
By Julia Cooper and Lucas Thors
THE TOWN OF NANTUCKET PROVIDES EV CHARGING STATIONS FOR PUBLIC USE. Currently, public EV Charging stations are available throughout the island:
• Nantucket Memorial Airport Terminal Parking Lot
• Washington Street Public Parking Lot (37 Washington Street)
• Nantucket Health & Natural Resources Department (131 Pleasant Street)
• Public Safety Facility (4 Fairgrounds Road)
• Nobadeer Farm Road Playing Fields (7 Nobadeer Farm Road)
• Nantucket Cottage Hospital (57 Prospect Street) For more, visit bit.ly/ACK-EV-Charging.
The Resilience toolkit provides a repository of documents, articles, and visualizations for Nantucket's whole community. bit.ly/Nantucket-Resilience-Toolkit
ADAPTATION AND BUILDING ELEVATION
The Resilient Nantucket Design Guidelines document Nantucket's existing historic character (with photos!), along with ways to preserve and protect development on Nantucket from flooding and sea level rise. bit.ly/ACK-Building-Guidelines
Nantucket banned single-use plastics in 2020 and is a BYOB (Bring Your Own Bottle) island. There are filtered water bottle refill stations in 10 locations, including the Atheneum (1 India Street), Town Hall (16 Broad Street), and Jetties Beach. For a full map of water stations, visit bit.ly/ACK-Water-Stations. To learn more about the Single-Use Plastics Ban, visit bit.ly/ACK-Without-Plastics.
The Stop the Straw Campaign encourages restaurants and businesses to ditch plastic straws for good. bit.ly/ACK-Stop-The-Straw
Little Free Library supports a love of reading through neighborhood book exchanges. There are 10 Little Free Libraries on Nantucket. Find one near you: bit.ly/ACK-Little-Free-Libraries.
1 India Street; nantucketatheneum.org; Monday 9:30 am – 1:00 pm; Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 9:30 am – 5:00 pm; Thursday 9:30 am – 7:30 pm; Saturday 9:30 am – 4:00 pm
LIBRARY OF THINGS
Atheneum patrons can check out a variety of items including children’s activity kits, board games, telescopes, acupressure mats, Chromebooks, portable DVD players, and WiFi hotspots. The full list is here: bit.ly/ACK-Library-of-Things
FOOD RESCUE NANTUCKET
is a collaboration of the Unitarian Meeting House Congregation, the Nantucket Food Pantry, and Sustainable Nantucket. bit.ly/FoodRescueACK
SUSTAINABLE NANTUCKET
helps make locally sourced food widely available, and educates students and the community about the benefits of healthy food. sustainable-nantucket.org
NANTUCKET PRESERVATION TRUST
can always use volunteers for office help, docent duties, and research. 11 Centre Street; nantucketpreservation.org/support/volunteer; 508-228-1387; info@nantucketpreservation.org
NANTUCKET CONSERVATION FOUNDATION seeks volunteers to help manage conservation lands. 118 Cliff Road; 508-228-2884; bit.ly/ACKConservation info@nantucketconservation.org
NANTUCKET CLEAN TEAM
is a group of 400 hundred+ Nantucketers dedicated to keeping Nantucket’s beaches, dunes, roadsides and sidepaths free of litter. ackcleanteam.org
MARIA MITCHELL ASSOCIATION
helps visitors develop a life-long passion for science through education, research, and first-hand exploration of the sky, land, and sea. 33 Washington Street; mariamitchell.org/volunteers 508-228-9198; info@mariamitchell.org
LINDA LORING NATURE FOUNDATION
promotes environmental literacy through research, education, and stewardship and by deepening connections to the natural world. 110 Eel Point Road; llnf.org/opportunities 508-325-0873; info@llnf.org
focuses on contemporary and designer clothing. In addition to their consignment shop on-island, they also operate an online storefront. Open daily 10:00 am – 6:00 pm. 12 Oak Street; commonwealthnantucket.com.
Hospital Thrift Shop sales benefit the Nantucket Cottage Hospital.
Open seasonally: Shopping Hours:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10:00 am – 12:30 pm, 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm; Tuesday, Thursday 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm, 5:30 pm –8:00 pm; Saturday 10:00 am – 12:30 pm
Donating Hours:
Tuesday, Thursday 10:00 am – 11:30 AM (at 17 India Street); Tuesday 8:00 am – 9:00 am (in ‘Sconset at the parking lot across from the Casino);
Thursday 8:00 am – 9:00 am (in Madaket at the Long Pond parking lot off Madaket Road);
Saturday 8:30 am – 10:00 am (at the storage pods in the parking lot adjacent to Gouin Village, off Vesper Lane) 17 India Street; hospitalthriftshop.org 508-228-1125; hospitalthriftshop@gmail.org
A consignment and thrift store with a wide variety of decor, books, jewelry, and more. Monday 10:00 am – 4:00 pm; Tuesday – Friday 10:00 am – 3:30 pm; Saturday 10:00 am – 2:00 pm; 128 Old South Road; 508-228-0789; facebook.com/IslandTreasuresNantucket islandtreasures369@yahoo.com
Nantucket Creative Reuse is an online exchange dedicated to finding new homes for your leftover craft supplies. nantucketcreativereuse.com
The Rainbow Fleet is a consignment shop specializing in women’s clothing. Open year round!
Tuesday – Saturday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm 167 Orange Street; 508-680-1159; therainbowfleetnantucket.com therainbowfleet@gmail.com
32 Sparks Avenue; secondsshop.org 508-228-6677
Monday – Tuesday, Thursday Sunday 10:00 am – 4:00 pm Sales from the Seconds Shop benefit Fairwinds— Nantucket’s Counseling Center. They accept donations of gently-used designer clothing, shoes, art, housewares, furniture, books, media, and more.
Take-It-or-Leave-It lets you leave your treasures and take home new ones. See rules at bit.ly/Take-It-Or-Leave-It; Wednesday – Friday 8:00 am – 2:30 pm; Saturday – Sunday 8:00 am – 11:30 am; 186 Madaket Road.
The Nantucket landfill accepts all waste streams. Summer (5/1 - 9/30) Monday – Friday: 7:00 am – 3:00 pm; Saturday, Sunday: 8:00 am – 12:00 pm. Winter (10/1 - 4/30) Monday – Friday: 8:00 am – 3:00 pm; Saturday, Sunday: 8:00 am – 12:00 pm *Closed on most federal holidays
WHAT
• Glass bottles and jars (Empty and rinse) Note: Window glass or drinking glasses belong in Non-Recyclable NonCompostable waste (NRNC).
• Tin/aluminum cans, foil items, lids, and bottle caps (Empty and rinse)
• Note: Metal aerosol cans go in the Scrap Metal bin. Remove lids and caps to Tin/Aluminum or Plastics.
• Plastic bottles, cups, jars, jugs, and tubs (Empty, rinse, and replace cap)
• Shipping boxes: clean corrugated cardboard (Empty and flatten)
• Note: Bubblewrap, Styrofoam peanuts and inflated air pillow packaging are Non-Recyclable Non-Compostable waste (NRNC).
WHAT YOU CAN’T RECYCLE
Plastic bags, Styrofoam, plastic wrappers, cleaning wipes, diapers, incandescent lights, milk cartons, waxed paper, Tetrapacks, dryer lint, individual dog waste bags, chip bags, products made from a mix of materials.
Compostable Waste is sent through a large industrial composter, which turns food scraps and other compostable waste into nutrient-rich soil
WHAT YOU CAN COMPOST
All food waste, pizza boxes, cracker and cereal boxes, paper towels, paper bags, newspapers, magazines, tissues, coffee grounds, cooking oil/grease, unbagged pet waste, bones.
• *Can be delivered in a clear plastic bag. Paper bag preferred
• Check out this great waste stream chart to see all recycling, composting and non-compostable waste in one place: bit.ly/ACKWasteStreams
See Bluedot’s guide on how to get rid of (almost) anything: bit.ly/ACK-GetRid
THE NANTUCKET FOOD PANTRY
Donations accepted year-round Tuesday – Thursday, 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm. Non-perishable items can be left in the donation bin at the front of Stop & Shop at 31 Sparks Avenue. 10 Washington Street; assistnantucket.org
BARTLETT’S FARM
Market sells their fresh, seasonal produce along with pantry staples, fresh dairy and meats, and artisanal goods like jams
and honey. Open year round! Open daily; Market 8:00 am – 7:00 pm; Garden Center 8:00 am – 5:00 pm; 33 Bartlett Farm Road; bartlettsfarm.com 508-228-9403; info@bartlettsfarm.com
CISCO’S SECRET FARM
offers a daily selection of farm fresh produce and flowers. Monday – Saturday 11:00 am – 7:00 pm; Sunday 12:00 pm –7:00 pm; 5 Bartlett Farm Road; ciscossecretfarm.square.site 508-325-5929; secretgardens@ciscobrewers.com
HARVEST GARDEN
This biodynamic working garden sells specialty plants, cut flowers, and their famous lettuce-herb mix. Check out their event calendar for workshops and tours. Monday – Saturday 9:00 am – 1:00 pm; 165 Hummock Pond Road; harvestgardennantucket.com; hi@harvestgardennantucket.com
MOORS END FARM
This family-run farm grows and harvests more than 40 different fruits and vegetables as well as cut flowers and herbs, year-round. Open daily 9:00 am – 5:00 pm; 40 Polpis Road; moorsendfarm.com 508-228-2674; moorsendfarm@gmail.com
MY GRANDFATHER’S FARM
The Larrabees sell their vegetables from a truck on the farm Monday through Saturday, starting at 9:00 am. Wednesday through Saturday they also have farm-fresh eggs — they sell out quick! 508-901-1443; 103 Hummock Pond Road mygrandfathersfarmack@gmail.com
PUMPKIN POND FARM
In addition to their organic produce selection and plant nursery, Pumpkin Pond Farm also has a 10-week CSA program with a variety of share sizes available. Monday –Saturday 8:00 am – 4:00 pm; 25 Millbrook Road; 508-332-4750; pumpkinpondfarms.com;
FARMERS MARKET
Sustainable Nantucket Farmers & Artisans Market. June – early October, Saturday, 8:30 am – 12:30 pm, weather permitting. On Cambridge Street and North Union Street between Federal Street and South Water Street
FARMSTAND FOR FOG TOWN FARM, WASHASHORE FARM, EAT FIRE FARM, AND PEACE + BLISS FARM
This farmstand is operated by the Sustainable Nantucket Mentor Farmer Program and has a rotating selection of
seasonal vegetables, eggs, and honey. Available 24/7, operated on the honor system 168 Hummock Pond Road 508-228-3399
Got something to say about pending legislation? Reach out to your elected officials.
TOWN OF NANTUCKET
Town Administration, 508-228-7255 ext. 1; Libby Gibson, Town Manager, 508-228-7200 ext. 7305, TownManager@nantucket-ma.gov
SELECT BOARD MEMBERS
Dawn E. Hill Holdgate, Chair, dhillholdgate@nantucket-ma.gov
Brooke Mohr, Vice Chair, bmohr@nantucket-ma.gov
Matt Fee, mfee@nantucket-ma.gov
Thomas M. Dixon, tdixon@nantucket-ma.gov
Malcolm W. MacNab, MD, PhD, mmacnab@nantucket-ma.go
GOVERNOR
Maura Healey: 617-725-4005; Instagram/X: @MassGovernor
STATE SENATOR
Julian Andre Cyr: 617-722-1570; Julian.Cyr@masenate.gov; Instagram/X: @JulianCyr
STATE REPRESENTATIVE
Dylan A. Fernandes: 617-722-2230; dylan.fernandes@mahouse.gov; Instagram: @dylan1fernandes, X: @RepDylan FEDERAL SENATORS
Ed Markey: Boston Office: 617-565-8519, Springfield Office: 413-785-4601, DC Office: 202-224-2742; Instagram: @EdMarkey, X: @SenMarkey Elizabeth Warren: Boston Office: 617-565-3170, Springfield Office: 413-788-2690, DC Office: 202-224-4543; Instagram: @ElizabethWarren, X: @SenWarren
FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVE
William R. Keating: Cape & Islands Office: 508-771-6868, DC Office: 202-225-3111; Instagram: @RepKeating, X: @USRepKeating
To : Bluedot Living
From:
Mass Audubon
Su bject: What Nantucketers Need to Know about Protecting Shorebirds
Summer is here, and with it, those beautiful beach days we’ve been looking forward to all winter! While we’re cruising down the shoreline or relaxing in the sun, we need to remember that we’re not the only ones out there. We share the beach with lots of other critters, and we must be mindful of them as we enjoy the place they call home.
Have you ever spotted the little peeping shorebirds that run along the water’s edge, foraging for food in the sand? If you haven’t, don’t fret — it’s because they camouflage almost perfectly with the sand and can be very difficult to spot. Piping Plovers are a key species to be aware of when
Be aware of Piping Plovers at the beach.
roaming the beaches on Nantucket, as they are listed as threatened under the guidelines of the Endangered Species Act. These birds, among others, rely on coastal habitat for their nesting grounds, so it’s up to us to make sure they have safe access to those vital areas and can continue to reproduce.
Mass Audubon, through its Coastal Waterbird Program, along with other Island conservation partners, monitors and protects birds and their habitats. You may see us on the beach with our binoculars, scanning for signs of these elusive birds, maintaining fencing, collecting data, and watching them live, breed, and raise their young among the throngs of Island beachgoers. Help us help them survive.
Here are some things to keep in mind when visiting the beach
Always keep dogs on a leash. Even good dogs scare the birds and could accidentally destroy a nest.
Drive slowly. If you have an oversand vehicle, drive with care and be watchful of wildlife. Although we protect areas where nests are found, the birds will roam outside the fencing and could be anywhere. They especially like tire ruts and will hunker down thinking they are safe and unseen.
Help plovers survive!
Plovers camouflage with the sand and rocks.
Don’t fly kites in shorebird areas. They look like predators to the small birds on shore, and can strike or entangle them, causing injury and even death.
Do not approach the birds. Yes, they’re really cute, but keep your distance. A Piping Plover chick is vulnerable to stress and any energy wasted in those early stages of life could be detrimental to their growth and survival.
Pay attention to all fencing and posted signs. They are there to protect not only the shorebirds, but you. Violation of the Endangered Species Act could result in hefty fines. Remember that the birds will walk or fly outside of fencing, so be observant outside of fencing also.
Climate change, habitat loss, and coastal development pose serious threats to many already vulnerable species. Mass Audubon works to protect nearly half of the entire state’s populations of Piping Plovers and Least Terns through monitoring, education, habitat protection, and advocacy. With these efforts, since they were first declared endangered in 1986, Piping Plovers have increased from 135 pairs to more than 800 pairs in 2020! Exciting as this increase may be, our work is not over yet. Continue to enjoy the outdoors with a mindful attitude and respect for the wildlife with which we share it. Let’s work together to protect this beautiful island. See you on the beach!
bit.ly/MassAudubon-Islands
From: Isaac Hersch, Environmental Educator, Nantucket Conservation Foundation
Subject: Resilience, Health, and Biodiversity: The Gifts of Conservation Land
Together, the many land trusts on Nantucket Island own more than half of the island’s land, most of it protected from development in perpetuity. The Nantucket Conservation Foundation, owning just over 9,000 acres, permanently protects around a third of Nantucket Island. This extensive array of conservation land makes Nantucket a world class destination for year-round residents and island visitors. In many places on Nantucket, you can enjoy pristine beaches with barely a house in sight, walk on trails through globally rare sandplain grasslands or hardwood forests, kayak through ponds and harbors, or take in expansive views from highpoints in the Middle Moors. Not only does conservation land make Nantucket a beautiful place to live and visit, but it also provides benefits, including increased sustainability, resilience to climate change, and positives to human health.
Conservation land — permanently conserved open space — is one of Nantucket’s most valuable resources for adapting to climate change. Efforts to conserve land provide a wealth of natural solutions to erosion, shoreline protection, and adaptation to sea level rise, as explored in the next points. Conservation land itself protects the biodiversity of an area — the variety of plants, animals, and landscapes unique to a place. The more diversity, the more variety in a natural area, the more potential a place has to adapt to future change. On Nantucket, with more than 50 percent of the island in conservation, we have a wealth of resources to adapt to climate change. Our wetlands and salt marshes protect the shorelines from storms and can also sequester carbon, removing it from the atmosphere and reducing climate warming. Our intact coastal dune shorelines help prevent erosion and naturally adapt to erosion when it happens. Even green spaces like parks help local cooling rather than the warming that occurs from sun absorption in areas with lots of concrete and buildings.
marshes aid in slowing the impacts of sea level rise.
One of the most iconic features of Nantucket is Coatue, the jutting barrier beach forming the north shore of Nantucket Harbor. The Coatue Wildlife Refuge, a 5-mile spit of land, creates the calm waters of Nantucket Harbor, offers protection from storms coming across the Sound, and provides habitat for many rare and endangered shorebirds and plants.Vegetation communities, including 100-year-old cedar forests and rolling dune fields, hold together the sand and protect the area from erosion. Without Coatue, downtown Nantucket and many areas along the harbor shoreline would face much worse erosion and flooding from winter storms.
Within the three main harbors of Nantucket Island, Madaket, Polpis and Nantucket Harbor, lie several salt marshes. These salt marshes aid in slowing the impacts of sea level rise to the island and mitigate wave action against the shore. As the vegetation of the salt marshes grows, dead plants become the soil for new growth, slowly raising the level of the ground over time. Thriving salt marshes can rise up along with rising sea levels and provide flood protection to the uplands behind. Salt marshes also act as sponges, absorbing flood waters and the force of storm waves and slowly releasing them back to the harbor.
The Nantucket Conservation Foundation protects more than 9,000 acres on the island.
Marshlands help improve water quality.
Conservation lands make for happier humans.
In unhealthy watersheds without an abundance of wetlands, nutrients from fertilizer and pollutants run directly into the ocean and harbors. This can cause problems like harmful algal blooms or make the area unsafe for swimming and fishing. In a well-functioning watershed, wetland plants uptake nutrients and filter water runoff before it reaches the ocean. This natural process contributes to bettering water quality in the harbor, making the water clean and safe to swim and fish in. Cleaner harbors also mean more Nantucket bay scallops and oysters!
Networks of inland conservation land provide massive benefits for human health and happiness. These open spaces provide trails for people to keep active by walking, running, or biking. With so much land on Nantucket dedicated to conservation, we have been able to create the Coast-toCoast trail. This trail, made as a collaboration between all the land-owning conservation organizations on-island, is a 24-mile-long trek across the island (see story, page 34). The trail winds through almost every type of habitat we have on the island, from globally rare sandplain grasslands and coastal heathlands to hardwood forests and wetlands.
With so much dependence on natural systems, it is vitally important that we strike a balance between development and protected conservation land. Losing too many natural areas harms people’s ability to live, work, and be healthy. Luckily, Nantucket has been able to strike this balance and provide extensive open space for people to enjoy, many rare habitats which allow for important species to thrive, and ecosystems critical to the fight against climate change. As we continue to support these conserved areas, they will continue to support us.
Visit us at nantucketconservation.org
To : Bluedot Living
From: Mass Audubon
Subject: A Property Owner's Guide to the Southern Pine Beetle
Southern Pine Beetle, a southeastern native of the United States, was detected in 2014 for the first time in Long Island, New York. The beetle’s territory had expanded up the eastern seaboard as temperatures warmed and winters became milder because of climate change. That year, pitch pine and Japanese black pine populations on Long Island experienced unheard-of mortality rates due to the Southern Pine Beetle.
The beetle has subsequently spread north and become one of the most notable emergent invasive species on Nantucket. Due to its potential to harm coastal pitch pine forests, it is vital to understand infestations and their symptoms.
In July 2023, a 13-acre pitch pine stand on the island had an infestation detected through ongoing ecological monitoring by island conservation groups, concerned after the destruction observed on Long Island. The affected trees of this outbreak were then removed to prevent the beetle's spread to neighboring properties.
Preventative measures are one of the key factors in stopping the proliferation of the beetle. Island conservation landowners including Mass Audubon, the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, Nantucket Land Bank, the Linda Loring Nature Foundation, and others have been working together and taken proactive pitch pine forest protection measures.
Mass Audubon owns and manages one of the largest Pitch Pine forests on
The pitch pines produce sap to flush the beetles out.
Nantucket. Staff and students, through our Youth Environmental Stewardship (YES) Program, have been monitoring trees for this species. When our neighbors found an infestation, we sprang into action, creating a Forest Management Plan and thinning a vulnerable area of our property.
While the cutting down of trees can be seen as counterintuitive to many, the process of forest thinning is beneficial in many ways. Decreasing the density of pitch pine stands achieves the goal of increasing the distance between trees. Think of it as social distancing for trees.
Keeping these signs in mind, it is important to note if you see tiny holes in the bark, S-shaped galleries underneath the bark, dried pitch globules on the outside of the tree, and a sudden change of a tree’s needles from green to reddish brown. If these signs are seen on multiple pine trees within a stand, it can be indicative of a potential pine beetle outbreak, so it is important to periodically monitor properties and report potentially diseased trees when needed. When these signs are spotted on a property, it is important to notify the Nantucket Conservation Foundation’s ecologists through their email (spb@ nantucketconservation.org) with GPS coordinates, specific directions, and a photo. Quick reporting can prevent the beetles’ spread to nearby trees and keep Island pitch pine forests healthy for people and wildlife. Through preventative forestry efforts, monitoring for signs of the beetle, and quick response times, our forests have a great chance of being well prepared for the resurgence of the beetle every season.
The Southern Pine Beetle communicates by emitting pheromones, which are chemical signals that can be detected by members of the same species. This increased distance disrupts the beetles’ communication with the rest of their population, causing fewer trees to be attacked and in lesser numbers. Decreasing forest density also helps reduce the trees’ competition for resources, meaning the
remaining trees are left healthier, heartier, and better able to fend off beetle attacks.
Another important piece of the puzzle is spotting the signs of Southern Pine Beetle early. The beetles are two to four millimeters long, smaller than a grain of rice, and red-brown to black in color. They can swarm trees in the thousands and enter through bark crevices where they create holes the size of a thumbtack hole.
The holes can usually be differentiated from native black turpentine beetle holes as those beetles gravitate to weakened or dying trees, while the southern pine beetle will swarm healthy trees. The turpentine beetle's larger holes are usually found from ground level to five feet up the trunk of a pine tree, while pine beetles' smaller ones are typically five to fifteen feet up the trunk.
Once inside, the Southern Pine Beetle will eat away the tree’s inner bark and create S-shaped tunnels in which to lay their eggs. In defense, the pine tree will produce excess sap or pitch to flush the beetle out.
Southern Pine Beetles are an emergent invasive species on Nantucket.
The dried pitch on the tree, also called pitch tubes, looks like popcorn-shaped globs across the bark. The excess pitch produced can make the tree use all its resources for self-defense, causing the tree’s needles to turn an orange to reddish brown color. This phenomenon is typically referred to as a “browning crown.”
Dot tackles your thorniest questions from a perch on her porch.
Dear Dot,
I've heard that it's good to put a bee bath in my garden, because bees get thirsty and need water. I hesitate to leave out any standing water, though, because I don't want to invite mosquitoes to hatch. Do you have any suggestions?
–Thirsty for Pollinators, New York, NY
Dear Thirsty, Dot is delighted to report that your fears are unfounded, assuming, of course, that your bee bath will be well maintained and refilled with fresh water every few days or so.
Consider this, Thirsty: Birds will likely share this bath with the bees (and why not? There’s no harm in a common water source!). And birds love little more than dining on mosquito larvae.
If it’s there, they will eat it. What’s more, larvae take seven to seven 10 days to hatch. If birds haven’t consumed all the larvae, you will have dumped it all out when you refill/clean the bee/ bird bath every three or four days.
If you remain concerned, you can add some motion to your (wee) ocean, which will repel mosquitoes, who prefer their water still. A water wiggler (on Amazon) will add ripples to your bath and delight birds. While the sound might still attract bees — gurgling water means fresh water in the apian arena — bees are more likely (and safer) to stick to the edges of the bath where there’s no danger of falling in, while birds will happily frolic. ’ – Splashily, Dot
Please send your questions to deardot@bluedotliving.com
Want to see more Dear Dots? Find lots here: bit.ly/Dear-Dot-Hub
Check out our new Daily Dot newsletter and get a Climate Quick Tip each weekday, and an answer from Dot each Saturday. On Sunday, Dot rests. Sign up here: bit.ly/BDL-newsletters
To : Bluedot Living
From: The Town of Nantucket Energy Office
Subject: A Better Energy Future for Nantucket Begins With You!
Save green by going green with these energy-saving tips and opportunities! Explore ways to use more energy efficiently and with cleaner power sources.
1. Upgrade to a smart programmable thermostat: A wireless-enabled thermostat allows you to control your temperature remotely from your computer, tablet, or smartphone, and some even have sensors to know when you’re home, so it adjusts your temperature automatically. Receive alerts by text or email if your heating or cooling system isn’t functioning.
2. Replace your old air conditioning unit with a high-efficiency model. If your central air conditioner is more than12 years old, or you are using a window AC that is not Energy Star rated, it’s likely time to upgrade your unit for better comfort and savings. Visit MassSave.com to take advantage of rebates and incentives for efficient cooling systems.
3. Open windows to enjoy a cool island breeze. Opening windows creates a cross breeze, allowing you to naturally cool your home without switching on air conditioners. But be sure that windows stay closed when the AC is on.
4. Use ceiling fans. Cooling your home with ceiling fans will allow you to raise your thermostat four degrees. This can help lower your electricity bills without sacrificing overall comfort.
5. Cook outside. Keep the heat out of your home by using an outdoor grill instead of indoor ovens and ranges.
6. Install window treatments. During summer months, be sure to close drapes and shades to keep out unwanted heat and sun. In the winter, do the opposite by keeping shade and drapes open and allowing natural sunlight to warm your rooms. On a cloudy day, keep them closed to prevent heat loss
7. Bring in sunlight. During daylight hours, switch off all the lights when
they’re not essential or when you leave a room.
8. Keep “energy vampires” from bleeding your wallet. Unplug electronics and devices that use standby power when not in use, such as chargers, electronics, hair dryers, and small kitchen appliances. A smart power strip can help you by cutting power to appliances and electronics when not in use.
9. Weatherize your home. Air loss through ducts can lead to high electricity costs, accounting for nearly 30 percent of a cooling system’s energy consumption. Properly air-sealing and insulating can go a long way toward lowering your electricity bills. Qualify for free air-sealing, and 75-100 percent off insulation services for your home through Mass Save (nationalgridus. com/nantucket)
Help Nantucket to “Beat the Peak” this summer by reducing energy use between the hours of 5 to 10 pm in July and August, when electric demand peaks. By making these small changes during periods of high energy demand, you can do your part to sustain Nantucket by helping to defer costly grid upgrades, such as a third undersea delivery cable to Nantucket:
1. Pre-cooling: Focus your AC usage on a couple of rooms and get them nice and cool before 5 pm. Then, turn the AC up a few degrees (warmer), or turn it off if you can handle it. If you have a programmable thermostat, this is a great time to program warmer setpoints from 5 to 10 pm.
2. Avoid doing the laundry. When you do, wash in cold water.
3. Wait to run the dishwasher.
4. If you have an electric vehicle, schedule your charging session for off-peak hours (after 10 pm until 4 pm).
5. Enroll your wifi thermostat or battery energy storage system in National Grid’s Connected Solutions program and earn money for reducing energy during peak times.
Install solar energy on your primary Nantucket home and qualify for a local solar rebate of up to $6,000 from the Town of Nantucket in addition to other federal and state incentives. nantucketma.gov/solarrebate
Since launching the program in 2018, the Town of Nantucket’s Energy Office has awarded over $575,000 in residential solar rebates to support the cumulative development of 1120 kilowatts of solar power at island homes! The Town’s Local Solar Rebate program helps make renewable energy more affordable for islanders and is funded through the Nantucket PowerChoice municipal electric aggregation program. Unable to install solar, but still want to power your home or business with 100 percent renewable energy? The Town of Nantucket is proud to offer our community an affordable and consumer-friendly option for purchasing 100 percent green power through Nantucket PowerChoice, a municipal electric aggregation program. To learn more about greening your power supply with clean power, please visit nantucketpower.org.
Get a free home energy assessment through Mass Save to find ways to save money and energy in your home. Visit ngrid.com/nantucket or call 1-844-615-8316.
Reach out to the Town of Nantucket’s Energy Office if you need (free!) advice on improving energy efficiency in your home, getting a heat pump, installing solar panels, EV Charging, and more: (508) 325-5379.
To : Bluedot Living
From: National Grid
Subject: Everything You Need to Know About Where Your Power Comes From ( With questions from Lauren Sinatra, Town of Nantucket Energy Department)
How does the island receive power, in the past and present? Nantucket’s electricity is delivered to the island through two undersea cables that run more than 25 miles out from Cape Cod. One has 36 megawatts of capacity and the other has 38MW of capacity.
The first cable went into service in 1996. The second cable went into service in 2006.
Prior to 1996, Nantucket’s electricity was generated on the island, including at the National Grid site downtown on Candle Street.
In addition, National Grid also maintains a 6-megawatt/48 megawatthour (MWh) Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) and a 15-megawatt generator on Nantucket.
How reliable is Nantucket’s local grid currently (that’s with two cables, plus onsite generation and BESS)?
On Nantucket, National Grid has maintained very high levels of service reliability, with system availability 99.993% of the time.
To help improve and ensure continuously high levels of service reliability, National Grid has invested over $1 million in vegetation maintenance work on Nantucket over the last four years, working to prune vegetation along approximately 80 miles of
EV CHARGING STATIONS
The Town of Nantucket is proud to provide EV charging stations for public use in support of its environmental sustainability commitment to its residents, seasonal guests, and tourists, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets established by Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Decarbonization Roadmap and Clean
overhead wire. In addition to this, National Grid has contracted dedicated crews on the island to help expedite storm response.
What is Nantucket’s peak load record and load growth trend?
Nantucket uses between 20 and 30 megawatts of electricity daily during most months. Nantucket’s all-time high peak of 57.2 MW was reached on Saturday, August 6, 2022.
Going forward, National Grid anticipates that the electrification load from the transportation and building sectors will eventually become the dominating load growth drivers under the State's Decarbonization Pathway scenario that the company has modeled.
And what about hours of peak demand — is it still safe to say 5 to 10 pm during hot/humid days in July and August? Yes, 5 to 10 pm is still a reasonable window to focus on reducing demand, as those are heavy usage hours, with the highest load concentrated between the 5 to 8 pm time frame. Any efforts to reduce usage during those times will help curb load growth on the island.
When our cable went down earlier this spring, NGRID informed us that load was at 15MW. And that for
most of the year (“off season”), the island uses between 10–20MW, with demand nearly tripling in the peak summer season. This is a little bit different than the 20–30 MW range you mention. Is the 30MW figure something we would see around now (post-Memorial Day)?
D uring the non-summer seasons load hovers between 10-25MW. We see the load increase during the three-month period between the middle of June until the middle of September. Based on historical data, we usually start to see the 30 MW figure at the end of June.
How much interconnected solar is there on the island? There are 5 MW of solar interconnected on Nantucket.
What National Grid’s plans are for modernizing Nantucket’s grid to support increased electrification (and solar interconnections).
National Grid has invested significantly in Nantucket’s grid over the past decade, upgrading Bunker Road generation and adding the battery storage system, installing an eighth circuit on the island, and completing other distribution upgrades including the addition of FLISR (Fault Location Isolation and Service Restoration) to automate the response to certain outage conditions. The company is continuing to invest in these improvements to provide safe and reliable service to Nantucket residents throughout the clean energy transition. Nantucket load growth is continuing to be monitored under the latest electrification forecasts to ensure that the company is able to meet the projected needs of the island as the Commonwealth advances toward its 2050 goals.
Energy and Climate Plans.
By the summer of 2024, public EV Charging Stations will be open to the public at seven municipal properties throughout the island, including:
• Jetties Beach tennis courts
• Surfside Beach
• Nobadeer Farm Rd. Playing Fields
• Washington Street Public Parking Lot
• Nantucket Memorial Airport Terminal Parking Lot
• Public Safety Facility (4 Fairgrounds Rd.)
• Nantucket Health & Natural Resources Department (131 Pleasant Street)
Find a map of all EV-charging stations and view rates by visiting chargepoint.com
To : Bluedot Living
From: The Maria Mitchell Association
Su bject: Celebrate the Horseshoe Crab
This year, the Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) encourages members of the community to celebrate the Atlantic horseshoe crab. Relics of the past, horseshoe crabs have roamed our oceans relatively unchanged for 450 million years. These “crabs” (who aren’t related to true crabs, such as blue crabs) have seen it all. They’ve been a food source, treated as a nuisance species, used as bait, and heralded as ecological staples, especially on the East Coast. The Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) is also important to the biomedical industry. Components from their blue blood are used to test medical equipment for sterility.
The MMA is proud to work with these crucial animals. MMA surveys Monomoy Beach as part of a program hosted by the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries (DMF). Around the new and full moons of May and June at high tides, MMA staff and volunteers counted the horseshoe crabs swarming the beach to mate. The data is sent to DMF to assess the status of the horseshoe crab population. Most of the state’s horseshoe crab harvest happens in Nantucket Sound, so our work on Monomoy Beach will continue to be vital in years to come
In recent years, MMA’s Hinchman House Natural Science Museum started its “Horseshoe Crab Head-Start Program.” Horseshoe crab eggs are gathered and hatched at the museum, where the public can watch their growth and development. One year later, they are released back to their original location. The hope is to provide extra care to hatchlings who face high mortality in the wild. Other young horseshoe crabs are also kept at the museum for several years before being released.
• W hen you see a horseshoe crab on the beach, avoid picking it up by its tail. Often mistaken for stingers, their tails help them move in the water, and if pulled too hard, they can be damaged.
• If you find a horseshoe crab flipped upside down, you can do it a favor by gently flipping it back over so it can make its way back out into the water.
• If you’d like to get up close and personal with these amazing animals, feel free to visit the Maria Mitchell Association Aquarium or Natural Science Museum, where staff will be happy to tell you all about the Atlantic horseshoe crab!
• If you have questions about horseshoe crabs on Nantucket, feel free to email our aquarium director at jdubinsky@mariamitchell.org
We encourage Nantucketers to explore the science and behaviors of these amazing animals. mariamitchell.org/marine-science#HorseshoeCrabs
To : Bluedot Living
From: Claire Martin, Project Manager, Remain
Subject: Creating a Hive of Activity With Shared Commercial Kitchens
Thirty miles out to sea, the island of Nantucket is ripe with a bounty of local produce, a culture that embraces entrepreneurship, and a community eager to support local makers.
Island artisans have a long history of turning local products, ranging from breads and jams to salsas and pickled vegetables, into marketable goods. Despite the warm embrace of entrepreneurship, creativity is a necessity on an island with a lack of affordable, year-round kitchens. From food carts and mobile kitchens to residential cooking counters, the island has seen it all. Makers across the island are regularly having to grapple with the instability that comes with not having adequate space to pursue their passions and grow their business ventures.
Remain founder Wendy Schmidt has long recognized this need within the community and now her vision to create an affordable commercial kitchen for
local food entrepreneurs is becoming a reality with the opening of The Hive at 5 Amelia Drive this summer. The Hive, (bit.ly/Remain-TheHive) owned by Remain Ventures, will open its doors as the first collaborative, commercial kitchen facility and food business incubator on Nantucket. The facility will support a robust economy for small-business food makers and artisans while also providing small farmers an opportunity to extend their crops and revenues beyond the growing season.
“Building on Remain’s work to support local food entrepreneurs with a sustainable business model, The Hive will serve not only as a food incubator but also as a hub for expanding the local and regional system as it supports local farmers and makers,” said Schmidt, founder of Remain Ventures, which purchased and renovated the facility. “Each of the six kitchens will soon be filled with makers collaborating and developing
goods for the community as they tap into the abundance of local produce available across Nantucket and throughout the New England region.”
The renovation and expansion of the space has required a complete re-engineering of the building’s infrastructure, including the installation of a new custom-made electrical panel currently being built to support the electrification of The Hive. The facility for food innovation will include six kitchens that will support production, innovation and demonstration for makers of all types.
“Our team has been working closely with a culinary design specialist group to ensure that each of the kitchens are designed for maximum flexibility to tailor to as many food preparation needs and techniques as possible,” said Jenn King, business and finance manager of Remain. “We are excited to see how The Hive will play a role in helping to ease the burden on small-business owners looking to make and sell everything from pasta to cakes.”
The notion that commercial kitchen space was hard to come by on Nantucket was confirmed by the dozens of interested applicants since The Hive was first announced.
Once The Hive’s doors are opened, any culinary businesses approved by the health department can apply to rent and work from its kitchens. With no long-term lease requirements, makers can purchase hourly bundles they can adjust month to month, allowing for seasonal flexibility.
“The goal is to remove the typical capital intensive start-up costs food entrepreneurs face, such as rental deposits and equipment purchase,” said Karen Macumber, Nantucket entrepreneur and owner of the business the Nantucket Food Group, which will oversee all activities within The Hive. “By
The six kitchens in The Hive are named with a bee-related theme as a reminder that the makers here work in harmony and tap into the abundance of natural resources on Nantucket and across New England
1
The cheery yellow buttercup symbolizes joy and friendship. An excellent source of food for bees and hummingbirds, the buttercup's open-petal design provides an easy landing spot for collecting the floawer's nectar.
2
CLOVER Known as a "lucky plant," clover grows quickly and abundantly and thrives in a variety of conditions. Clover fixes nitrogen in the soil, is a highprotein source of food for animals, and its flowering varieties attract bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
3
BUMBLE BUMBLEBEES are the only bees native to North America that are truly social, forming colonies with a single queen. Bumblebees beat their wings more than 130 times per second, vibrating flowers until they release pollen.
4
Nectar is a sweet liquid produced by plants to encourage pollination and collected by bees to make honey. Forager bees collect nectar and bring it to the hive, where honey bees process the nectar into honey.
5
A honeycomb is one of the most recognizable structures in nature. Bees produce cells of beeswax hexagons — the strongest known shape because it uses the least surface to bear the most weight — to store honey, pollen, and their eggs.
6
The sound of buzzing bees symbolizes a flurry of activity. While the sound is audible to humans, the buzz is actually a vibration felt by the bees as they communicate with one another.
“The Hive will be an exciting new facility on Nantucket and we are looking forward to opening it this summer,” said Cecil Barron Jensen, executive director of Remain. “Food entrepreneurs, caterers and makers will find a home where they can grow, learn from each other and share in the joys and excitement of launching successful business ideas.”
Learn more at bit.ly/Remain-TheHive. The Hive will open in late summer 2024.
fostering a true community of food entrepreneurs who can collaborate, cross-sell products and services and collectively source sustainable packaging, there’s an immediate upside to their bottom line — as well as a benefit to the island economy.”
The collaborative nature of a shared community kitchen allows room for entrepreneurs to be inventive and to try different products, business models, and the latest in packaging, with limited risk. It makes it that much more cost-effective for makers to tap into sustainable alternatives for every facet of their operations than it would if they were doing this on their own. Makers that rent kitchen space at The Hive will have access to bulk ordering of sustainable products and packaging, the latest in recipe costing and waste management technology and the convenience of a central operator that will manage and maintain clean, safe, and fully compliant kitchens.
The Hive also presents an opportunity for farmers to take their surplus produce and turn it into value-added, shelf-stable food products that can then be sold back to the community.
“With the inclusion of specialized equipment such as a dehydrator and tomato press, produce can be preserved beyond harvest and then used later by makers in The Hive,” Macumber said. “This means the communal kitchen is sourcing more local ingredients and also simultaneously creating less waste.”
By working with both makers and farmers in this way, The Hive will help to support a sustainable and local circular food economy. Once the building officially opens its doors this summer, the public will be welcome to purchase and take away prepared foods such as canned and jarred fruits and vegetables, relishes, pickles, fresh salsas, sauces, dips, chocolate, fudge and cheeses. The public can also observe the makers preparing products from the building's central common space or simply enjoy their prepared foods at tables on the screened porch facing Amelia Drive.
To : Bluedot Living
From: Sara Bois, Ph.D., Director of Research and Education at the Linda Loring Nature Foundation
Subject: Pheno Champions! The Linda Loring Nature Foundation Wins Award
This past spring the Linda Loring Nature Foundation (LLNF; llnf.org) was recognized for excellence in phenological research and outreach with an award from the National Phenology Network. The National Phenology Network named LLNF as PhenoChampions for their work in observing, recording, and educating the public about phenology. Phenology is the timing and cyclical patterns of events in the natural world, particularly those related to the annual life cycles of plants, animals, and other living things. These natural events include the budding of leaves in spring, the arrival of migratory birds, insect hatch, and the flowering of plants. Phenology is a vital field of ecological research that helps us understand how organisms respond to environmental cues such as temperature, day length, and rainfall, and how climate change can impact these seasonal changes.
For the past ten years, LLNF has studied the phenology of a diversity of plant species including common, native shrubs that are signature species of the Nantucket landscape.
Phenology is a key part of the research program at Linda Loring Nature Foundation. Across the 275acre property on Eel Point Road, eight micro-sites are monitored for changes in native shrubs like Black Cherry, Bayberry, Low-bush Blueberry, and Scrub Oak, among other species. These sites also have sensors to record temperature data and a weather station records sitespecific climatic information such as precipitation and relative humidity. LLNF also collaborates on an islandwide phenology project with Northern
Kentucky University researcher Dr. Yingying Xi, investigating native versus invasive shrub phenology on Nantucket.
The National Phenology Network selected LLNF for the PhenoChampion Award to recognize the work developing long-term phenology dataset, their dedication to
teaching students about phenology, and engagement of the public in learning about climate change impacts. Each year, interns, volunteers, students, and staff collect data and contribute to the success of this program.
Thank you to the dozens of people who have supported our phenology program over the last ten years.
“The USA National Phenology Network exists to collect, store, and share phenology data and information to aid in scientific discovery, decision-making, and
understanding by the public. The USANPN would not be able to accomplish this goal without the support of Local Phenology Programs like Linda Loring Nature Foundation and Local Phenology Leaders like Dr. Sarah Bois. These Programs are essential in teaching their local volunteers, students, and members of the public about phenology and supporting them in collecting high-quality data.”
- Erin Posthumus, Partnerships & Projects Manager, USA National Phenology Network
The phenology research at LLNF is a cornerstone of the climate change and phenology educational programming at LLNF which often includes hands-on field experiences. This outreach opportunity perfectly encompasses the LLNF’s goals in education and research: to share realworld research with the community, and for the education programs to incorporate projects happening “on the ground” at LLNF.
LLNF also recently received a grant from the Nantucket Garden Club which will be used to help create additional interpretive signage and other materials to highlight phenology and encourage others to join in the data collection.
If you are interested in participating in phenology data collection with LLNF or in your own backyard, check out the information on our website (lnf.org/phenology) or contact Director of Research and Education, Dr. Sarah Bois, to learn more about how you can participate (stbois@llnf.org).
To : Bluedot Living
From: Town of Nantucket, Natural Resources Department; Assistant Biologist, Griffin Harkins
Subject: “Shuck it for Nantucket” Shell Recycling 30 Miles Out at Sea
Over the past several decades there has been a stark decline in prevalence of wild oyster reefs along the East Coast of the United States. This decline has been largely due to historically unsustainable wild harvest methods and habitat destruction that ultimately led to oyster shells being permanently removed from the water. Oyster shells are the foundation for oyster reefs, and when wild harvest on reefs occurs and shells aren’t returned, oyster larvae lose a preferred substrate to set and develop on. The disappearance of many coastal oyster reef systems has made it even more apparent that oyster reefs were instrumental in providing valuable ecosystem services. Many know of the incredible filtration ability of oysters, where one oyster can filter roughly 50 gallons of seawater a day; however, many overlook the plethora of other ecosystem services they provide, such as coastline protection from storm surges, increased habitat and biodiversity, food creation, sediment retention/seashore stabilization, carbon burial, and more.
The island’s shell recycling journey started in 2014 to address this issue. While many existing oyster reef restoration projects aim to restore once existent oyster reef systems at a large scale, on Nantucket the goals are slightly different.
Nantucket is unique in the sense that there were not plentiful, extensive oyster beds throughout our waterways like much of the East Coast, largely due to the sandy structure of the island. Wild oysters can still be found on Nantucket attached to certain hard structures, but there are no wild oyster reefs in existence today, nor were there any largescale reefs throughout the island. So the goal of Nantucket Island’s Shell Recycling Program is to preserve a limited resource (the oyster shell) to leverage the ecosystem functions of an applied oyster reef to address a specific ecosystem concern within Nantucket’s waterways. Since 2014, the community has worked with the Town of Nantucket’s Natural Resources Department
The Town of Nantucket has a robust shell recycling program.
to recycle oyster shells.To date, over 500,000 pounds of oyster shells have been recycled from more than 20 Island restaurants and raw bars, keeping them from entering the landfill. Over a hundred thousand pounds of recycled shell was used from 2017 to 2020 to create Nantucket’s first oyster reef restoration project in Shimmo Creek (a saltwater creek connected to Nantucket Harbor), and it gave the Town of Nantucket’s Natural Resources Department valuable insight into what works and what does not work as far as implementing an oyster reef restoration project on-island. The Natural Resources Department operates a state-of-the-art shellfish hatchery located on Brant Point. Here they can produce millions of oyster larvae and rear them to the appropriate life stage to then set them directly on recycled oyster shells. Loose oyster shells from the Town’s shell recycling pile are bagged up in large diameter mesh “shell bags,” where they form a more rigid structure that aids in retaining the oyster reefs shape in the water. In the Town’s hatchery, oyster larvae have been set on loose shell and shell bags. This process is done to “kick start” an oyster restoration project by providing a stock of oysters already growing on the recycled shell,
so when they start reproducing in the wild their larvae will then recruit and set on the abundance of recycled shell around them.
The Town’s Natural Resources Department has also collaborated with other island organizations to implement an oyster reef, and to provide education to the community on the importance of shell recycling and oyster reef restoration. Currently, there is a large surplus of oyster shells curing at the Town’s shell pile. Shells must cure for at least a year prior to being reintroduced to Nantucket’s waterways.
Being an island 30 miles out at sea, Nantucket must rely on its community to recycle and preserve oyster shells, as shipping barge loads of shell is not practical or sustainable for the long term. The Town of Nantucket’s Natural Resources Department continues to investigate ways to strategically implement restorative oyster reefs around the Island that will provide the highest potential for ecosystem services. In the meantime, Town shell recycling technicians will aim to recycle at least 50,000 pounds of shell a summer season to maintain a plentiful stock of oyster shells.
For more information, visit nantucket-ma. gov/1425/Shell-Recycling-Program
Recipe by Karen Covey
Photo by Jennifer Jeanne Johnson
Yield: Serves 12
Try this refreshing combination of local oysters and strawberries as the basis for this mignonette. Recipe by Karen Covey, author of The Coastal Table: Recipes Inspired by the Farmlands and Seaside of Southern New England.
12 freshly shucked oysters, for serving
2 Tbsps shallot, finely minced
2 Tbsps minced strawberries
2 Tbsps champagne or white wine vinegar Kosher salt, to taste Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1. Place shallot, strawberries, and vinegar in a bowl and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir until combined. Cover and chill until ready to serve.
2. To serve, add a dollop of mignonette to each oyster just before serving.
“They’re amazing at making mud. They just strip the ground clear.”
–Tobias Glidden
Tobias Glidden and Dylan Wallace are bringing local meat to the island, and clearing land to grow more food.
Over the last four years, Tobias Glidden has been breeding a rare and historic type of pig on Nantucket: the American Guinea Hog. They’re small, they’re gentle, they have black bristly fur — and they’re extremely productive at tilling soil and clearing land for farming and gardening. Their meat is also highly flavorful and notably nutritious.
Eight of Tobias’s guinea hogs grazed a plot of land on his family’s property on a
Story by Britt Bowker Photos by Sam Moore
recent sunny afternoon, under the panels of a solar tracker that powers his home. Tobias, a fifth-generation Nantucketer, is the co-owner of ACK Smart Solar, the only solar panel installation company on the island. The pigs stayed cool under the shade of the solar tracker’s pedestal as they chowed down on vegetation, keeping it from growing up around the panels — playing their part in a practice known as agrivoltaics — when land is used for both agriculture and solar energy generation.
But Tobias began breeding the pigs
primarily as a hobby. His first litter of piglets was born in October 2023, and it was the first time pigs were born and bred on the island in the last 50 or so years, Tobias told me.
The American Guinea Hog is one of the oldest heritage breeds of domestic pig in the United States, dating back to the 1800s. They have excellent foraging skills, and thrive on a variety of plant material, grubs, and insects, using their flexible snouts to root and dig around for food. They help control pests, till
PHOTO BY BRITT BOWKER
Another Nantucketer, Dylan Wallace (owner of Eat Fire Farm), and his wife Caroline thought that what Tobias was doing was cool, so they picked up some piglets of their own last year.
compost, and garden soil. The Livestock Conservancy lists the pigs as threatened. “We’re working on bringing back the breed,” Tobias said, adding that “they’re amazing at making mud. They just strip the ground clear.”
Which is great for creating land for gardens and farms. Tobias moves the pigs around every few weeks, and has them till soil and create areas for growing food. He hopes to someday partner with the Land Bank, and bring his pigs to their properties when they need help clearing invasive species for parks or farms.
“Things like knotweed have roots that go pretty deep,” said Jesse Bell, executive director of the Nantucket Land Bank. With invasive species removal, they want to limit their use of chemicals, especially in sensitive areas close to wetlands. “If we have the option of trying pigs first, we’re definitely open to that.”
restaurants, and retailers come by to drop off scraps for them to eat. Back at Tobias’s property, a boar, sow, and six pigs wiggled their curly tails as we approached their pen. A neighbor came over with a bag of the week’s food waste, and tossed them scraps of broccoli, cabbage, and pomegranate.
frozen chicken, beef, and sausage sold in stores is raised elsewhere and shipped from off-island. But the American Guinea Hogs being raised and bred on the island are changing that.
Tobias’s pigs also help minimize the amount of food waste going into the trash, when community members,
“Instead of stuff going to the dump to rot, that food is turned into meat, and more importantly, organic and grass-fed [meat],” Tobias said over the satisfied snorts of his pigs. “Plus, they bring a lot of joy and happiness.”
There’s no locally-raised meat sold wholesale on Nantucket. Prepackaged
Dylan Wallace, another native Nantucketer and the owner of Eat Fire Farm (and a childhood friend of Tobias’s), recently acquired American Guinea Hogs of his own. He and his wife Caroline thought what Tobias was doing was cool, and they were inspired to pick up piglets last year from a breeder outside of Athol (albeit two weeks before Caroline gave birth to their daughter). Their main goal with the pigs, in addition to helping them manage their land, is to bring local meat to Nantucket. In July, their pigs will be sent to a slaughter facility off-Island where they’ll be processed, packaged, and then shipped back to the island as pre-packaged pork. Caroline explained how there’s no licensed slaughter facility on Nantucket, so in order for locally-raised pigs to be sold wholesale on the island, they need to be shipped to the mainland for processing.
“Our hope is to do sausage with our herb blend,” Caroline said, adding that Eat Fire Farm has a wholesale license for their farm products, and they hope to send their herb blends to be processed with the pork. Tobias, meanwhile, butchers his pigs on the island for himself and friends. He can’t sell the meat wholesale, but said he hopes to be able to someday.
While pigs can’t be processed for wholesale on Nantucket, smaller animals like chickens and rabbits can. For years, Dylan has tried to start a mobile poultry processing (MPP) unit, and he’s been awaiting approvals from the island’s health department.
“The state has a program where you can have a mobile slaughter unit that’s exempt from Food and Drug
Administration inspections if it’s under a certain amount of birds,” Dylan said. “Once we get through the permitting with the local health department, then we’d be able to sell locally raised and processed chicken. … It’s a dream of ours.”
People will hopefully start seeing Dylan and Caroline’s locally raised pork on store shelves in the months ahead.
“We’re working toward it. But we have a lot of logistics to work through, being the first time,” Caroline said. They hope to offer it at the farmers market, to specialty stores, and they might start a CSA. There are future plans to potentially breed one of their pigs with Tobias’s. It’s all part of an effort to build more self-sufficient food systems on Nantucket.
“With chickens and pigs, people don’t know where their food comes from anymore. I just think the more connected people could be with their food, the less meat they would probably eat, and the more selective they would be about it.”
–Dylan Wallace, owner of Eat Fire Farm
“With chickens and pigs, people don’t know where their food comes from anymore,” Dylan said. “I just think the more connected people could be with their food, the less meat they would probably eat, and the more selective they would be about it.”
“It’s an act of love more than anything,” Caroline said. “It’s expensive to raise these pigs and bring them off-island. It’s not so much of a money thing as it is wanting to bring local meat and doing it in a loving way.”
Plus, the pork is delicious. Tobias shared one of his favorite ways to serve it:
“My go-to is to take a shoulder or a rump or any kind of cut of meat, 5 to 8 pounds, cover it with salt and pepper and ground fresh chiles. Put it in the oven at 230 degrees for 6 to 7 hours, or 7 to 8 hours. Fat will render out and you can eat it straight. Eat it with whatever vegetables you’d like. Pasta, rice, you name it.”
American Guinea Hogs help minimize the amount of food waste on the island.
“We’re working on bringing back the breed,” –Tobias Glidden,
It takes a village to build a self-reliant food system.
Nestled within the windswept scrub pines and sandplains of Nantucket’s south shore are acres and acres of amazing, hard-earned soil. From it, the island gets delicious tomatoes, corn, and strawberries from Bartlett’s Farm and Market. It gets cabbage and carrots from Washashore Farm; herbs and blackberries from Eat Fire Farm; lettuce and radishes from Fog Town Farm — plus whatever else is
Story by Britt Bowker Photos by Sam Moore
growing on the community farm at 168 Hummock Pond Rd, also known as Sustainable Nantucket Farm.
Sustainable Nantucket is a nonprofit that supports local farmers by leasing plots of land to them on its eight-acre property, which is owned by the Nantucket Land Bank. Its honor-based farmstand out front is often busy with people browsing the freshest harvests from the community farm. Sustainable Nantucket’s mission is to preserve the character of the community, while sustaining its
“You have to develop different markets for the season. You have a summer season where it’s this crazy peak, and then it’s about building that fall season, which is about local people, the school system.”
– Dan Southey, Washashore Farm
economic and environmental vitality. Its community farm model speaks to the specific challenges that come with farming on Nantucket, including weather, cost of supplies, housing for employees, and access to land. The nonprofit has introduced initiatives to help make farming more accessible, including their Walter F. Ballinger Mentor Farmer Program, which was established in 2015 to encourage people who want to consider farming as an avocation and try it out on eighth of an acre plots, where they can work and learn alongside professional “mentor” farmers who also work on the property.
Diame Martinez is in her third year in Sustainable Nantucket’s Mentor Farmer Program. Drive by any morning between 6 and 10, and she’s likely out there, tending her flowers on one of the front plots. Diame is also a full-time gardener and a single mom, originally from the Dominican Republic. Her farm, Peace + Bliss Farm, is mostly a flower farm, but she’s adding some beets and tomatoes this year. She graduates as a mentee at the end
Produce from Sustainable Nantucket's community farm is for sale at the farmer's market.
able to farm for herself full time.
“That’s what I’m working toward,” Diame told me one morning amid her rows of budding calendulas, cosmos, and lilies. “I love it. I love to be here. I love all the farmers. They love to teach. They really are ready for any question you have.”
point in my life, I wanted to have my own business and not work for somebody else. It’s hard out here. Brick and mortars are really expensive. This was an opportunity to try and do that on my own.”
Sustainable Nantucket leases the eighth-acre plots to aspiring farmers for
“I love to be here. I love all the farmers. They love to teach. They really are ready for any question you have.”
–Diame Martinez, Peace + Bliss Farm
A few plots back is Dan Southey’s nearly two acres that make up Washashore Farm. Dan was a mentee himself during the Mentor Farmer Program’s first year. Now, he’s a full-time farmer with dozens of clients and one of the island’s most efficient farms. He does all the washing, bagging, packaging, and deliveries himself. Dan worked in hospitality prior to trying farming.
“I liked the problem-solving part of it and the observation,” Dan said, reflecting on what it was like getting started. “At that
less than $200 for the entire growing season, and that includes access to all the shared tools, equipment, and greenhouses on the property. Plus, the hands-on learning.
Dylan Wallace is the owner of Eat Fire Farm and Eat Fire Pizza. He grew up on the island, has farmed for more than 20 years, and helped start the farmers market as well as Sustainable Nantucket’s community farm. He was the Mentor Farmer Program’s original mentor, and helped write the manual that
requires all the farmers there to follow organic practices, including organic compost, fertilizers, pest management, covering cropping, “and everything that goes with doing right by the land,” said Posie Constable, managing director of Sustainable Nantucket. “We’re very close to wetlands, and we wanted to make sure that we maintained the condition of the property in the best possible way.”
Eat Fire Farm leases just under two acres from Sustainable Nantucket’s community farm, and has another two acres at Dylan’s home, where he and his wife Caroline live with their one-yearold daughter. (Their staff lives upstairs.)
Dylan and Caroline are finalizing a lease with the Nantucket Land Bank to get an additional five acres, where they’ll continue to grow herbs, perennial produce, and blackberries. Dylan
If more land is being made available to grow food on Nantucket, there’s also concern about food waste, and making sure what’s grown doesn’t end up in the trash. But many island organizations are working together on this.
One effort from local retailer Pip & Anchor directs produce from farms like Washashore and Fog Town into food boxes that they distribute to at least 80 foodinsecure families on the island.
“This helps agriculture and while also helping feed the community that needs it most,” said Chris Sleeper, co-owner and co-founder of Pip & Anchor, adding that the program is run in conjunction with Nourishing Nantucket.
Pip & Anchor sells products and produce from local farmers and also directs produce from farms into food boxes for local families.
The nonprofit organization Remain is also working on creating commercial kitchens to turn produce from farms into valueadded products (See story about the Hive, page 18). There are also renewed efforts to direct produce from farms into the hospital, senior centers, and food pantries.
explained how having additional land will allow them to expand on their valueadded products such as jams, vinegars, honeys, and solar-evaporated sea salt.
“It’s an important part of a small farm’s finances. It helps you get through harder seasons,” he told me. “If you have a bad season, usually you’re growing things to preserve and add value to, and you’re selling it the next season. You have a little cushion in what you can sell.”
In addition to the five acres the Land Bank recently granted to Eat Fire Farm, they also gave two acres to Dan Southey’s Washashore Farm, and another two acres to Aidan Feeney, owner of Fog Town Farm, who also mentors on Sustainable Nantucket’s community farm and leases about two acres of land from them. Aidan also grew up on the island, and moved back to start his business with his wife, Natasha, in 2019, after managing farms in New York.
“I’m hyper-focused on crop selection, just because I’m on small acreage,” Aidan said, “To make a living on a limited amount of land, I need to think about how much space a crop takes up, and how much money I can make with that given space.”
Prior to the Land Bank’s recent push to give more land to local farmers, Aidan
would have said access to land was the biggest challenge he faces as a farmer on the island.
“Some of that is being addressed, which is awesome,” he said, adding that he now sees labor and cost of supplies as the biggest farming obstacles.
“It’s really hard to have employees if you don’t have housing. And a lot of times it’s hard to just get housing for yourself,” he said.
island harder. “We don’t charge more than, say, someone in a Boston market charges, so we kind of just eat those costs of labor and inputs, I think,” Aidan said.
And the weather on Nantucket brings its own challenges. Windy, cold springs make it hard to get crops started outside without greenhouses.
“It takes a long time to get things going,” Dan Southey said, adding that island soil is at least 20 degrees colder than
“To make a living on a limited amount of land, I need to think about how much space a crop takes up, and how much money I can make with that given space.” –Aiden Feeney, Fog Town Farm
And when it comes to paying employees, it’s challenging to compete with other trades on the island. “Landscapers start at $25 an hour and it goes up from there,” Aidan said.
The cost of getting supplies over via freight boat also makes farming on the
Agriculture is one of the three pillars of the Nantucket Land Bank’s mission, alongside conservation and recreation. But until recently, the governing group hadn’t done much for agriculture.
The Land Bank recently revamped its efforts to support agriculture and new farms.
“There’s a contingent of young, very hard-working farmers on the island who are looking for additional land to grow on,” said Jesse Bell, executive director of the Land Bank. “And there’s been just an interest in general in having more locally sourced foods available, because otherwise it’s coming over on the boat and the freshness factor is not there.”
In addition to giving nine acres of its Mount Vernon Farm property off Hummock Pond Road to Dan, Aidan, and Dylan, it also agreed to install fencing, power, and water on the property to help the farmers get started on the land. The Land Bank also granted an additional three acres to Aidan and Fog Town Farm last year.
“We’re giving them land and the basic level of infrastructure that they need to create a farm,” Bell said.
The Land Bank plans to hire a full-time agriculture specialist this year to help maintain their new push for agriculture.
soil on the mainland. But fewer frosts and temperate falls means the season extends a bit longer after peaking in July and August, when farmers are busiest, filling ongoing orders for their large restaurant accounts.
“You have to develop different markets for the season,” Dan said. “You have a summer season where it’s this crazy peak, and then it’s about building that fall season, which is about local people, the school system.”
Sustainable Nantucket gets grant funding to buy produce from all the island farms to get healthier, tastier locally-grown food into the school lunch program. The organization also offers a “state of agriculture” class at the Nantucket High School, where they hope to attract new farmers. Posie Constable wants to eventually offer a paid internship program for aspiring farmers.
“It’s super hard, farming. And I think people come here to learn that,” Posie said. “But people who are passionate and do it well really are our saviors, I think. I couldn’t be more proud of what these guys do.”
Dan Southey reflected on how hard it is starting a first-generation farm.
“There’s a reason there’s so many generational farms, because it’s not
a business that you just get off the ground and running quickly,” he said. “You have to wear every single hat. You’re a farmer, but also a salesperson, your web person, your marketing person, and your delivery driver.”
And this crop of farmers’ ability to collaborate rather than compete is worth noting. When the Land Bank was considering applications for its Mount Vernon property, “we prioritized applications that were cooperative,” said Jesse Bell, executive director of the Nantucket Land Bank. Dylan, Dan, and Aidan “all got together and figured it out. They worked it out amongst themselves in what areas they wanted.”
“We want to be diverse and not as competitive,” Dylan said. “We’re trying to do things that are different, but complement other people.”
At Eat Fire Farm, for example, Dylan stays away from growing the big cash crops like lettuce to make space for other farmers on the island to do so.
Once Dylan, Dan, and Aidan are able to successfully grow on the new Land Bank land, Posie said she plans to slowly
Dan Southey raises ducks at Washashore Farm on Hummock Pond Road.
and methodically move them off plots on the community farm so she can reclaim the land and “start collecting some new farmers, because right now, I don’t have any room to do that,” she said.
All of the mentor farmers at Sustainable Nantucket’s community farm dedicate a few hours per month to teaching workshops and helping mentees. This year, in addition to Diame, TT Semaha also has an eighth-of-an-acre plot at the community farm. He’s focused on growing greens and produce for
Sustainable Nantucket's Farm Guide highlights all of the farms on the island.
Caribbean-inspired cuisine.
The success of the Mentor Farmer Program has been incremental, and about 15 to 20 people have gone through the program so far. But it’s made farming accessible to people like Dan Southey that it otherwise might not have been.
“Figuring out what it means to farm on an island and the resources that the farmers need — you just don’t really know these answers going in,” Dan said. “It’s all been a process. But it’s been a really community-based endeavor and I feel like a big success.
And it’s nice to be a part of.”
• This simple recipe can be slightly elevated by adding a quick squeeze of lemon juice and a dusting of lemon zest or parmesan cheese.
• This roasted fennel dish is delicious mixed into pasta, served underneath grilled local fish, or topped on pizza!
• If cooking multiple recipes in the oven, you can tailor the thickness of fennel slices or length of time in the oven to match the oven temperature.
A simple recipe to prepare that is elegant on its own or combined into another dish. The fennel transforms into a buttery vegetable with a subtle and sweet flavor.
2 fennel bulbs
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 - 2 Tbsps extra virgin olive oil, or sunflower oil
Eat Fire Farm Herbs of Nantucket Sea Salt
1. Preheat the oven and prepare the baking sheet: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Prepare the fennel: Trim the root end of the fennel bulb and cut the stalks off. Pick one tablespoon of fennel fronds and set aside for garnishing. Then slice each bulb into ¼-inch slices. Rinse fennel slices and pat dry.
3. Season the fennel: Place the fennel slices in a bowl and add the oil, minced garlic, and Eat Fire Farm’s Herbs of Nantucket Sea Salt. Toss gently with your hands to thoroughly coat the fennel.
4. Roast the fennel: Spread the fennel slices out on the prepared baking sheet, avoid overlapping. Brush any remaining seasoning mixture over the sliced fennel. Roast until the slices have turned caramelized on the edges and tender, about 35-45 minutes. Turn fennel slices over about halfway through.
5. Serve and enjoy: Transfer the fennel to a serving dish. Garnish with reserved fronds, and serve warm.
Editor’s Note: Dylan and Caroline Wallace own Eat Fire Farm and Eat Fire Pizza — a partnership of artists following their passion for regenerative farming and cooking. Their farming efforts are focused on growing blackberries, herbs, perennial produce, and cut flowers, as well as producing honey, preserved goods, and solar evaporated sea salt. Following this passion for cooking, they operate Nantucket's only mobile wood fire ovens. In their spare time, they love going for swims at Monomoy with their daughter Rosemary and dog Opa. 19 Nobadeer Farm Road; eatfire.farm
More than 50 percent of Nantucket’s land has been conserved. I took a journey across the island to appreciate the sheer acreage, and to ask: What’s next?
EEarly one morning in May, I arrived at the Sankaty Head Beach Club, perched atop crumbling bluffs on the island’s eastern shore. The clubhouse, with its collection of outbuildings and a pool, had recently filed a permit for demolition — an appointment with destiny in the face of relentless coastal erosion.
It may be the end of the line for the club, but a sign in the parking lot marks the beginning of an entirely different, more adaptable island establishment: the Coast to Coast trail, which starts here and
wends its way for 24 miles through some of Nantucket’s most diverse landscapes.
As the fog rolled in to extinguish the morning sun, I set off west to see as much of the trail as I could.
On this 50-square-mile triangle of land, 30 miles out to sea, more than half of the landscape is protected for conservation. That figure already exceeds the ambitious goal set by the Biden administration (30 percent of the United States by 2030), and even measures up to the most audacious
plans set forth by conservationists, like biologist E.O. Wilson’s vision of a ‘half earth’ covered by protected areas.
The Coast to Coast trail includes land managed by nearly all of the land trusts and nonprofits endemic to Nantucket. Despite their relative success, the people charged with stewardship of this extensive landscape aren’t sitting idle, and the organizations they belong to are watching the future closely. I called on members of their staff to guide me along my path.
As the fog rolled in to extinguish the morning sun, I set off west to see as much of the trail as I could.
The trail begins on the sandy paths of Mass Audubon's Sesachacha Heathlands.
“I always love, if you start early in the morning, the way that the mist hangs over the east side,” says Neil Foley, an Interpretive Education Coordinator and Ecologist at the Nantucket Conservation Foundation (NCF). The NCF, founded in 1963, owns nearly a third of the Island. Foley, who helped design an app (ACKTrails) for navigating the island’s many paths, often leads group hikes on the Coast to Coast trail, including one for people over 60 each fall.
From the beach club, the trail winds into the Sesachacha Heathlands, a Mass Audubon property with rolling, treeless shrubland as far as the eye can see. It’s coastal heathland, the first but not the only example of a globally rare habitat on this walk. Huckleberry and scrub oak extended low as far as I could see in the dense mist.
Elemental forces shaped the biology here, but historical forces did too, and the trail passes through landscapes that were once the heart of a busy agricultural economy.
“The first section surprises me every single time. It's gorgeous. Especially later in the fall when the foliage starts to change,” Foley told me. The sanctuary is also home to a plant found only on Nantucket, Bicknell’s Hawthorne. Less than a hundred individuals remain here and nowhere else.
As the sandy path narrowed, I passed flowering shadbush and green clumps of heather, then crossed onto Nantucket Land Bank property: Stump Pond Preserve. Here the trail rose into
a ridgeline where the trees became gnarlier, bearded by explosions of green lichen, before dropping down to pondlevel and a view of the water.
“As a botanist, I love gradients,” says Rachael Freeman, Director of Operational Resources for the Land Bank. “When you start at the coastline, you come through these sandplain habitats, with plants that are super exposed to salt water and salt spray and wind, and then you work your way back to shrublands and then up into the trees.”
Freeman has a special affinity for the wetlands down by the pond. “I absolutely love the tupelo and red maple swamps, with the giant cinnamon fern underneath,” she says. “Plants are defined by environmental parameters that set the niche where they can survive. That's just fascinating to me, and you see it everywhere. You see it in elevation, in geology, in the glacial history of the island.”
Elemental forces shaped the biology here, but historical forces did too, and the trail passes through landscapes that were once the heart of a busy agricultural economy. Stump Pond gets its name from the literal stumps of the red maple trees beneath its surface, cut down to make a reservoir for the Windswept Cranberry Bog next door. The bog produced cranberries commercially from the early 1900s until 2019, but is now being restored
to a wilder state by the NCF under a massive wetlands grant.
The island’s agricultural legacy shows up in other property names along the trail: after Stump Pond, I passed through the Land Bank’s ‘Beechwood Farm,’ the NCF’s ‘Norwood Farm,’ and Mass Audubon’s ‘Lost Farm,’ to name a few. Later I would find myself in ‘Sheep Pasture’ and ‘Ram Pasture.’ Even Sesachacha Heathlands, where I started, was home to a flock of about 500 sheep until the 1950s, a holdover from the nearly 15,000 that roamed Nantucket during its grazing heyday in the 19th century.
“So much of Nantucket was once large-scale farms that exceeded 100 acres,” Freeman told me. “We’re not talking 1890 — one of the major farms at Wauwinet was sold off in the 1970s. There was a pretty substantial farming community here for a long time.”
Around mid-morning I arrived at the Middle Moors, which, at more than 4,000 acres, is the largest piece of undeveloped open land on Nantucket.
“We like to call it our living laboratory,” says Jen Karberg, an ecologist and the Director of Research and Partnerships for the NCF. “There's no better place to do research than on a contained island, and we have 9,000 acres to be able to ask questions and hopefully provide solutions or information to other places that are struggling with the same ones.”
By the time I climbed Altar Rock, one of the highest points on the island, the fog had burned off and I was sweltering in the dry, sandy expanse. Grasslands and shrublands rolled away in all directions along undulating dirt roads, and in the distant haze I could make out the long barrier beach at Coatue.
“Our weather patterns are definitely shifting,” says Karberg. “We used to have a lot more moisture through the summer. If you talk to some of the people who grew up here, they tell you the fog would roll off around nine or ten in the morning, and then it would come back in around two. That humidity was always in the air, and you'd maybe get two or three hot weeks in August. Now we tend to have these hot, dry summers with most of our moisture coming in the late winter months.”
This new pattern, coupled with quick-draining sandy soils, means much of the island is very dry. There were two wildfires in the week that I visited, and climate change carries other implications for the life that flourishes here.
“What does that mean for when the plants leaf out and flower, for when the insects are there to pollinate them, and for when the birds come along to eat the insects? All the timing of our ecological cycles is going to shift and we're not exactly sure yet what that's going to look like,” Karberg says.
“We have a full-time, year-round ecology research staff, which is really unusual for a land trust. We do research projects geared toward: What is the management that we're doing and how does that impact things? What's the
“All the timing of our ecological cycles is going to shift and we're not exactly sure yet what that's going to look like.”
– Jen Karberg, Nantucket Conservation Foundation
change that we're seeing? We can't set things back to what they were 20 years ago. So how are we adapting what we're doing in response to climate change?”
The hotter, drier weather, and extreme property liability limit the opportunity for controlled fire, which conservation groups use elsewhere to maintain open landscapes like the Moors. Scientists across the island are exploring other options. “We're trying a lot of mowing and other management techniques, and seeing how the plants respond to that,” says Karberg.
In addition to rare species and an extensive grassland known as ‘the Serengeti,’ the Middle Moors hold treasured patches of blueberry and huckleberry and pockets of kettle-hole wetland created by the last ice age.
When I got to Altar Rock, a fourth grade class from the Nantucket New School was learning about glacial moraines. ‘Where does the word glacier come from?’ one of them asked.
The word came from Latin (glaciēs), and the ice came from the north, scraping to a halt right about here, where it left a hilly pile of debris.
“The glacier stopped right in the middle of the island,” says Karberg. “So the eastern end and the Middle Moors are all end moraine, all rolling, big deposition.”
The trail turns south as it leaves the Moors, down through more Land Bank property and then on a beeline along the periphery of the state forest, leaving the
moraine behind as it flattens into another kind of glacial topography: the vast, sandy outwash plain formed by water flowing off the ice sheet when it melted.
I passed the Wannacomet Water Company, which draws public drinking water up from the aquifer that sits beneath the surface of the island. This fresh water, a lens resting on the saltwater below, is recharged by rainfall, except for the deepest parts which contain another ice age relic: ancient water from the last glacial period.
This part of the trail is the most developed, and my passage through the heart of town drove home the value of all the open space behind and ahead of me. In the case of Nantucket’s delicate, highly permeable drinking water supply, the buffering and filtration provided by all this conservation land is literally the stuff of life.
After an interlude of bike path and road, the trail runs south, alongside Miacomet Pond and through the Land Bank’s Burchell Farm to the sweeping south shore vistas of the Smooth Hummocks preserve. I was beginning my long finale, through a stretch of nearly continuous conservation land that covers not only a big chunk of the outwash plain, with its distinctive sandplain grasslands, but miles of
undeveloped beachfront too.
“Sandplain grasslands are exceedingly rare worldwide,” Freeman told me. “They are very unique, early successional habitats that are home to a wide variety of rare and endangered plants and animals, species that are primarily rare and endangered because their habitat is. We’re really fortunate to have such a large contiguous acreage on Nantucket.”
This is a critical habitat in its own right — for rare plants, nesting birds, moths and butterflies — but here it also provides thousands of acres of backstop to a shoreline that is very much on the move. “Smooth Hummocks in
By the time I climbed Altar Rock, the fog had burned off and I was sweltering in the dry, sandy expanse. Grasslands and shrublands rolled away in all directions along undulating dirt roads, and in the distant haze I could make out the long barrier beach at Coatue.
The beach at the end of Miacomet Pond, where the trail meets the south shore.
A tree swallow on a bird box at the Linda Loring Nature Foundation.
One of several temperature loggers tracking changes in micro-climate at the Linda Loring Nature Foundation.
particular is already showing signs of erosion,” Freeman said. “We’re starting to have to move parking lots back. The Land Bank is taking more of a retreat approach, in that we're not necessarily trying to stop erosion, but we’re trying to live with it, and evolve with it. Having a large acreage of conservation land provides an opportunity for some buffer zones.”
A winter storm can have a major overnight effect in a place like this, and this year was a rough one, according to the NCF’s Jen Karberg, who specializes in coastal ecology. “All of our winter storms came from the southwest, for some reason. So we saw a lot more erosion on our southern shores, a lot more washover of sand dunes into our ponds than we've seen in probably about seven years.”
The beach was steep, and breaking waves surged unpredictably far up the sand, shimmering in the sun. Green beach grass grew like a short haircut right up to where the dunes dropped off to meet the berm.
Rolling surf pounded the shore as I crested the dunes on the south end of Smooth Hummocks. The beach was steep, and breaking waves surged unpredictably far up the sand, shimmering in the sun. Green beach grass grew like a short haircut right up to where the dunes dropped off to meet the berm. It was a transitional time of year, Freeman told me. “The summer beaches are different from the spring beaches in the way that they have built out. There’s an angle of repose in the summer which we don't see in the winter.”
The long, linear ponds the trail crosses on the south shore — Miacomet, Hummock, Clark Cove, and Long, from east to west — are what remain of the icy rivers that flowed out of the melting glacier. Carving valleys from north to south, each river was eventually plugged by sand pushed north by the rising sea. Some don’t exist anymore except as topography. “A lot of our old glacial valleys have filled in and are not open water ponds anymore,” Karberg says. “A lot of them are wetlands.”
Right now, Miacomet and Clark Cove are mostly freshwater. Hummock is brackish, maintained by breaching the barrier beach, and Long Pond is basically an estuary, connected by a 400-year-old ditch to Madaket Harbor. When the mix of freshwater to salt is changed, by people or nature, there are cascading consequences for the ecosystem. Climate change puts those who manage this landscape at a juncture: resist or adapt.
“We have these philosophical discussions about resiliency,” says Karberg. “Do we put in a lot of effort to hold shorelines in place when there's a lot of conserved land behind them? Or is that the gift of having conservation land: letting those shorelines adapt on their own and then focusing protection on the places where we have buildings and infrastructure that we need? That's something we're going to have to decide as an island. Where do we hold the line?”
Leaving Smooth Hummocks, the trail follows the bike path up Hummock Pond Road, where it dips back into conservation land across the street from a Land Bank property of a different character: a cluster of working farms trying to revitalize Nantucket’s agricultural legacy.
“In the past few years there's been a bigger push for sustainable agriculture and local food production,” Freeman
says. “And so we’ve been trying to put more time, energy, monetary support and acquisition interest into agriculture.”
The Land Bank has a broader mandate than other conservation organizations on Nantucket. “We are governed by an act of the state legislature,” Freeman says. “Our three pillars are conservation, recreation, and agriculture.” (See our story on Nantucket Farms, some on Land Bank properties, on page 28.)
Publicly funded by a 2 percent tax on real estate transactions, the Land Bank was the first organization of its kind in the country. In a town that makes headlines for its affluence, this windfall has funded not only open space and working farmland but playgrounds, golf courses, pickleball courts, community gardens, and more.
The Coast to Coast trail emerged from the Land Bank, and in particular its counterpart on the island next door. “We basically stole the idea from the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank,” says Freeman, crediting her colleague Susan C. Campese for making the connection.
The trail resumes on the other side of Hummock Pond road, and quickly reaches Lost Farm, the other Mass Audubon Property on its route. When I got there, Lauren Merski, the Senior Teacher Naturalist for Nantucket, took me for a walk through the largest stand of pitch pine forest on the island.
“You get bats here in the spring and summer seasons when they're breeding,” Merski said, as we walked beneath the shady canopy. “They love the pitch pines for making their nests, because the shingles on the more mature trees act like a natural bat box for them. They
roost right up between them.”
This stand of trees and others like it in New England are threatened by the southern pine beetle (see story, page 12) , which is moving north as the climate warms and has already infested a large stand on the other side of Hummock Pond. Audubon recently thinned the pines near the property line they share with the Land Bank next door — a technique proven to slow the progress of the insect, which can kill trees in weeks by tunneling beneath their bark.
From Hummock Pond, the trail meanders generously in a more or less westward direction, through an area set aside early in the island’s colonial history as common pasture and farmland. It’s now home to some of the best examples of sandplain grassland anywhere. Silvery aster, yellow thistle, little blue-eyed grasses — a whole suite of rare and endangered species — in a living carpet all the way to the beach, which I could see unobstructed from more than a mile away.
“The Land Bank is taking more of a retreat approach, in that we're not necessarily trying to stop erosion, but we’re trying to live with it, and evolve with it. Having a large acreage of conservation land provides an opportunity for some buffer zones.”
–Rachel Freeman, Nantucket Land Bank
There’s a paradox here — this is an ecosystem that was greatly expanded by intensive colonial agriculture, and left on their own, these grasslands and heathlands would mostly disappear. When grazing and farming ceased, most of them reverted to shrubland and forest or were developed. Except around the margins, where coastal salt spray might prevent other species from encroaching, this habitat needs maintenance from people.
The interlocking questions at the heart of conservation on Nantucket, and elsewhere, are: What was this landscape like in the past, and how do we think it should be in the future? “They’re questions that go hand in hand, and the answers aren’t all uniform,” says Dr. Sarah Bois, Director of Research and Education at the Linda Loring Nature Foundation.
“We're not managing for a point in time, we’re managing for ecological goals. Sandplain grasslands host so many rare plants, insects, and birds that depend on them for parts of their lifecycle, and that's what our target is. The sandplain grasslands that did exist on the mainland, for the most part, are gone, whether through development or natural succession or habitat for conversion to agriculture. They just don't exist anywhere. So if we can maintain big acreages here, we are a refugia for those species,” she says.
The Linda Loring Foundation sits at the top of Long Pond, and though it’s not on the trail itself, Dr. Bois and her staff are doing research on this property that informs everything I’d encountered so far. I took a detour for a walk with Bois, who is keeping a very close eye on what’s changing in the complex web of relationships that characterize life on Nantucket.
“Sandplain grasslands were always a habitat on the landscape, but they were pockets, where naturally there's a little bit of a grassland and then there's not,” Bois told me as she led me along the trails at Eel Point Road. “Grassland is the first stage. Over time, if it doesn't get disturbed, it becomes more like heathland and then shrubland and then, maybe not in Nantucket but in other places, ultimately a forested landscape. We basically have continual disturbance here with wind and salt spray.”
We crested a rise and suddenly faced Nantucket Sound, with rolling dunes on the other side of Eel Point Road and Madaket Harbor in the distance to our west. In 2019, the foundation got a grant to remove about six acres of Japanese black pine here, non-native trees that had created a windbreak and were encroaching on the state-listed sandplain blue-eyed grass.
“Now that we’ve cut the trees and reinstated the wind, I'm hoping that
means that we need less maintenance,” Bois said. “I don't want to start a management regime just to have to keep going forever. To me, that's not as successful. In my role here, I like encouraging something more than fully changing a habitat.”
The lowbush blueberries were starting to flower, and as we walked through the rolling paths of the property, Sarah pointed out various plants that were tagged for study. We stopped at a black cherry tree with dewy, silken webbing in the crooks of its branches. “I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about my favorite little guys, the eastern tent caterpillars,” she said. “This is the time of year when they've just hatched from blobs and are starting to make tents.”
The caterpillars indicated a shift underway during my visit: they only emerge after several consecutive days of spring temperatures. The tents they make are a kind of insurance policy against the vicissitudes of island weather: “One day you’re wearing short sleeves and basking in the sunshine and the next you’re pulling your parka back out and turning on the heat,” she said.
Bois has monitored the relationship between caterpillars and the cherries, both native species, for almost a decade. Since caterpillars use temperature as a cue, they can adjust their life cycles as spring arrives earlier; the cherries, whose tender leaves
caterpillars rely on, aren’t as flexible.
It’s part of a broader project to track the phenology of island species. “When the leaves are popping out — bud burst is the term — when they are flowering, when they're fruiting, when the fruits are ripe. All the different stages by date,” she says.
She gestured to one of eight temperature-loggers installed on the Foundation’s property. It looks like a lampshade with a thermometer inside, and takes a reading every hour that can be matched against other observations of the landscape. “There's just enough topography that there's a little bit of climatic difference between sites,” Bois said. Mapping this nuance as the years go by is one way to prepare for climate change.
“When we say 1 to 2 degrees, people are like, that's not that much. But you can tell physically,” she said, as we stopped next to a flowering shadbush sheltered by a tunnel of other vegetation. “It's always warmer here, and the plants are more leafed out than they were in the other areas. Just that little bit of a difference, that variability, is going to be a refugia from however climate change affects these areas.”
“We know from combating invasive species, combating aspects of climate change, the more diverse you are, the more resilient you can be,” Bois says. “That’s habitat diversity, that’s species diversity, that's topography. It's all different kinds of variability. Monocultures of anything make me a little nervous.”
Freeman, at the Land Bank, shares this view. “We really focus on biodiversity,” she says, “with an emphasis on rare and endangered species and their associated habitat. The resilience that accompanies biodiversity is really important to us.” There are large parcels on the Island that the Land Bank is still interested in acquiring, but as the landscape becomes increasingly allocated, there is plenty to focus on in the places that are already protected. “We’re really trying to consider community needs and what people are looking for on Nantucket to have a happy, healthy, and successful community,” she says.
Bois’ work on phenology is intersecting with Karberg’s at NCF, and they both serve on the regional Sandplain Grassland Network Steering Committee, along with Karen Beattie, the NCF’s Vice President of Science and Stewardship.
the acreage. And so now it's: What is our responsibility for adaptation and protection and what can we do, what should we do, you know, and where is the balance between us protecting infrastructure and areas of the island with our natural resources versus letting
“We’re really fortunate that we have so much open space on Nantucket,” Bois says. “All of our different habitat types have undeveloped examples. You can see what an undisturbed salt marsh looks like, you can see what an undisturbed grassland looks like, you can go out to the east side of the island and see what an undisturbed red maple swamp looks like. There's kettle ponds and frost pockets and all that kind of stuff. There are pretty big areas where you really imagine what the landscape was like.
“A lot of our northern species come from the last glaciation. But then the Gulf Stream waters that come up North affect our maritime climate and have also given us a lot of our flora,” she says. “So there's this species overlap with really unique flora. Botanists are always like: ‘It's so cool here, there's weird things!’
“We've gotten the acreage. I think that's the story is we did that, we got
our natural resources adapt themselves?”
As I finished the trail, fogged in again at sunset at Madaket Harbor, I found myself wondering if the broader question, for conservation groups and the rest of us, is: How do we want to participate in the ecosystems where we live?
After soaking up the sheer diversity and extent of the trail, and hearing from people who study and steward the various properties along it, it became clear that protecting land, however successful, is just the first step. And the challenge remaining is big: to figure out how people fit into these landscapes even as we are changing them dramatically, and to decide how to be good stewards in the decades and centuries to come. Nantucket, so far out to sea, is already an exemplar of the first part — what will it make of the second?
Find the map of the Coast to Coast Trail here: bit.ly/CoasttoCoastACK
IS NOT ALWAYS GREENER
How I turned my lawn into a meadow.
Story by Will Kinsella
Sandplain grasslands are among the rarest ecosystems in the world. In a culture that values rare things, these endangered grasslands present a great opportunity for property owners to steward ecosystems found only in a few places on the planet.
Iwashed ashore (again) on Nantucket during Covid, like many people in our community, and returned to the former farm where my parents, brother, and I first lived as we made the transition from summer folk to year rounders in 1983.
By the time I returned, most of the planet had awakened to our impending climate crisis. Collaborative efforts like Keeping History Above Water (see historyabovewater.org/2019nantucket), Envision Resilience (see page 62), and the Coastal Resilience Plan (see page 56) were helping Nantucket adapt to the most profound dangers of climate change to the island, namely sea level rise and increased storm intensity. Meanwhile, island organizations were promoting localized mitigation strategies that each and every one of us could employ to reduce our carbon footprints and avoid the worst for future generations. I was amazed by the number and scope of lectures, conferences, public walks, and workshops offered to the yearround community by the Nantucket Conservation Foundation (see page 10), the Linda Loring Nature Foundation (see page 21), Nantucket Land and Water Council, ReMain (see page 18), Nantucket Preservation Trust, the Nantucket Land Bank (see page 34), the Nantucket Historical Association, and others, and was inspired by their missions. For every doom and gloom climate disaster scenario in the worldwide press, these island organizations were providing information about preventative actions, adaptation, and lifestyle changes that every individual could embrace.
Climate change demands actions on multiple fronts, and for me those included transforming our impoverished lawn into a grassland meadow. This simple change to the way our land was managed could provide enormous opportunities to capture carbon, rather than release it, provide valuable wildlife ecosystems,
Polpis Farm (or Dunham Farm) ceased operations by 1932, around the time these photos were taken.
eliminate the need for pesticides and fertilizers, and improve water quality. The economic savings can well be imagined by anyone with a lawn of their own, and I find the aesthetic beauty of tall grasses and their euphoric rustle to be magnificent.
With a little digging and family lore, I've found that our little slice of Nantucket has a storied history. Our property is located on the "Swain's Neck" peninsula, which divides Nantucket's inner and eastern Polpis Harbor. Polpis and its variations (Podpis, Palpus, Poatpes) all coming from the Wampanoag, meaning "divided or branch harbor." Our peninsula was previously known as Watt's Neck, named after Wampanoag sachem Nickanoose’s son Watt Noose, who conveyed the peninsula to John Swain (one of Nantucket’s first English settlers) in 1677. Although after the transfer the peninsula became known as Swain’s Neck, there are still plenty of signs that the Wampanoag once thrived here.
The original Swain Farm House was dated to 1672 on the adjoining land to the south of Swain's Neck and was reputed to be the oldest house existing on the Island until it collapsed in 1902 after being struck by lightning. In 1662, John's mother, Mary Swain, was "the first Englishwoman to die on Nantucket," while the birth of John Swain, Jr. in 1664 was described as “the first white male child born on the island.”
Shortly thereafter, the Swains were joined by other European settlers, the land was clear cut, and the soils began to degrade. (Yeshe Palmo notes in her Trees, Shrubs and Lianas of Nantucket that Nantucket farmers literally watched the top soil dry up and blow out to sea.) The farm changed hands and was divided a number of times over the decades, but by most accounts was used for farming root vegetables (onions being this particular farm's specialty), corn, and hay for feeding the livestock, as well as for making butter and raising poultry. For many years and during the height of the whaling industry, many Nantucket families obtained their food from the farming community in Polpis.
The abandonment of the farms began in the mid-1800s, when the combined effects of the Great Fires, the Gold Rush, the Civil War, and the advent of drilled oil wells had ravaged Nantucket’s once prosperous whaling and fishing economies. Nantucket's population decreased by 70% from a high of about 10,000 in 1859 and led to the consequent lack of market for farm produce. Polpis Farm, also known as Dunham Farm (our property on the upper right, below), ceased operations by 1932, around the time this photo was taken.
Conventional farming practices have eroded nearly half of the world's most productive soil in the last 150 years, leaving farmlands stripped of the nutrients, minerals and microbes that support healthy plant life. Here was no different. Even in the island’s farming heyday, the soil here was poor and called for persistent fertilizing (seaweed, eelgrass and/or fish carcasses). Almost 90 years later, the fields remained regularly mowed,
Conventional farming practices have eroded nearly half of the world's most productive soil in the last 150 years, leaving farmlands stripped of the nutrients, minerals and microbes that support healthy plant life. Here was no different.
Before: the first August after Will returned.
Before.
July, when Will returned.
After: the June following Will's return.
but without these laborious additions of fertilizers, and because of the plants’ decreased capacity to photosynthesize, the above ground biomass was sparse, the exposed soil was prone to erosion, and what plants there were had a shallow root structure providing little for soil microbes to feast upon. Red sorrel dominated the landscape in the spring, and bare patches of dirt would turn into little dust bowls by August, with winds blowing away the sun-baked topsoil.
In contrast to the Herculean efforts required to maintain a lawn, turning our lawn into a meadow was relatively easy: First, do no harm. Leave it be. Once we stopped chopping off their heads by mowing, the meadow grasses and wildflowers blossomed. We were fortunate to have plentiful natives and a
The seed heads of the grasses, such as little and bushy bluestems, purple love grass, poverty and switchgrass, rye and various fescues and sedges, rivaled the beauty of any flower, and the wavelike sway and swish of the tall grasses in the breeze is magical.
resilient seed bank in our meadows. (Elsewhere on the property, where the soil has been recently and significantly disturbed, the rewilding process has been far more difficult, and it’s still too soon to see the results. …This is part of a larger project, but that’s another story for another time!) Orchids, iris, vervain, wild geranium, bog violets, yarrow, St. John's Wort, wild roses, goldenrod, mullein, mountain mint, rabbit tobacco, a slew of asters and blue eyed grass (a type of iris, not actually grass) appeared in the very first growing season. The seed heads of the grasses, such as little and bushy bluestems, purple love grass, poverty and switchgrass, rye and various fescues and sedges, rivaled the beauty of any flower, and the wavelike sway and swish of the tall grasses in the breeze is magical. In addition to providing visual interest throughout the year, the uncut above ground plant mass provides valuable food and shelter to wildlife throughout the winter.
Every bit as important to the meadow is what's happening below the surface. More than half of Earth's organisms live underground. There can be tens of thousands of species in a single teaspoon of soil and more microbes in that teaspoon than there are people on the earth. Soil is the most biodiverse habitat on the planet but is often neglected. Intensive lawn mowing compacts the physical soil structure, destroying air pockets and the ability to absorb and process nutrients, as well as diminishing water infiltration.
Healthy meadows protect nearby bodies of water from pollutants and sedimentation by slowing surface runoff and providing opportunities for settling and infiltration, absorbing and filtering water to help remove nutrients, sediments and other pollutants. Healthy meadows also soak up and hold carbon in the soil, becoming natural “sinks” for carbon. Worldwide, there is
Continued on page 54
BY
A Nantucket firefighter got cancer, so a group of locals created a national PFAS playbook.
Ayesha Khan, co-founder of the Nantucket PFAS Action Group, isn’t a scientist — but she’s had some visceral personal experiences with the impact of forever chemicals in her own life, and has done enough research to fill a book.
When Ayesha’s husband Nate Barber, a longtime Nantucket firefighter, was diagnosed in 2019 with testicular cancer at the age of 38, Ayesha was terrified and overwhelmed. During the early stages of Nate’s treatment, peer-reviewed studies around perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were just being published. Some of the studies indicated that these dangerous chemicals were often used in high concentrations to create fireproof gear for firefighters, and fluorinated firefighting foam containing PFAS had been used to extinguish petroleum fires on Nantucket for decades.
While off-island undergoing one of his cancer treatments in 2020, Nate was watching television and happened to flip to one channel that would change his life. “It was one of those TV commercials where it was like ‘Are you a firefighter? Have you used firefighting foam? Do you have testicular cancer? You could be entitled to compensation.’ He couldn’t believe it; he answered yes to all those questions,” Ayesha said. When she and
Story by Lucas Thors
Nate Barber and Ayesha Khan.
Nate first saw that commercial, the couple only had a vague idea of what PFAS was. The thought of firefighters being exposed to harmful chemicals had never crossed their minds.
When Nate joined the department 15 years ago, cancer wasn’t high on his list of
“It was one of those TV commercials where it was like ‘Are you a firefighter? Have you used firefighting foam? Do you have testicular cancer? You could be entitled to compensation.’ He couldn’t believe it; he answered yes to all those questions.” –Ayesha Khan, Nantucket PFAS Action Group co-founder
concerns. Firefighters have a significantly increased risk of heart conditions — heart attacks and strokes are known as the main firefighter killers. But Ayesha began to ask around at the department if cancer was also a concern. “I asked another firefighter, Sean Mitchell, if he had heard anything,” Ayesha said. “He was so aware.” Mitchell told Ayesha a woman from Worcester had recently sent out an email blast to firefighters warning them about PFAS in the gear. She then began researching the toxic chemicals in her spare time. She also reached out to a friend from college, Jaime Honkawa, for some emotional support.
“I had relied on Jaime so much when I was coping with Nate’s diagnosis. She and I both started doing more digging, and the stuff we found online made me totally freak out,” Ayesha said. The
two friends found studies from 3M and Dupont showing just how limited the existing scientific understanding was surrounding PFAS. Meanwhile, Nate was recounting all the times he had sprayed PFAS-containing firefighting foam around Nantucket. In July of 2020, one study (nd.edu/stories/to-protectthe-protectors) released by University of Notre Dame professor Graham Peaslee showed that there were huge amounts of PFAS leaching from firefighting gear.
By this time, the Nantucket community had heard Nate’s story — friends, neighbors, coworkers, and total strangers reached out to Ayesha asking for more information. She and Jaime then worked together to compile all of their information into a document, and shared it with the community through a Facebook group.
Firefighters’ unions across America are closely tied to big chemical companies that manufacture fireproof components for firefighting gear, Ayesha told me. At that time in early 2020, even those firefighters who were aware of PFAS were hesitant to speak openly about their concerns. But because the Nantucket community is so insulated and close-knit, Ayesha said, Nate’s friends, neighbors, and coworkers all supported him and his family. “We didn’t really care what the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts or the International Association of Firefighters had to say — Nate and Sean threatened to leave the union unless something was done, and we were offering our fire department up as a research site for scientists to study the chemical impacts, which just wasn’t
happening in other places,” Ayesha said.
Although the Nantucket community had Nate’s back as he advocated for PFAS transparency, with the ultimate goal of ridding the fire department of PFAS, he was still an active firefighter, and feared that he would lose his job and livelihood. The couple knew they had to seek legal advice from experts that knew how to support them in their advocacy work. This is when Ayesha and Jaime reached out to the Public Employees for Environmental
Jaime Honkawa and Ayesha Khan in front of the U.S. Capitol.
Responsibility (PEER). PEER is a nonprofit organization that protects public employees who are fighting for a higher standard of environmental accountability
“Nate and Sean threatened to leave the union unless something was done, and we were offering our fire department up as a research site for scientists to study the chemical impacts, which just wasn’t happening in other places.”
–Ayesha Khan
within their agencies.
Kyla Bennett, director of science policy with PEER, connected with Nate and Ayesha and provided them with a legal framework that they could rely on as they progressed.
“[Ayesha] told me her story, and when I realized that her husband was a public employee, I told her we could get him whistleblower protection while he advocated for PFAS-free gear in the department,” Bennett said. She added that the reason Nantucket was able to work through these issues and serve as an example to other communities is because the entire town supported Nate and Ayesha. “The entire island really cared about Nate and the rest of the firefighters, and they weren’t afraid to say ‘we have a problem here and we want to fix it.’”
The couple did everything they could to get information about PFAS out to Nantucketers, and before long, the topic was top of mind for many.
Dr. Timothy Lepore, Nate and Ayesha’s longtime primary care physician, had been the one who discovered Nate’s cancer. Lepore wanted to get involved, and Michigan State University researcher and exposure scientist Courtney Carignan also got on board after she read online about the couple’s battle with PFAS.
Carignan introduced the group to the Toxic Use Reduction Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, who partnered with them to conduct an exposure study. “We did it in our own community, with our own firefighters. It was a joint study with Nantucket, Hyannis, and Fall River. To have researchers come here and have our own local people involved, it’s hard not to support that,” Ayesha said.
Once researchers arrived at the Nantucket fire station, they began evaluating legacy gear, current gear, and newly invented low-PFAS gear that was being tested. The assessment, which began in 2021 and built off the previous study by Peaslee, looked at exposure levels in firefighters to see if PFAS was leaching from the gear and being absorbed into
the body. According to Ayesha, just three weeks after the research group announced the study, one of the gear manufacturers released a plan to make low-PFAS gear available to firefighters. “They saw the writing on the wall, they knew what this research would reveal, and they wanted to get ahead of the curve so they could make money in a newly emerging market,” Ayesha explained. “It was half financial incentive and half proactive damage control on their part.”
Until recently, many of the scientific studies surrounding PFAS were conducted or funded by chemical manufacturers, Jaime Honkawa said.
“Our first real North Star was location and sharing out the most unbiased, independent information we could uncover,” she said. Jaime and Ayesha spoke with toxicologists, epidemiologists, and more to find out how government entities like the Environmental Protection Agency plan to deal with the spread of these toxic chemicals.
“My whole thought was that this
“This was only possible because so many people in the community advocated for change on so many different levels.” –Jaime Honkawa
information is constantly changing — let’s create a centralized website and a Facebook page so people can stay up-todate and can connect with each other,” said Jaime, who specializes in marketing and communications. She continues to facilitate the Nantucket PFAS Action Group’s web presence (pfasactiongroup. com), and played a key role in broadcasting the group’s work to a larger online audience through social media. “At first it was all about Nantucket, but it soon became much bigger than that. We were highlighting the work of scientists who weren’t getting the attention they deserved, and soon enough we had a huge following of scientists and researchers,” Jaime said. She said she's proud to watch how this group has developed, from a small
initiative to support a local firefighter, to a group that’s making a national impact. “It started with trying to get PFAS out of the Nantucket fire service — now, four years after we started this journey, firefighters have the ability to purchase fully PFAS-free gear. This was only possible because so many people in the community advocated for change on so many different levels,” she said. Now, large turnout gear manufacturers offer fire departments PFAS-free gear nationwide. Nate’s cancer is now in remission, and the national PFAS conversation, particularly within fire departments, is more open than ever, Ayesha said. “But there’s still a lot of work to be done, and we certainly aren’t slowing down anytime soon.”
To : Bluedot Living
From: Lauren Sinatra, Town of Nantucket Energy Coordinator, and Gail Walker, Founder of Nantucket Lights
Subject: Save the Night, Reduce Energy Waste
On Nantucket, as in many communities, the indiscriminate use of outdoor lighting is flooding the night sky with excessive brightness. This ever-present glow, known as light pollution, is interfering with our ability to enjoy the natural beauty of the night sky and is harmful in other ways. It’s also a huge waste of energy. Fortunately, this is one kind of pollution that’s easy to reverse. We just need to be more mindful about our outdoor lighting, both the fixtures and bulbs we choose to use, as well as how we choose to use them.
• Br ightening of the Night Sky. Until recently, Nantucket’s night sky has been protected by its remote location, thirty miles at sea. But sadly, light pollution on the island is now obscuring the starry skies that have long captivated residents, visitors, and astronomers at the island’s observatory.
• Energ y Waste. Light that is brighter than necessary or shines when and where it’s not needed is simply a waste of energy, leading to higher electrical bills and potential strain on the local electric grid.
• Har m to the Environment. Light pollution disrupts the natural cycles and behaviors of many species of wildlife, which can have cascading effects on local ecosystems. Even plants are adversely affected.
• Impact on Human Health, Safety and Quality of Life. Glare from bright, unshielded lights causes visual discomfort, reduces visibility, and creates safety hazards. When your light shines onto someone else’s property, it interferes with their ability to enjoy their own property. Exposure to artificial light at night can also suppress melatonin production and disrupt circadian rhythms, which has been linked to some serious health issues.
According to satellite data, Nantucket's night skies are more than 25% brighter than they were in 2012.
Although Nantucket has had an outdoor lighting bylaw in effect since 2005, even stronger regulations were adopted in 2023 to address the growing light pollution on the island. The new regulations (Chapter 102 of the Nantucket Code, available online at ecode360.com/11470851) became effective Jan. 1, 2024.
In general, unless falling within an exception, all outdoor lighting must meet four requirements. It must (1) be fully shielded (meaning no light can be emitted upwards) if the light is brighter than 600 lumens; (2) have a warm color temperature of 2700K or lower; (3) not exceed specified limits on brightness; and (4) be turned off between 11 pm and 6 am.
To help property owners comply with the new requirements, Nantucket Lights — a citizen advocacy group and the lead proponent of the new regulations — offers comprehensive guidance and practical tips in its publication, Outdoor Lighting Guide: Lighting with Nantucket in Mind (available online at nantucketlights.org/ outdoor-lighting-guide).
The Town of Nantucket joins Nantucket Lights in urging all property owners to take a careful look at their own outdoor lighting to ensure that it uses minimal energy and complies with the new regulations.
To lead by example, the Town aims to upgrade the outdoor lighting at its facilities, is integrating lighting bylaw requirements in the design of new construction projects, and is investigating converting the streetlights on the island to more dark-sky friendly and energy-efficient models.
The island’s dark skies are an important part of Nantucket’s heritage and appeal. Let’s all work together to save the night!
There are simple actions that each of us can take to reduce light pollution and save energy. Small changes can make a big difference.
1. Use energy-efficient LEDs. LEDs are much more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs and should be used whenever possible to conserve energy and reduce Nantucket’s carbon footprint, keeping in mind the tips below.
2. Use light only when it is truly needed. Every light should serve a clear and necessary purpose. If you’re not sure if a light is really needed, try removing it or turning it off. Timers and motion sensors are an easy way to ensure that light is available when needed but turned off when not.
3. Make it targeted. Shield and direct outdoor lighting downward to shine where it is needed, while minimizing light trespass onto neighboring properties and upwards into the atmosphere.
4. Adjust the brightness. Use the lowest light level required for the task. Choose low-lumen bulbs or use dimmers.
5. Pay attention to color. Use warmer color lights whenever possible (2700K or less) to reduce the emission of blue-white light, which is harmful for people and wildlife and interferes with stargazing.
These practical principles are reflected in the requirements of Nantucket’s Outdoor Lighting Bylaw.
The Maria Mitchell Association, founded in 1902, honors the legacy of Maria Mitchell, the first female astronomer in the United States, whose discovery of a comet while on Nantucket brought her international fame! Their stargazing open nights continue through the season. For details, visit mariamitchell.org/calendar
Continued from page 48
more carbon stored in soil than in the atmosphere and vegetation combined. But meadows with more bare ground and drier soil actually release carbon from the soil into the atmosphere, similar to the carbon release that occurs during a forest fire.
There's also a direct correlation between plant size and health above ground and the health of what’s happening below ground. Generally, the taller the grass, the deeper its roots (although shorter native grassland species will also have deeper roots than non-native grasses of comparable heights). The switchgrass that dominates our western field has roots five to six feet deep, while non-native Kentucky bluegrass (commonly used for golf courses and athletic fields) roots run about four to eight inches deep. Deep roots provide additional nutrients and habitat for soil microbes, which, in turn, further stimulate plant growth.
Nantucket's open spaces, that fabric of grasses, heathlands, ponds and ocean, are as integral to Nantucket's “sense of place” as is its architecture. The extraordinary conditions that allowed for the creation of Nantucket's natural aesthetic character (thousands of years of glacial drift, a windy and salty environment, hundreds of years of controlled fires, agriculture and grazing animals) have been complemented by equally extraordinary efforts to preserve and protect over half of the island. Nantucket's grasslands and heathlands do require regular disturbances to prevent what would otherwise be a natural progression from grass to shrubs to trees. A pair of Felco
clippers and a Schröckenfux garden scythe may work for me, but larger conservation organizations need to employ a variety of maintenance strategies, including harrowing, prescribed fires, mowing, brush cutting and/or selective species removal. There's no doubt that a lot goes into preserving Nantucket's sandplain grasslands, but the ecological benefits far outweigh the costs and repercussions of the alternatives. And of course there's the aesthetic value to consider.
Sandplain grasslands are among the rarest ecosystems in the world. In a culture that values rare things, these endangered grasslands present a great opportunity for property owners to steward ecosystems found only in a few places on the planet. Back in the 1700s, when lawns first came into vogue, anyone who owned land was considered extremely wealthy, and land used recreationally, rather than for farming, suggested even greater wealth. Lawns, in short, were a status symbol. Today, with over 40 million acres of turf grass cover in the United States, lawns have become more synonymous with suburban American housing tracts and environmental degradation.
Now, across the country, there's a "turf war" between those who view lawns as symbols of patriotism and civilization, and those who see them as a step toward ecological destruction. When you turn your lawn into meadow, the grass may not always be greener, but I think the benefits speak for themselves.
BY
This lovely burst is a cooperative pot pourri of natives and introduced grasses, and clover left from dairy farm days.
Blue-eyed grasses.
A mixture of native and non-native grasses and sedges.
Bluestem, Bushy Andropogon glomeratus
Bluestem, Little Schizachyrium scoparium
Switchgrass Panicum virgatum
Sedge, Pennsylvania
Carex pensylvanica
Cordgrass, Smooth S partina alterniflora
Cordgrass, Saltmeadow Spartina patens
Lovegrass, Purple Eragrostis spectabilis
Beach Grass, American Ammophila breviligulata
Strict Blue Eyed Grass, Sisrinchium montanum
Rose, Carolina Rosa carolina
Rose, Virginia Rosa virginiana
Geranium, Cranesbill
Geranium maculatum
Milkweed, Purple Swamp
Asclepias incarnata
Milkweed, Common Asclepias syriaca
Bayberry Morella caroliniensis
Rabbit-tobacco Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium
Aster, Heath Symphyotrichum ericoides
Nodding Lady's Tresses, Spiranthes cernua
Shrubs
Elderberry, Black Sambucus nigra
Azalea, Swamp Rhododendron viscosum
Groundsel Baccharis halimifolia
Pepperbush, Sweet Clethra alnifolia
Blueberry, Highbush
Vaccinum corymbosum
Trees
Beach Plum Prunus maritima
Tupelo (Black Gum) Nyssa sylvatica
Sassafras Sassafras albidum
For more info on native plants, visit bit.ly/Native-Nantucket-Plants
Velvet grass, one of the spring non-natives.
Little Ladies' Tresses (native orchids).
Will holds red sorrel, a naturalized European grassland plant.
Will in his gradually rewilding meadow on Polpis Harbor.
To : Bluedot Living
From: Leah Hill, Coastal Resilience Coordinator for the Town of Nantucket
Subject: Rising to the Challenge: Nantucket's Strategy for Coastal Resilience
If you have ever experienced a winter storm on Nantucket, you have probably been witness to major portions of Downtown flooded, with roads frequently closed for safety. Since 1965, Nantucket has experienced 8.7 inches of sea level rise, a trend that is set to continue as the climate changes, increasing both the severity and frequency of these flooding events. Perhaps, you've also noticed significant erosion at your favorite beach, after not visiting for a few years. The Town’s island-wide Coastal Resilience Plan (CRP) is a comprehensive strategy designed to mitigate flooding and erosion through 2070.
The development of the communitybacked CRP was a comprehensive effort that integrated climate science, community engagement, engineering, technical analysis, urban and landscape
planning, and implementation strategies. Within the plan, a risk assessment was conducted to quantify the number of structures and roadways at risk, and to put a dollar amount on damages and losses. If no measures are taken, 2,373 structures and 54 miles of roadways face imminent threats from coastal flooding and erosion by 2070. The expected cumulative annual damages are projected to total $3.4 billion, including direct physical damage to buildings, anticipated direct and induced economic disruption to businesses, direct social disruption including relocation costs, health costs from injuries and mental stress, and lost income due to health issues, and Federal, State, and local tax impacts. The Steamship Authority terminal, crucial for the island’s connectivity, is identified as the facility most at risk.
Findings from the risk assessment helped form 40 island-wide recommendations within the CRP that are either structural (raising roads), non-structural (updating regulations), or nature-based (dune restoration). All recommendations can be found on page 18 of the CRP. Implementing these recommendations is estimated to cost approximately $930 million dollars. While this figure may seem high, it is significantly less than the estimated $3.4 billion in damages expected if neither the public nor private sectors take action. Project funding is being explored through various outlets, including private and public partnerships, grants, and capital. Since the endorsement of the CRP two years ago, almost 40 percent of the proposed recommendations are already in progress or completed.
The Town of Nantucket is committed to coastal resiliency, and many towns have modeled their own plans after Nantucket’s CRP. The Town established a Coastal Resilience Advisory Committee to advise the Select Board — our governing body — on all matters related to coastal resiliency. Since 2022, the Town has allocated annual funding for coastal resilience initiatives at Town meeting. Nantucket’s forward-thinking approach has positioned it as a leader in coastal resilience within the Commonwealth.
To see the CRP in full visit bit.ly/ ACK-CRP
1. What are Nantucket’s coastal hazards?
• Coastal flooding is inundation of low-lying lands by seawater often from storm surge. High sea levels are predicted to cause flooding to be deeper and extend further inland in low-lying coastal areas.
• High tide flooding, also known as sunny day flooding, happens when sea level rise combines with other factors to push water levels above the normal high tide mark.
• Coastal erosion is the geological process in which earthen materials are worn away and transported by wind and water over long periods of time, seasonally, or during a storm event. Erosion can happen at the bottom of a bank by the ocean and from the top of the bank by wind and water. As sea levels rise it is predicted that erosion rates will increase.
• Groundwater table rise is the increase of groundwater levels underneath a landmass, primarily driven by an increase in sea levels. This may cause new wetlands in areas that are currently dry and expand current wetlands.
2. How do I figure out which hazards historically, currently, or in the future may affect my property?
• V isit the Town of Nantucket’s Coastal Resilience Webpage to access the maps and models here bit.ly/ACK-CRP
2. Current: Nantucket
Erosion Monitoring
3. Future: FEMA Future Erosion maps
• Groundwater Table Rise
1. Recommended to hire a hydrogeologist
3. What are things I can do to my property to make it more resilient?
• Plant with native vegetation because it is salt-tolerant and needs less water, maintenance, fertilizer, and pesticides
• If living on a coastal bank, reduce lawn irrigation because it may increase erosion
• Sea Level Rise: NOAA’s sea level rise map
• Flooding
1. Current: FEMA Flood maps
2. Future: Massachusetts Coastal Flood Risk Model
• Erosion
1. Histor ic: Massachusetts shorelines (1840s-2014)
• Contact a local engineer to see if any coastal engineering structures are permittable on your property
• Relocate home further away from the coastal bank
• L ean towards nature-based solutions
• Create vegetated swales to capture and store stormwater
• Reduce or convert impervious surfaces (concrete) with pervious (porous concrete or vegetation)
• Purchase and maintain flood insurance
• Install a backflow valve and/or sump pump
• Elevate appliances and utilities
• Use flood resistant building materials
• Seal foundation and basement walls
• Install flood vents to allow the water to pass through
• Protect your windows and doors
4. If purchasing a home, which questions should I ask my realtor?
• Where is the septic system located?
• How far away is the property from a wetland or coastal bank?
• Does the property have a flooding history?
• W hat are the future flooding projections for the property?
• W hat is the erosion rate adjacent to the property?
• Have neighbors had to move or demo their homes because of erosion?
• Is there enough room on the property to retreat the home?
• Are there any ongoing or future coastal resilience projects in the neighborhood?
5. Where can I learn more about coastal resiliency?
• Read the Town of Nantucket’s Coastal Resilience Plan and visit bit.ly/ACK-CRP
• Contact the Town’s Coastal Resilience Coordinator: coastalresilience@nantucket-ma.gov
• Follow the Town of Nantucket Natural Resources Department on social media @nrdack
Facebook: Town of Nantucket Natural Resources Department
• V irtually attend a Coastal Resilience Advisory Committee (CRAC) meeting to stay up to date on coastal resilience conversations, events, and updates
To : Bluedot Living
From: W ill Kinsella, ACKlimate Chair
Subject: The Coastal Resilience Walk Celebrates our Perseverance
In the United States, almost 40 percent of the population lives in relatively high-population-density coastal areas, where sea level plays a role in flooding, shoreline erosion, and hazards from severe weather events. Globally, eight of the world’s ten largest cities are near a coast. In urban settings along coastlines around the world, rising seas threaten infrastructure necessary for local jobs and regional industries. Roads, bridges, subways, water supplies, oil and gas wells, power plants, sewage treatment plants, landfills — the list is practically endless — are all at risk from sea level rise.
Like many coastal communities, Nantucket is in the crosshairs and must now rethink its relationship with the sea. But Nantucket is one of the nation’s wealthiest, most proactive,
The 1.5 mile Coastal Resilience Walk follows public roads and rights of way, from Brant Point to the Creeks, highlighting along the way various structural, non-structural, and nature-based mitigation methods approaches, as well as approaches for mitigating damage — remove, retreat, adapt, elevate, and protect.
and well-connected communities, and we have a track record of navigating a challenging coastal landscape. We've been moving buildings, and even the
town of Sherburne, and adapting to changing coastal conditions throughout our history.
Nantucket has been particularly
The Land Bank's Washington Street Framework Plan incorporates nature-based solutions, including dune restoration and a stormwater park, in addition to gray infrastructure elements such as a bike path, a boardwalk, and tide gates. The plan illustrates a potential long-term resilience strategy at Francis Street Beach. On the waterside, the design includes a flood protection structure embedded beneath an elevated multi-use path and coastal dunes. Inland of Washington Street, the stormwater wetland park would help mitigate flooding and there would be improved public access on both sides of the street.
proactive in planning for natural hazards, coastal and community resilience, and climate change. The Town of Nantucket’s forwardthinking Hazard Mitigation Plan (bit. ly/Hazard-mitigation) and Coastal Resilience Plan (bit.ly/CRP-ACK) are key roadmaps for reducing risk and building resilience and will help in the pursuit of state and federal grants. The CRP's Project Prioritization and Implementation Roadmap
assigned ACKlimate, the nonprofit environmental organization I chair, the role of developing outreach plans — strategies to share risk information and homeowner guidance via social media, websites, partnerships and other means. To help meet many of these goals, ACKlimate developed the Coastal Resilience Walk and website (coastalresiliencewalk.org).
The Coastal Resilience Walk is designed to remove some of the
climate change doom-and-gloom by celebrating our past perseverance, to function as a communication tool enabling ACKlimate partners to share news about their own coastal resilience projects, and to help inform mitigation strategies that can protect property owners and the people who live here. (Find the site here: acklimate.org.)
The Coastal Resilience Walk has three principal goals:
• To compile site specific information to demonstrate Nantucket's history of resilience;
• To underscore the ongoing challenges and best practices for living in a coastal environment; and
• To build community engagement as we highlight the opportunities we have to build back better as we prepare to reduce the risks of sea level rise and severe weather events.
• Brant Point
• Easton Street
• Nantucket Yacht Club
• (left) South Beach
• Steamship Terminal
• (left) Dreamland
• Easy Street Basin
• the Wharves
• Harbor Place,
• Town Pier
• Washington Street
• the Shipyard
• the Creeks
The 1.5 mile Coastal Resilience Walk follows public roads and rights of way, from Brant Point to the Creeks, highlighting along the way various structural, non-structural, and naturebased mitigation methods approaches, as well as approaches for mitigating
Washington Street provides an example of what voluntary retreat and relocation might look like. The walk includes information about the Downtown Flood Barrier options as a means of informing community discussions about various design options.
The Creeks — where the walk terminates — provide an example of what the entire Coastal Resilience Walk coastline might have once looked like.
damage — remove, retreat, adapt, elevate, and protect. This route passes by all of the Most At-Risk Essential Community Facilities, and Historic and Cultural Institutions Based on CRP Priority Score. It traverses built and natural environments, as well those such as Washington Street that are transitioning between the two.
The walk starts at Brant Point Lighthouse. The very embodiment of coastal resilience, it has been moved and rebuilt more times than any other lighthouse in the nation and is surrounded by dredged sediments.
Many of the homes along Easton Street exemplify some of the best practices property owners can use to adapt to coastal risks. (You can find these suggested practices in the property owner section in the CRP as well as the Resilient Nantucket toolkit (bit.ly/Resilient-ACK).
The Historic Downtown section of the walk includes a number of key critical access corridors that regularly experience blue sky flooding events, as well as numerous buildings, most notably the Dreamland Cultural Center, that have already been moved from elsewhere, demonstrating both the historic importance of architectural and building salvage as well as the potential for retreat and relocation in the future.
many ways is the heart of our island. It is the point from which the ferries that link us to the mainland come and go. It’s the physical center of our economic and cultural activity and the home of critical natural resources that support local industries. But our harbor, which contains the last commercially sustaining bay scallop fishery in the world, is experiencing eelgrass and habitat loss, water quality degradation, and harmful algae blooms largely as a result of nutrient pollution, which is mostly the result of fertilizer runoff. We are facing a critical tipping point,
While walking, one can access the CRW website to view what the site has historically looked like (for example, during a storm) and what it might in the future.
The Creeks — where the walk terminates — provide an example of what the entire Coastal Resilience Walk coastline might have once looked like. Here, the walk website presents information about how living shorelines provide wave attenuation and erosion mitigation, in hopes of inspiring homeowners to orient their landscapes toward nature-based approaches to coastal hazard mitigation.
The entire Coastal Resilience Walk runs along Nantucket Harbor, which in
and what we do on land directly affects the Harbor.
At a time when society's interest in climate change and coastal resilience has never been more acute, Nantucket is at the forefront of these issues, and the work of our island organizations has never been more important. By providing us with an effective way to share the strategies developed here on Nantucket, The Coastal Resilience Walk helps our own community and can provide guidance and inspiration for others.
Remain’s Envision Resilience Challenge brings design and architecture students to coastal communities across New England.
Story by Britt Bowker
About six years ago, a series of winter storms whipped through the East Coast, causing catastrophic flooding throughout downtown Nantucket and on coastal roads like Easy Street and Broad Street. Folks might remember the photos of kids kayaking over flooded roads circulating nationally. Since then, storms have gotten more intense and more frequent on the island, prompting community groups to focus on the impacts of flooding and sea level rise.
One organization, Remain, which was founded in 2008 by philanthropist Wendy Schmidt, was among the local groups that wanted to dive into the conversation. With the help of local thought leaders including Marty Hilton, Bob Miklos, Cecil Barron Jensen, and Rachel Hobart, Remain started to envision how it could implement naturebased, innovative, adaptive strategies for dealing with storm surge and rising tides.
Remain launched its Envision Resilience Challenge in 2021 — a semester-long design studio and community engagement initiative that connects design and architecture students and faculty from various universities with coastal communities to envision adaptive and creative solutions to sea level rise and the impacts of climate change.
“The whole idea of using student thinking and student design as a catalyst for community conversation was so that we could help provide a hopeful vision for the future as opposed to this idea of just being kind of shocked or terrified by the projection of sea level rise,” Claire Martin, Remain’s project manager, told us.
In that first year, a cohort of design and architecture students from Harvard, Northeastern, Yale, University of Florida, and University of Miami got to know Nantucket. They listened to local planners, architects, and engineers. They engaged with community members. Getting a broad scope of perspectives ensured “the unique culture and values of the community would be included in proposals depicting a future Nantucket under the impact of rising sea levels,” Martin said.
Students were encouraged to think freely, focusing less on zoning, regulation, and policy.
“We wanted them to design for where we hope policy will be in 20 to 30 to 40 years,” Martin said.
Study areas included Brant Point, Washington Street, and downtown, and students worked the inevitability of rising waters into their designs (see them at envisionresilience.org), which were
“It’s not all doom and gloom if we think creatively and innovatively about how we can work with nature and not against it.”
– Claire Martin, Remain project manager
displayed in an exhibition on the island for six months, increasing local awareness about work around climate resiliency and changing people’s perceptions about the future of their community.
Cassandra Lanson was a student at Northeastern in 2021 and now works as a landscape designer in Boston. She was part of the first group of students to participate in the challenge, and her design reimagined Washington Street back into a salt marsh.
“A lot of it was about ecological autonomy, and the idea of returning the coastline to what it was in conjunction with the idea of people retreating and changing where they live,” Lanson told me. “But also, can we leave what we’re leaving better, and turn it into something that’s ecologically important, but also acts as a stormwater buffer, helps wave attenuation, retains soil — all the things that help build the coast so that it doesn’t have more adverse effects when there’s this huge storm surge that would damage where people are living.”
Part of why Lanson enjoyed the challenge was because she could think outside the box.
“I really admired the project because it was so bold. … What I proposed would not be built, but I think that’s what’s great about the challenge. It’s very open-ended and there aren’t really any constraints,” Lanson said.
“I think especially in that first year, a lot of the challenge was focused on just generating ideas that would be talking points.”
“We’re hoping the Envision Resilience project has been able to provide optimism in thinking about long term planning and where we go from here,” Martin said.
“It’s not all doom and gloom if we think
This design by Northeastern student Cassandra Lanson during the 2021 challenge illustrates the ecology of Washington Street reimagined as a salt marsh.
creatively and innovatively about how we can work with nature and not against it.”
The challenge was supposed to be a one-off project on Nantucket, but the model was so successful that Remain decided to expand it into other coastal communities. After focusing on Nantucket in 2021, the group moved into Narragansett, Rhode Island, in 2022, where one of their partners, 11th Hour Racing, is based. In 2023, Envision Resilience brought a cohort of students to New Bedford, and a project is underway there, borne out of student designs to relocate instead of rebuild a playground, Martin said. This year, the Envision Resilience Challenge has expanded into Portland and southern Maine, where the organization intends to stay for a few years.
“I believe we may even move inland,” Martin said. “We’ve been interested in
thinking about not just coastal communities, but river systems as well, and how inland communities need to also think about resilience in the face of climate change.”
On Nantucket, while the student designs from 2021 didn’t become actual projects, the areas they looked at are still top of mind.
Washington Street, for example, is a highly visible and critical transportation corridor on the island, and it’s the only road that trucks carrying food and fuel can travel on to get to and from the ferry. The street is regularly underwater during storms. A public-private partnership with the town of Nantucket and the Nantucket Land Bank is underway (with support from Remain) to come up with adaptive solutions for how to better protect critical infrastructure on that road while improving walkability and bikeability,
“As a co benefit, all of these things also help promote biodiversity in the
area,” Martin said, adding that the group meets monthly.
Martin also pointed out how many student designs that came out of the Nantucket Envision Resilience Challenge left out cars. Lanson’s was among them.
“Maybe in 40 to 50 years we’re not relying so much on cars,” Martin said.
“We’re thinking about walking, biking, public transportation, by necessity and also hopefully a kind of change in culture around how we can become more sustainable and lessen our carbon footprint.”
Equity is also an important component in design.
“There’s a real interest among students these days in how we are designing in equitable ways — how we’re designing and creating landscape architecture and architecture that feels inclusive and accessible to all people,” Martin said.
Icannot offer you a dictionary definition of psychogeology because the word is not in the dictionary. What I can do is tell you that the author who coined the term, Kim Stanley Robinson, wanted a word to define how we are shaped by the places where we live or have spent time. Psycho, as a prefix, refers to relating to the mind or the soul. Geology, broadly, means the substance of the earth.
Robinson chose to use the term “geology” and refers specifically to mountains. The Sierra mountains (the focus of his most recent book, The High Sierra, a Love Story) make him feel differently than Swiss mountains, he says, inviting us, too, to notice how different places make us feel.
“I think the mountains are a space
where you are taken outside of your ordinary urban mind and are thinking a little deeper — or, no, that might not be the right way to put it,” he said during an interview on The Ezra Klein Show. “Things are coming together in your head in a different way.”
Richard Powers, author of Bewilderment and The Overstory, described his first foray into the Smoky Mountains to Ezra Klein in a separate interview: “When I first went to the Smokies and hiked up into the old growth in the Southern Appalachians, it was like somebody threw a switch. There was some odd filter that had just been removed, and the world sounded different and smelled different. The experience was so transformative for Powers that he found himself still thinking about it a
year later. “If you’re still preoccupied with a place and how you felt in that place after such a long period of time after only a four-day exposure,” Powers said, “that’s got to tell you something.”
We think the idea of being preoccupied with a place and how you feel in that place doesn’t just apply to mountains. We think it applies to any place that stays, indelible, in your mind (and probably your heart. And soul).
Dunes, seashores, marshes, the delicate curve of a barrier beach protecting a harbor. “It is the character of such places," Robinson posits to Klein, that “coalesce into a particular feeling. You can try to explain it, but it’s more of a gestalt. That’s psychogeology.”
– Leslie Garrett
Resilience on Nantucket goes well beyond risk-reduction and security improvements to include numerous opportunities that embody our island’s unique history and characteristics, support healthy ecological resources and our local economy, and bolster our thriving communities. As a community, we can address the challenges ahead and foster a more resilient and sustainable future.
To learn more about Nantucket’s history of resilience, the ongoing challenges and best practices for living in a coastal environment and the opportunities we have to build back better as we prepare to reduce the risks of sea level rise and severe weather events, visit ACKlimate’s Coastal Resilience Walk website at www.coastalresiliencewalk.org
Nantucket is one of countless coastal communities who must rethink its relationship with the sea and adapt to unavoidable climate change effects, www.acklimate.org but Nantucket has the advantage of a rich history of navigating challenging coastal landscapes.
