Ted Elliman, Vegetation Management Coordinator/IPANE

The Society’s Conservation Department teamed up with the Opacum, Minnechaug, and Sheffield Land Trusts in western Massachusetts to conduct botanical inventories. These land trusts have no information on the flora of their properties and no invasive species control. The project was funded as a partnership arrangement with western MA land trusts, which had received a grant from Mass Land Trust Coalition.

In June, we started a botanical inventory for Opacum, with properties in Sturbridge and Brimfield, working with PCV’s, IPANE, and Land Trust volunteers. On our initial survey, the team discovered one rare plant, the Lance-leaved grape fern (Botrychium lanceolatum). We logged almost 200 species the first day—accomplished through the hard work of volunteers! Opacum Land Trust leader Alan Church, an archaeologist, pointed out Native American rock shelters on the site.

Surveys were also started on two Minnechaug Land Trust properties, the Rice Nature Preserve in Wilbraham and at Minnechaug Mountain, near Hamden. Again, with PCV’s, IPANE, and many land trust volunteers (also participatin: an infant and a greyhound!), we were out on a couple of very hot, then thundery days. But with great volunteer participation, we covered a lot of ground, logged many species, and mapped invasive species populations (bittersweet, multiflora, Japanese barberry) for control later this summer.

At Sheffield’s Cosgriff Farm, we pitched right into control efforts with land trust volunteers and three classes from a local school, Mt. Everett Regional High School, who helped us pull out bags and bags of garlic mustard on the steep banks of Schneob Brook, a habitat designated as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern by the MA Natural heritage and Endangered Species Program. The also team demonstrated use of tools -- clippers, loppers, and weed wrenches -- to high school students who will be back in September to help us tackle the invasives.