— Ted Elliman, Vegetation Management Coordinator/IPANE

In December the Society received a grant of approximately $9,000 from the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife’s Landowner Incentive (LIP) Program to conduct habitat management at our Nasami Farm and Sanctuary in Whately, MA, for the benefit of rare and at-risk fauna.

Surrounded by forest patches, expansive farm fields, and state-protected open lands, Nasami is a haven for birds, reptiles, mammals, butterfiles, and dragonflies requiring large acreages of open habitat for their survival. Some of the exceptional species identified at Nasami to date include wood turtle, bobolink, savannah sparrow, eastern meadowlark, northern harrier, and sharp-shinned hawk. The LIP grant enables us to enhance the quality of Nasami’s open meadows and wetlands by supporting the following:

• Mowing program for open fields on a late-summer schedule specifically to avoid effects on ground-nesting birds and foraging wood turtles

• Invasive plant removal strategy focusing on Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose), which infests a large area of Nasami’s shrub and thicket communities. Beginning in late September, Society staff and volunteers will cut and treat with herbicide Rosa multiflora and other invasive shrubs (such as Japanese barberry) that impact the site’s ecosystems.

The removal of these species, and the recovery of native shrubs such as swamp dogwood, willows, and alder, serves to restore the quality of Nasami’s meadows and thickets, which are vital habitat for so many rare and at-risk fauna.