Day 1

After a brief introduction and some it information on what the expectations would be for the week, it was off to some field work. We took a short but bumpy ride to a DCR facility in Newburyport at Sandy Point. We met up with the facilities naturalist (Gary) and got some great history on glaciation and the production of the barrier islands around Plumb Island, Crane's Beach, and the connections between the Ipswich and Merrimack Rivers. We met up with the our guide and field naturalist, and went for a great hike through the sand dunes.

We were made aware of many different types of flora on our journey. We say poverty grass, shown above, and vast amounts of poison ivy. I was surprised to see as much ivy as we did. I guess I wasn't aware that it could stand the harsh environment of the sand dune. We also saw great examples of beach grass which lays down a network of roots that holds the whole dune system together. We got a chance to see a dune that had been split in half and it gave us a good look at the root system that holds things together.

We also got to see various types of birds on our trip including: egrets, tree swallows (which I was amazed to hear travel thousands of miles in migration) and we learned about the Red Knot (sp?). It was interesting to get the explanation for migration in birds using the whole cost vs. benefit of making the trip, which our guide made very clear for us. We also got a chance to look at several examples of animal tracks in the sand, since the paths we were on were made and used by many local animals. We saw deer tracks, possibly fischer tracks and coyote tracks in the dune network.

Deer and coyote tracks

The dune network seemed to be dotted with scrub brush, ivy and small trees at times. It seems that these were places sand and or soil had aggregated over time. We took pictures from one of the highest dunes in the network and saw some beautiful views of Little Neck, Great Neck and Plum Island.




We walked along the beach, and some interesting points/chats surrounded: rack line, crabs - invasive species and native species, chord grass (spartina alternaflor) and marsh hay (spartina patens), along with clamming, red tides, and horseshoe crab bleeds. At this point the rain persisted so we headed for our cars along the path that ran along a body of fresh water. We saw egrets in the water and several swans, which we came to find out are in such large numbers they are considered a nuisance in the area.



Upon arriving back at Boat Camp, we had lunch and learned about nautical charts. Scott shared some great information on plate techtonics and pluton formations (I am interested in exploring the one in York Maine this summer with my children). We saw some great, and practical uses for Google Earth and another program that Rob had. Rob gave some info on food pyramids and talked about ocean ecology. Then we called it a day since the weather did not seem to be improving and we headed for home. It was a productive day, with lots of information, but just being outside and seeing what excellent resources we have (for free) was eye-opening for me as an educator in Massachusetts.