The Guardian: "We know how to mourn other humans – but what about ecological grief?"

"In Iceland, people commemorated its first glacier formally declared lost to climate change. Western culture needs more of these rituals

Ecologists refer to great blue herons as indicator species;
their disappearance often signals deeper disruptions
 in water quality and habitat integrity.
Composite: Rita Liu/The Guardian/Getty Images

I remember interviewing a North Atlantic right whale expert years ago. He was a practical, science-minded man. But as we discussed a female whale that had lost her calf, he became visibly emotional. She had lost the previous one, too, struck by a ship. He seemed almost embarrassed by the depth of his feeling.

I wasn’t surprised. I found his grief honorable.

There are fewer than 400 North Atlantic right whales left. Every birth is a celebration; every death is mathematically and emotionally devastating. Scientists who spend years studying endangered species inevitably form attachments to them. So do many of us, whether to an endangered tree, a stretch of crumbling coastline, or summer nights once filled with fireflies.

Yet our culture has almost no language or rituals for this kind of grief."

Continue reading the article with the shared link ->    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/10/ecological-grief?CMP=share_btn_url

Join the Backyard Ecosystem Education (BEE) Program in 2024

Registration Opens January 2, 2024 - Closes February 29, 2024

The Backyard Ecosystem Education (BEE) Program is an interactive program for Franklin residents and business owners to design and create a native, biologically diverse habitat at their property. The BEE Program consists of five themed workshops and one field day giving residents and business owners the skills to:

• Attract wildlife and plant life to their habitat;
• Support their habitat through climate change and other ecological stressors;
• Plan and design their backyard habitat with professional practitioners; and
• Be considered a Backyard Ecosystem Advocate

Upon successful completion and attendance of the BEE Program, participants will be considered a "Backyard Ecosystem Advocate" and their habitats, once established, will have the opportunity to become "Certified Wildlife Habitats" through the National Wildlife Federation.

Registration opens January 2, 2024 and is on a first come, first serve basis. Registration closes February 29, 2024. Registration is available to all residents regardless of ownership/rental status or living situation, all Franklin business owners, and up to five FPS high school students. The Conservation Department is currently collaborating with FPS - STEM to excuse up to five students for the scheduled field day, so students - please apply if you are interested! 

Workshop descriptions are listed below. Questions? Email bgoodlander@franklinma.gov.

Workshop Title	Date, Time, and Location	Description
Wildlife	Wednesday, April 3, 2024 4p - 6p Location TBD	Residents will learn common wildlife species that they may find in their backyard habitats and/or how to attract these wildlife species to their habitats.
Plant Life	Wednesday, April 10, 2024 4p - 6p Location TBD	Residents will learn common native and wildlife friendly plants and common invasive plants they may plant and/or find in their backyard habitats.
Landscapes and Regional Context	Wednesday, April 17, 2024 4p - 6p Location TBD	Residents will learn to identify what landscape they live in, its regional context, and how to design a habitat suitable for their surroundings.
Climate and Other Ecological Stressors	Wednesday, April 24, 2024 4p - 6p Location TBD	Residents will learn how to plan their habitat for climate change, design their habitat considering climate resilience, and mitigate future environmental stressors and disturbance events.
Planning and Design	Wednesday, May 1, 2024 4p - 6p Location TBD	Residents will be able to sit down in small groups with professional practitioners to design their own specific backyard habitat applying all lessons learned in previous workshops.
Field Day and Graduation Luncheon	Friday, May 10 10a - 2p Location TBD	Residents will be bussed around Town for a tour of raingardens, biodiversity areas, turtle nesting habitats, regenerative forests, gardens, and more. Lunch and a graduation ceremony will be provided.

Shared from -> https://www.franklinma.gov/conservation/news/join-backyard-ecosystem-education-bee-program-2024

Join the Backyard Ecosystem Education (BEE) Program in 2024

In the News: invasive plant attack, voter turnout trends

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin

"It concluded that the major problem is invasive plant life," he said. "Until that is addressed, all other life will be choked out." 

The study, conducted to evaluate obstacles to the ponds' recreational use, stated that non-native aquatic plants (milfoil and water chestnut) and invasive carp are threats to the native life at DelCarte. 

"Those fish (carp) will eventually take over the whole water body," Russell said. "A single-species ecosystem is unhealthy." 

Russell said the town's three-year plan - based on the study's recommendations - would call for the application of herbicides in years one and two and bolstering the ponds' spawning habitat in year three.

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20160228/franklin-looking-to-curb-invasive-species

The ESS Study referred to in the article can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2016/02/ecological-and-management-study-of.html

DelCarte in autumn color

Ashland Town Clerk Tara Ward remembers the spring town election of 2014.
All day and into the evening, Ward and her staff manned voting stations. 

When the polls closed, it didn't take long to tally the results: Only 211 people voted. 

"I was telling my election workers to vote," said Ward. "I was floored." 

Ward's experience isn't unique in MetroWest, where residents come out in droves for presidential and state elections, but skip local races.

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20160228/towns-see-consistently-low-turnouts-for-local-elections

While not one of the communities listed in this article, Franklin's voting record aligns with the other communities. The numbers for elections from 2003 through 2014 can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/11/franklin-voter-turnout-2003-2014.html

Town Council meeting 2/24/16 - missing portion

I was able to report on the Council meeting via the live broadcast for a portion of the Wednesday meeting. Left to handle a business meeting and returned to catch the end of the lengthy meeting. This portion I caught via the video replay.

As with the other Storify summaries I have posted, be sure to scroll within the widget to see all the entries.

A member of the Conservation Commission and the Franklin Conservation Agent George Russell

The 'phantom ecologist' can do better

A loyal reader found this note posted on one of the information kiosks at the DelCarte property last weekend and shared the photo with me. A series of emails with Michele Grenier, the Franklin Conservation Agent, and Jeff Nutting, the Town Administrator,  confirmed the following.

• Trapa natans is an invasive species, it is not legally sold in MA.
• Franklin will put a plan together to remove the plant from the pond
• The 'phantom ecologist' should come forward with anything else they find and reach out to the Conservation Agent.

The contact information for Michele (email and phone) can be found on the official Franklin webpage
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_Conservation/index

Additional info on the trapa natans can be found on the National Park Service page here
http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/pubs/midatlantic/trna.htm 

or wikipedia here  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_caltrop

What does the trapa natans look like?

From Evernote:

Water Chestnut (Trapa natans) Clipped from: http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/pubs/midatlantic/trna.htm

trapa natnas

Photo of 'phantom ecologist' note

In case the text is hard to read, it has been recopied here:

Water chestnut (Trapa natans) has been observed in DelCarte Pond #4, the pond immediately behind this kiosk. The plant has not previously been observed in Franklin. 

This is a highly invasive non-native plant most probably introduced by geese and/or swans. If not controlled the pond is expected to be completely controlled by the plants' floating mats in just a couple of years, reducing sunlight and dissolved oxygen to the extent that fish kills can be expected, severely limiting the potential for fishing and bating at DelCarte. 

Currently there are dozens of colonies, composed of a few hundred individuals. This population has grown in just a single season (it was not observed in 2012) giving an idea of how it quickly it multiple geometrically.  

It is still feasible to control this plant by manually pulling the plants, although it may take several years to completely eradicate it. The plants have dropped their seeds in July, so no control measures are planned until next spring and summer.  

If allowed to grow for another year or two, removing the plants manually will be impractical. There are mechanical and chemical controls that can be applied for established infestations, but are prohibitively expensive. next summer is our best chance to control this plant and maintain the ability to fish and boat at DelCarte. 

Information will be posted here next spring regarding an attempt in May/June 2014 to manually pull the plant using canoes and kayaks. 

- the phantom ecologist - 8/16/2013