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A VOLUNTEER PROJECT IDENTIFIES HUNDREDS OF DIFFERENT SPECIES DEMONSTRATING THE FLORA OF THE REGION IS MORE DIVERSE THAN ONE MIGHT EXPECT. BY JAMES ELLIS “Hardly too much attention can be bestowed on flowers,” said the early naturalist Henry David Thoreau. The Barnstable Land Trust agrees. The nonprofit has started inventorying all of the wildflowers on land under its protection. Initiated late in 2019, the effort undertaken by volunteers focused initially on three parcels: Bell Farm in Cotuit, Fuller Farm in Marstons Mills, and the fields of Proctor’s Crossing in West Barnstable. “The inventory is helpful to our land trust in many ways,” says Janet Milkman, executive director of the Barnstable Land Trust. “The knowledge of which plants are on our properties helps us refine our land management practices for habitat protection. It’s also great for educating visitors and even for grant applications.” By the end of 2020, the volunteers had identified hundreds of different species from pink lady’s slippers to prairie ironweed. While the project may have been easy to do on beautiful summer days, there was a more significant purpose that kept the volunteers scanning the local landscape even when the weather turned: to help study wildflowers’ critical and colorful link in the ecosystem chain. Everything in our local environment is connected, and as a result, when one link is out of sync, it has a ripple effect. Native wildflowers feed and shelter birds, insects, and pollinators, and some species are in decline. Taking inventory of the local landscape can be useful in land management, educational programs, and financial aid efforts.
Bell Farm
Proctor’s Crossing
Bell Farm is the relatively small southwest section of the popular Eagle Pond Sanctuary. Years ago, Kenneth Bell, an Illinois oil man, owned the property. While the inventory here is incomplete, it will yield many varieties since a range of habitats are involved, from wetland through woodland to upland. After less than two months, volunteers have identified 47 different species. The inventories follow the Audubon field guide approach by including vines and shrubs in the counts. Flowers include everything from the expected common hawkweed to the less abundant pink lady’s slipper.
Proctor’s Crossing is south of Route 6A just to the west of the railroad crossing. In the late 1800s, Colonel Joseph Proctor owned the then 600-acre Bay View Farm, which included the present fields under review. After inventorying in only the last month of the 2020 season, there are indications that the site may have more kinds of flowers per acre than any other spot in town. Volunteers identified 55 species, including varieties of aster and goldenrod. An extensive stand of bushy bluestem puts on a show. Wild cranberries are plentiful. American water horehound and porcelain-berry are among the unusual plants.
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