Madaket Area Buildout Analysis—pg

The Nantucket Conservation Commission has found SBPF’s geotube project in violation of its permit. For the past five years, SBPF has not been providing enough mitigation sand, nor is it monitoring the project correctly. Stay informed on this issue by signing up for our Enewsletter and following us on social media.

C O M M U N I T Y N E W S Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring

NLC continues to learn more about our island ponds through water quality monitoring. Our research is bringing attention to what ails island ponds and getting abutters involved in improving water quality in these beautiful places.

New Summer Intern at NLC

The Nantucket Land Council welcomes Dayna Ullathorne as the Summer 2021 intern. Dayna is a rising senior at the University of Vermont in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources and is majoring in Environmental Sciences. She is fascinated by climate change and is curious how coastal ecosystems and communities will respond to challenges such as sea level rise and development. Her passion for the environment was fostered by growing up in the seaside town of Duxbury, Massachusetts and exploring the various ecological communities present there. Dayna will aid in a few research projects such as monitoring freshwater ponds for algal blooms and water quality, Eelgrass habitat restoration, and invasive Green Crab monitoring. During her free time, Dayna enjoys running and spending time at the beach as well as hiking and skiing while at UVM.

Madaket Area Buildout Analysis

The Nantucket Land Council is very pleased to announce it’s receipt of a grant from the Madaket Conservation Association (MCA) to fund a buildout analysis of the Madaket area. As the Town continues to plan for sewer expansion out to Madaket, the residents and the Land Council are concerned about how access to this new infrastructure may significantly increase development pressure and potential in those neighborhoods. The purpose of this study is to evaluate what the potential buildout of Madaket will be with Town sewer so that the community can address questions about how it would like to plan for its future. The Nantucket Land Council is engaging the Principle Group, an urban design, development and planning firm headquartered in Boston to complete the analysis. We will be working with assistance from ACKNow and members of the MCA on this project throughout the summer.

Member Spotlight Marcia Aguiar

“I am a member of the Nantucket Land Council because of the work they do to help educate the community on important environmental issues.

This year I was thrilled to see them focus on “ promoting more pollinator habitat on Nantucket. I love working in and learning from my pollinator garden, but have become very concerned about lower diversity and overall numbers of bees and butterflies. I hope that many others will join me in never using pesticides and using the Land Council’s educational materials to help them start their own gardens and support our pollinator populations!

Green Crab Week

With funds from the NLC Water Fund and Nantucket Shellfish Association, NLC is partnering with Dr. Emily Goldstein Murphy to conduct a formal demographics survey of the invasive European Green Crab in our Harbor. Dr. Goldstein Murphy’s data will allow us to create a map of Nantucket Harbor indicating where green crabs are congregating. This data will better help us focus our mitigation efforts against this destructive crustacean. NLC is also continuing its green crab molting program this summer, as we continue to explore the potential of green crabs as a commercial fishery and culinary delight for local restaurants and fish markets. If you’d like to learn more and/or get involved, please send a message to RJ Turcotte at rj@nantucketlandcouncil.org.

Coastal Plastics Research

As our community continues to phase out the commercial sale of single use plastics, we continue to learn more about how plastics are behaving in our environment. NLC is proud to be funding the study of macro- and microplastics on our beaches and nearshore waters, in partnership with UMass Boston and the Nantucket DPW. By collecting samples of sand, water just a few yards off the beach, and in 2021 precipitation samples, we are learning just what sorts of plastics are ubiquitous in the beach environment we all cherish. Early samples have been dominated by one type of microplastic in particular- synthetic fibers, like polyester found in fleece jackets and fiberglass insulation. These fibers continue to break down into smaller and smaller pieces and are becoming more common in the environment. Stay tuned for a formal report on what else we’ve found later this year!