Nantucket’s Rare Sandplain Grasslands

by Dr. Sarah Treanor Bois, PhD Director of Research & Education at the Linda Loring Nature Foundation

Driving around the south of the island, you may be headed to the beach or just going on a traditional Nantucket “rantum scoot.” Most dirt roads headed to the shore take you past open landscapes of waving grasses, low shrubs, and wildflowers when the season is right. Head of the Plains, Smooth Hummocks, Cisco— these are sandplain grasslands and coastal heathlands. On Nantucket, we’re pretty lucky: the sandplain grasslands here are some of the largest remaining intact grasslands of their kind in the world.

Because of their unique nature and special status, island conservation organizations have been working hard to protect, manage, and expand these habitats where possible. To enhance these efforts, in 2016 the Sandplain Grassland Network was formed. This network brings together grassland managers, researchers, and practitioners throughout the sandplain grassland distribution range. Massachusetts boasts the largest amount of remaining Sandplain Grassland habitat, primarily found on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. However, small pockets exist on Cape Cod, in southern Maine, coastal Connecticut, and Long Island. The network shares knowledge of sandplain grassland management, focusing on lessons learned and on problems encountered. The result of this work is a new paper recently published in the Journal of Restoration Ecology summarizing the status of this globally rare sandplain grassland habitat throughout its range.

Sandplain Grasslands of the northeastern U.S. are iconic hotspots for biodiversity and important conservation priorities because of their relative rarity, limited geographical range, and the diversity of uncommon plant and animal species that they support. Numerous state- and federally-listed plant species occur in sandplain habitats. The habitat also supports listed grassland-specialist birds and lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). Supporting the overall habitat also pro-

Blue Beetle