The Beauty and Biodiversity of Belchertown

Celebrate our landscapes, natural history, and the fantastic variety of life that shares this great town with us!  Draw, write, share!!

The Belchertown Biodiversity project (supported by the Toyota Tapestry grant) includes getting the word out about the beauty that surrounds us ...  mammals, frogs, salamanders, snakes, oaks, maples, hickories, blueberries, squirrels and those great squiggly things in the water!

Choose your favorite spot, draw, photograph, or paint a landscape and name the season.  Or get up close and personal with the plants, land or water animals or fungi or algae, (even soil, stones, and fallen leaves are fair game!), get drawing and name it!

Sit in a quiet space and wait for inspiration ... it won't take long!  Write a poem or 2 celebrating the beauty of this great town.  Include a word or two describing the habitat, landscape, rocks, plants, or animals that make Belchertown a great place to live and explore.

Hydra, with symbiotic algae making it green

Dragonfly larva

Pond plant (or tree or coral?  or just a really interesting pattern?)

We'll be looking into a great space (or two) for public display of the artwork come spring.  So give it your best effort and nominate yourself as an ambassador to Belchertown ecotourism ... folks from other places would love to get to see the landscapes and critters who share your backyard with you!

Stay tuned for more information about format, subject categories and submission dates.

Last Kid to Teen Ecomentors meet Weds Dec 7th!

We had another great, wet time!  The weather didn't dampen the spirits of these dedicated explorers!

Lake Wallace in the December rain

MsLevy and MrClark and the explorers

Observing, sharing, drawing

Elizabeth shows the high-schoolers how the sketching gets done

Prepare for the weather and join us!  We'll be launching the art project, "The Beauty and Biodiversity of Belchertown" with landscapes and "still" life's of tree bark, branching and leaves.

Lake Wallace in September ...
What'll it look like in December?!

Contact MsLevy for info.

Kid to Teen November 16 Wet and FUN!

The intrepid explorers once again braved the elements (40 and raining) to sample the life in Lake Wallace.  We also piloted the new Spark data collection devices in the field.   ...   We got soaked and we had FUN!

Next ...  December 7   3-5pm ... Landscapes and Trees in Winter.  Contact MsLevy to register!

Kids finding that Lake Wallace critters don't mind the rain!

Red spotted newt aquatic adult

Teens take aquatic sampling literally

Kids and Sparks collecting data

Bulbs at BHS!

Alert!!
Muscles and shovels are needed to plant tulip and narcissus bulbs in front of BHS next week!

Keep checking here for the date and let MsLevy know if you will be available to help out for this (first of many) beautification projects.  We want some color by the schools' entrance come Graduation Day!!!

Kid to Teen Ecomentors ... Nov 16 and Dec 7

We had a great time in October, checking out the hardy damselfly and mayfly larva, and constructing a log-bridge over the flooded area below Rte 202!  Mud was the fashion of the day!!

Lake Wallace as Winter approaches ...

Wear waterproof boots and come dressed for the weather … we’ll go snow or shine!  As the winter season descends upon us, we’ll be admiring the landscape and checking out what’s happening in the water.  Who’s still with us and active, who’s gone dormant for the cold season?  We’ll take some time to sketch landscapes and continue the work started by the BHS and CHCS science students measuring and mapping the trees.  Beyond that, we’ll be checking out the changes the winter brings, looking for signs of life in the woodland in tracks and scat, and reading the stories the trees have to tell us.

Pick up the note and permission slips from MsLevy in Room 127 at the High School, or from the contact person at your school  ... Mrs. Butler, Mr.Clark, Mr.Greene, or Ms.Brunelle ... they should have the paperwork sometime on Tuesday, Nov 8.  Parents/Guardians of Elementary students should be sure to follow your schools' policy on dismissing your child!

So, let's get out there and be hardy, celebrate New England outdoors in the winter!

Halloween Nor'easter

What a week!  I believe many of us share the sentiment that we are glad to get back to a "normal" existence after the travails of this week.

The unusual weather may not have been much of an issue 50 years ago... at this point in the year, most of the leaves would have fallen off the trees.  But, with an unusually wet fall and warm temperatures, the trees were either stressed or did not yet get the cue to turn colors or both.  It was a frightening combination that all of us are likely to remember for a long time!!

for context, check out Yankee magazines article   http://blogs.yankeemagazine.com/new-england-foliage/historic-snows-bring-end-to-new-england-foliage-season/ 

Kid-to-Teen Ecomentors October!

The next Kid-to-Teen Ecomentors is scheduled for Thursday, October 20th.  Come join us!

Make sure you get a permission slip from Ms.Levy and send it back to Ms.Levy.

Have your parents email Ms.Levy at  llevy@belchertown.org

See you in a few weeks!

Lake Wallace Field trip Tuesday Sept 27th

The day started off murky

But we perservered, identifying measuring and mapping the trees.
The day brightened in the afternoon.  Is it supposed to be this hot in the last week of September?!

Garter Snake, Green Frog, ooh and that is a leech!

Back in the classroom, we got some pretty good shots of the Red-spotted salamander larva and the Giant Water Bug (ok, not that giant, only 1" long)

Overall, a very successful trip, with some solid learning, good data for mapping, and a great chance to explore around the beautiful, bountiful area that is Lake Wallace.  Thanks a million to Ms.Alves, Ms.Lucas, Rae and Devin Griffiths for chaperoning the trip!

Kid-to-Teen Ecomentors tackle Tall Trees!

Well, looks like you just can't beat some teamwork for a great afternoon!  Our little guys were in charge of some big-time measuring tapes, while our 3rd, 5th,6th,7th and 12th graders handled the tangent gauges in our attempt to measure the height of some impressive trees at the edge of Foley Fields....there was some serious mathematical discussion going on.  The explorers learned a bit about identifying local deciduous trees, then set to work using two different methods to estimate the height of the trees.

Take two 45 degree angles and one right angle, and a super long tape, and it seems you have the height of a tree...right?  Wait, though, Mr.Clark doesn't quite believe that the tree is THAT tall.

So we tried the artists thumb method... and got a different answer.  That's when the hot debates really started!

Once the trees were done with us, we dipped into the water and found that there is still lots of life in Lake Wallace.

That's the larval molt of one very big dragonfly!

Thanks to Mr.Clark and Ms.Brunelle for joining us to chaperone, and to the kids, teens and parents who made this event another success!

Lake Wallace Clean-up, Sat Oct 1, 2011

Forecast of thunderstorms kept other volunteers away.  Belchertown High School Science teachers Louise Levy and Dave Monroe spent an enjoyable time scouting and scouring, but delightfully, didn't find much trash!  The resident beaver has raised the level of the water substantially and we suspect that there's lots more trash under the water, out of sight.   We will be checking the school calendar to reschedule the trail maintenance within the next few weeks and looking into ways to expand the clean-up for next year with more partners and further down the Lampson Brook... with the appropriate permissions, of course.

We worked between the raindrops and collaborated on new and better ways to engage our students outdoors on the BHS campus and at Lake Wallace ... just across the street from the Belchertown schools.  We worked out preliminary plans to transform a patch of woodland on the BHS campus into a study site for Biology classes and discussed who to involve in a school-garden beautification project.  Other topics included inter-school collaboration and community engagement once Andrea Donlon, River Steward for the Connecticut River Watershed Council, stopped by for a visit.  Just goes to show you just how much we can do when we have a chance to chat!

go to the CRWC's website for more info about the clean-up, river-wide.
http://www.ctriver.org

For the CRWC's Cleanup Chronicle, go to ...
http://www.ctriver.org/documents/S2S/Cleanup%20Chronicle%202011.pdf
we're listed as BEST of Lake Wallace in the Massachusetts listing

Saturday's Lake Wallace Clean up

If you're joining us for the CRWC's Source to Sea Cleanup at Lake Wallace

9am - 2 pm   email Louise Levy by 10pm Friday night to volunteer.   And ....  Thanks!!
                                 llevy@belchertown.org

meet us at Foley Field ... behind the Belchertown Police Station, pass the Senior Center and Teen Center, pass the Tadgell building onto the dirt road, through the trees and you'll see the fields.

Wear grubby clothes!!  Bring gloves, clippers, shovel ... other garden tools that would be helpful in grabbing garbage out of the woodland and water and trimming back raspberry, blackberry, multiflora rose and other plants that are overhanging the trail.

We will provide garbage bags and a bottle of water ... how do you feel about ordering pizza from Saparito's for a lunch break?!

Let's pull out some trash and make the area in and around the lake and down the trail safe and comfortable for students and nature lovers.

Levy students' assignments

Click the name of your class above for info about the WEco Leaf Collection or the Biology Research assignment

Nature walk from the Senior Center

A beautiful afternoon for a walk on Monday, September 12 and a group of hardy seniors joined MsLevy on an excursion down to the waters edge at Lake Wallace, along with 3 BHS students.  Equipped with binoculars, spotting scope, a basin, a few plastic spoons and a great sense of adventure, 5 participants set off on the half-mile walk past the Tadgell building, Foley Fields and on to the open water of the lake.

The birds were quiet but for the crowd of starling in the trees behind the Teen Center.  Neither the beaver nor the wood duck showed, though the preening geese and resting Kingfisher gave us quite a show through the spotting scope.  There were plenty of topics for conversation about this beautiful area ... fall wildflowers and webworms, dragonflies and mushrooms, and the pleasure the site provided to the residents of the former state school.  The geography of the area, the shallow depression of the Lake Wallace basin, the "forest" of dead snags out in the beaver-flooded wetlands, the oxygen-rich upper lake and the oxygen-poor lower "swamp," the feeling of being somewhere wild, while still hearing the sounds of the cars passing on Rte 202, and reminiscences of visits and times past provided yet more opportunities to discuss and appreciate this beautiful place.  All 5 of the participants passed the short quiz at the end of the walk. (kidding!)

A peek into the water revealed a variety of aquatic critters, including some hardy dragonfly larva that will most likely overwinter and be the first of the season in the spring.  There was a great variety of plankton, they were just a bit too small for a good look.   All in all, the ladies decided that they'd just refer to MsLevy as "the walking encyclopedia."  Thanks!

The next walk is scheduled for Monday, October 3.
Sign up at the main desk at the Belchertown Senior Center.

"Ecology project boosted" in the Sept 6th Republican

Read about the Toyota Tapestry grant and the great opportunity it presents to the Belchertown Public School students!  page C1 in print and  the full article at masslive   

Belchertown environmental education programs to benefit from $10,000 Toyota grant  written by John Appleton

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/09/belchertown_environmental_educ.html

Kid-to-Teen Ecomentors Wednesday Sept 28th 3-5 pm

In this first of the year event, Kid/Teen teams will take on the challenge seeing the forest and the trees!

                                                                    White Ash

This event will feature identifying, measuring, and mapping trees between Foley Field and the waters edge.  We will likely locate Red and Sugar Maples, White Ash, Black and White (and maybe Scarlet) Oak, Quaking or Bigtooth Aspen, Pignut or Shagbark Hickory, White Pine and Smooth Sumac trees... along with others that might surprise us.  We'll use sketching and careful observation to identify the trees.  Once we know what species the trees are, we'll collect dbh (diameter at breast height) measurements and use "artists thumb" and "timber" methods to estimate the height of the trees.  Part of the discussion will be the services that trees provide us ... sequestering carbon, providing oxygen, filtering air and water, besides providing us with great material for poetry and serenity.  Using map coordinates from GPS, we'll begin developing a map of the tree resources in this beautiful place.  We'll end by scooping some lake water to see if the critters have changed much since the April and June KtT events.

Parents:
Have your child get a permission slip from MsButler (CSS), MrClark (SRE), MrGreene(CHCS), MsO'Rourke (JBMS) or directly from MsLevy at BHS in Room 127.  Please be sure you've received confirmation that your child is registered for this event, the registration is limited in order to limit the impact on the ecosystem and to ensure that there are enough chaperones to safely conduct the event.  MsLevy and other BPS teachers will be on hand at Chestnut Hill and Swift River pick-up for students who have permission to be escorted to the Teen Center.  Otherwise, parents of elementary students, please bring your child to the Teen Center and sign in.  JBMS students should take the bus to the Teen Center - make appropriate arrangements well in advance.  BHS students are to meet MsLevy in Room127 after school for last minute preparations and to help with carrying equipment.

Pick up is at 5 at the Teen Center - be sure to sign out.

We'll go rain or shine, but not in truly inclement weather.  Come prepared with sensible clothing and shoes.  Be sure to have alternate plans in case the event is cancelled.

Senior Nature Walk

Join us on Wednesday, September 7th   has been rescheduled to Monday Sept 12th  still 3:30 - 4:30
 You are invited to take a walk down to the shores of Lake Wallace to appreciate and celebrate Belchertown's Biodiversity.  We leave the Senior Center at 3:30 for an hour of birds, dragonflies, fall flowers and whatever else presents itself.   Look for the flyer in the Senior Center!  Sign up at the front desk.
(Ms Levy is an experienced naturalist, with leading groups on interpretive walks at Lake Wallace and other areas, as well as a moderately skilled birder.  Bring your skills along with you, too ... I'm always up for learning more!)

Hurricane Irene

Batten down the hatches, take in your lawn furniture and get your candles and battery powered radios ready ... here comes Irene!

Rotational winds blowing onto the eastern Atlantic off west Africa get carried across by the trade winds, turned north by the Gulf Stream.  On the way, the storms pick up energy and water from the warm waters of the tropical Atlantic and ... voila!  a hurricane.
First come the winds from the east, blowing lots of rain over us, then intensifying as the storms center approaches.  If the eye stays to the east, we get soaked and the winds intensify out of the north.  The closer the eye to us, the stronger the winds.
Check out The Weather Channels' Hurricane Central  http://www.weather.com/weather/hurricanecentral/

wikipedia

Through our dry July and wet August, trees have been stressed and may be weakened by decay.  That increases the likelihood of trees or tree limbs coming down in those high winds.  In the months and years after the trees fall, the new areas of open canopy present opportunities for a variety of shrubs, wildflowers, and sapling trees.  As you take a walk through your favorite woodland, try to notice if the trees are of roughly the same size or many different sizes.  A new successional woodland has lots of trees of similar age and, therefore, size.  The more decades since the last major, tree-dropping event, the greater the variety of ages and sizes of the trees.  The landscape tells the story of the past.  Check out Harvard Forests' information on landscapes.  http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/museum.html   Our landscape has been filling in since the agricultural clearing of the 1800's.

See what Wikipedia has to say about the Hurricane of '38... the one that all of the news channels are comparing Irene to.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938_New_England_hurricane  One major difference to keep in mind is that we have more trees that are bigger and older than back then.  The aspens and birches that may have dominated 100 to 50 years ago are pioneers that do well in disturbed soil with lots of sunlight.  Now, they're 50 to 100 years old and reaching the end of their lives at roughly the same time.  They've been replaced with oaks and lots of white pine and maples.

csfs.colostate.edu


Remember, though, if lots of wood comes down in your area ... don't transport it with you to use as firewood when you've gone camping.  The Asian Longhorn Beetle is a growing threat to trees all over New England.  The worst of the infestation may be in the Worcester area, but it's been found in small pockets far beyond.  For more info, go to the Mass DAR website  http://www.mass.gov/agr/alb.htm

Earthquake!

Did you feel it?  1:50 on the afternoon of August 23rd, at first we thought it was one of those large trucks passing by.  We hear that it was a 5.9 magnitude centered in Virginia!  Things rattled, but nothing fell down at our house.
USGS Earthquake in Virginia

Lake Wallace loop trail

The beautiful and ever-changing landscape of Lake Wallace in a medium-difficulty 1.4mile loop.  Let us know if you spot anything interesting!

Mark your calendars

- Don't forget Belchertown's Hazardous Waste Collection day is Saturday Sept 17th.  Be sure to register by the 10th.
- Belchertown Fair starts on Sept 23.  Get your Lake Wallace landscapes, tree or pond life artwork and poetry to MsLevy at the high school by Sept 16 for the chance to be highlighted on the BEST of Lake Wallace display
 - Wednesday, Sept 28th is the tentative date for Kid-to-Teen Ecomentors ... stay tuned for more info
 - Saturday, October 1 is the Connecticut River Watershed Council's big "Source to Sea Cleanup"  Look for more info and the chance to help clean up the smallest watershed in the state!

Belchertown Biodiversity – Toyota Tapestry grant update

Toyota’s public relations firm GolinHarris, contacted media outlets in Western Mass this week.  Keep an eye out for stories in the news as the school year begins.

Belchertown Biodiversity Project Teams

                                                     hmmmmm is that another 2 owl pellets?!!

BPS Teachers are working hard getting ready to take students outside this coming school year.  Teachers braved rain in June, sticky heat in July and pesky bugs in August.  (Thanks to Ms. O'Rourke for lending her photogenic kids!)   The Belchertown Biodiversity team teachers are busy planning schoolyard experiences and field trips to Lake Wallace.  Mr. Clark (SRE 1^st) and Mr. Monroe(BHS), Mrs. Butler (CSS K) and Mrs O’Rourke (JBMS), and Mr. Greene (CHCS 6^th) and Ms. Scudere(BHS) started partnering on designing the best possible trips for BPS students.  Students across grade levels will be learning to identify our native trees and conduct measuring and mapping exercises.  The wide array of pond organisms living in Lake Wallace and in bodies of water on school grounds will provide lots of opportunity for observation and monitoring as we move through the seasons.  More on this as the school year gets under way.

Generous donation yields interest and excitement

Through the generosity of Gary Moore (former UMass Chemistry professor), BHS now has a fabulous new device to examine pond life up close.  A Digiscope Blue donated just as school closed, students and teachers have been able to capture some fascinating images.  … and it’ll just get better from here!