Sengekontacket Pond News

Welcome to the Fall 2005 edition of the Friends of Sengekontacket, Inc. newsletter.

Construction Planned for Replacement of Beach Road Bridges

The “Friends” has closely monitored the progress of the replacement of the Big and Little Bridges on Beach Road.  FOS has been informed that both bridges will probably be bid by the Massachusetts Highway Department (MHD) during late fall of 2005 with construction to begin in the fall of 2006.  It will take two years to complete construction. Two-way, two lane traffic will be maintained during the summer season and two-way, one lane traffic in the off season will be controlled by solar powered traffic lights.  The collective goal of the governmental community and FOS was replacement bridges that were graceful, attractive, safe, useful, and contribute to the recreational environment.  There have been compromises but many of our suggestions have been incorporated in the design by the MHD and we intend to closely watch the process throughout construction.  The Big Bridge will be as long as the present bridge and have four 60 foot spans.  The fascia railing and the pedestrian walkway on both sides will be timber.  A welcome addition will be a 60 foot timber fishing platform accessed from the walkway on both the Sengekontacket Pond and Vineyard Sound sides.  The walkway and fishing pier will be an overhang that will partially shield the concrete beams from view.  MHD has used timber attractively on the approaches to the bridge in order to blend with the present appearance of the Beach Road.  The bikeway will be separated from the walkway by a curb and from the traveled way by a low safety barrier.  The wearing surface of the traveled way and bikeway will be blacktop. An open issue is the architectural treatment of the wing walls.  Several proposals have surfaced from the MHD including a sculptured look to blend with the natural stone rip rap. The Little Bridge will have one 60 foot span with a similar cross section and appearance as the Big Bridge.  The waterway clearance of both the Little and Big Bridge will be somewhat greater than present.

Massachusetts Estuary Program

At the spring town meetings of Oak Bluffs and Edgartown, the entrance of the Sengekontacket Pond into the Massachusetts Estuary Program was approved and funded.  The pledge from the towns was $59,000 in cash and in-kind services.  Volunteers from FOS accelerated entrance of Sengekontacket into the program by collection in 2004 of required new water test data.  This project will combine water quality data, nutrient loading, and hydrodynamic information for Sengekontacket to identify management options to assure a sustainable resource.  This information will be combined through the use of linked watershed/estuary computer models that will predict the water quality changes or results from land use in the watershed and sub-regional areas.  MVC’s Bill Wilcox estimates that a report for Sengekontacket Pond could be expected by late 2006.  A similar study is nearing completion for the Edgartown Great Pond.  You can see what to expect for Sengekontacket Pond in a completed study for Popponesset Bay online: http://www.oceanscience.net/estuaries/Popponesset.htm.   The web site is also helpful to understand the benefits and limitations of the program.  An early product of the project will be a computer model that will help town and county government design a dredging program for the Pond.  The “Friends” has pledged an additional $2,500 and obtained a grant for $2,500 from the Edey Foundation for additional studies.  Bill Wilcox reported that field tests seem to indicate that parameters for the pond have remained stable and the health of the pond could be considered as moderate.

Restoration of Bay Scallop Habitat in Sengekontacket

The Friends of Sengekontacket, Inc. (FOS) has been active in attempts to restore the bay scallop habitat in Sengekontacket Pond.  Working with town officials and Bill Wilcox from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC), FOS has participated in a three part program of restoration, science and education.  Eel grass, a species of sea grass, is both a keystone and an indicator species.  Therefore, eel grass can be thought of as the “proverbial canary in the coal mine,” in that it is indicative of water quality.  Eel grass is an essential element in the bay scallop habitat and both scallops and eel grass have been disappearing from Sengekontacket and other estuaries on Cape Cod and the Islands.  The last remaining eel grass meadow in Sengekontacket is a tiny patch at the end of Major’s Cove.    In 2004 and 2005 bags of seeds were suspended over sandy spots with a water depth of 1 to 2 meters. Our joint efforts to seed eel grass in the Pond in 2004 have not yet proven successful and we are now investigating new methods and improving the methodology.   The 2005 seeds will not germinate until November to January, 2006.  Eel grass requires 20% of ambient light for survival and prefers water one to two meters deep.  A contradiction is that clarity in Sengekontacket is good.   To increase public awareness, and with funding from the Farm Neck Association and Vineyard Open Land Foundation, FOS with the leadership of environmental educator Christina Miller, designed a community outreach and education project.  Throughout the summer, a large threefold exhibit about eel grass was displayed at the Oak Bluffs and Edgartown Libraries.  On September 1, 2005, FOS sponsored a well attended public forum at Felix Neck on the restoration of eel grass meadows and the bay scallop habitat. Speakers included Phil Colarusso, Marine Biologist, US EPA, Charles Costello-Section Chief, MA DEP, Gus Ben David, Director of Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, and William Wilcox, Water Resources Planner, MVC and moderator Christina Miller.  Eel grass education will continue during the school year in the Oak Bluffs and Edgartown schools and MVRHS with FOS providing material for science teachers.

The Barrier Beach

 The Dukes County Sheriff has assumed management responsibility and budget for all the county beaches.  That includes maintenance, enforcement, and access control.   New post and rail fence were installed on both the Pond and Nantucket Sound side designating access points.  A major accomplishment in 2005 was the successful dredging of the Little Bridge Channel.  During the summer of 2005, the barrier beach has functioned well as an element of the Sengekontacket system and as a recreational facility. 

The Barrier Beach Task Force (BBTF), co-chaired by County Manager Winn Davis and FOS Advisory Board member Christina Miller was established in 1993.  It is composed of members from the towns of Oak Bluffs and Edgartown, County officials, Massachusetts Highway Department (MHD), Martha’s Vineyard Commission, state and federal environmental agencies, FOS and the Senior Environmental Corps.  Examples of issues which come before the BBTF are dredging of inlets, erosion and beach nourishment, recreational use, protection of rare species during nesting, and handicapped access.  FOS Advisor Don Cullivan prepared an outline in 2004 for a comprehensive Barrier Beach Management Plan.  County Manger Winn Davis wishes to move forward and requested that FOS rescale the plan to be accomplished with volunteer help and funding other than the county.  We agreed to develop a new proposal for a plan of implemental segments.

Planting Program Shows How We Can Protect the Sengekontacket Watershed

Planned and sponsored by FOS along with two other key island environmental organizations, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and The Polly Hill Arboretum, Planting with a Purpose advised over 60 attendees how and why to make environmentally friendly landscaping choices.  The public program took place on a warm and sunny day, June 23, 2005, at the Oak Bluffs School.  Speakers Matt Pelikan, writer, naturalist and Islands Program Manager for TNC, and Kris Henriksen, landscape designer and manager of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Native Plant Propagation Center, gave enthusiastic, practical and constructive advice on how plants and practices impact the quality of water and habitat for the whole Sengekontacket community.  Matt spoke to “The Land in the Landscape” to better understand the island’s ecosystem – history of land formation, characteristics of the soil, and impacts on plant growth and pollination.  In “Native Plants – in Wild Color” Kris depicted dozens of plant options native to the Vineyard, with the potential for ornamental use, and that also grow readily under cultivation.  These plants offer attractive flowers, foliage or structure and present glorious color, as her slides demonstrated.  Many of the species, as noted by Matt, offer high value to wildlife providing food or shelter for birds, mammals and insects.  The printed program serves as a useful reference tool with a list of native plants resource materials, plant suggestions, plants to avoid and color photos by Kris with useful plant descriptions

The “Friends” Support the High School Science Fair

The Martha’s Vineyard High School science fair was started six years ago by high school science teachers Natalie and Dana Munn.  Initially, 50 students participated with about 10 volunteer judges.  The 2005 science fair had 200 student participants and about 40 judges.  Student participation is voluntary with extra credit given in a student’s science course.  Freshmen and sophomores are allowed to work in teams of two if they desire but juniors and seniors develop and present their projects individually.  Project subject matter falls into one of four topics:  biology, chemistry, physics/math, and environmental science.  Students are judged on: a.) general knowledge of the topic, b.) quality of “presentation board” used by the student to present the project to the judges and public, c.) how innovative the student has been in the project and presentation, d.) how well organized the student’s presentation is to the judge, e.) their ability to “think on their feet” when answering questions posed by the judges.  An engineering competition was added to the Fair in 2004.  The Friends of Sengekontacket, Inc. has participated in the Science Fair since the beginning providing funds including $250 for the project related to water quality/salt marsh study. 

Friends of Sengekontacket, Inc.
PO Box 740
Edgartown, MA 02539
Telephone: 508 627 6966
Fax: 508 627 5833
Email: info@sengekontacket.org
Website: www.sengekontacket.org