High School Science Fair Award - 2008
Each year Friends of Sengekontacket Inc. provides financial support to the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Science Fair. FOS funds a special award for an outstanding water quality/conservation related project. In February 2008 at the 9th Annual Science Fair, the FOS award went to Sarah Johnson for her project entitled The Effect of Increased Oceanic Acidity on Snails’ Behavioral Responses to Crabs.
Pond Health Issues 2008
It is time for those of us who treasure Sengekontacket Pond as an emblem of our Island’s natural resources and our coastal landscape to take action. The Towns of Edgartown and Oak Bluffs have established a joint committee to address in a systemic way two critical challenges related to Sengekontacket Pond: the immediate bacterial contamination and closure to shell fishing and the more long term trend of degraded water quality. Friends of Sengekontacket Inc. believes that a pond management plan is essential to address these crises. But alone this is insufficient. A joint pond approach is needed to ensure cohesive and consistent implementation priorities as well as to ensure the long term sustainability of a health estuary – water, habitat and watershed.
The attached summary describes an initial understanding of the complex issues and key stakeholders and suggests an outline of possible short and long term next steps for Sengekontacket Pond.
In support of determining the causes of last summer’s bacterial contamination of Sengekontacket Pond FOS paid for special DNA testing of a limited number of samples from the pond, Eel Pond and Farm Pond. The funding for this testing was provided by the Town of Edgartown, a concerned Farm Pond resident and FOS. The Report of the Laboratory Results is attached. FOS believes that any further testing should follow a more comprehensive protocol including additional sampling from various level of the water column and possibly from wrack and silt locations. Additionally more local samples are needed for comparison to eliminate incorrect identification of non-local species.
FOS has developed a list of
Near Term Action Items
to document possible sources of bacterial and other contamination on
Sengekontacket Pond. It is hoped that the Joint Committee on Sengekontacket Pond
will include these in the Committee’s immediate plans to address the
contamination that is resulting in pond closures each summer.
Please note that the "Report of the Laboratory Results" and the "Near Term Action Items" above require Adobe Acrobat, a free program, to view. Click on the "Get Acrobat" button below to open the Adobe web site where the free viewer can be downloaded. The report can be printed or zoomed in on the screen for easier viewing.
2005-2006 Restoration of Eel Grass Meadows and Bay Scallop Habitat in Sengekontacket Pond
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, Water
Resource Planner
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.
Restoration 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. We are now investigating new methods and improving the methodology and have applied for additional grants. In 2005, the Wilcox team made available a total of 80,000 eel grass seeds at 8 locations in the Pond. The 2005 seeds will not germinate until November 2005 to January 2006. Eel grass requires 20% ambient light for survival and prefers water one to two meters deep. A seeming contradiction is that clarity in Sengekontacket is good. The seeds all came from an eel grass meadow in Trapp’s Pond.
Science It is hoped that the acceptance of Sengekontacket in the Massachusetts Estuaries Program (MEP) will give us additional answers and direction. The MEP uses the nutrient values acceptable for continued growth of an eel grass meadow as a measure of estuary health.
Education To increase public awareness, and with funding from the Farm Neck Association and Vineyard Open Land Foundation, environmental educator and an FOS founder 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.
In the spring 2005 FOS will provide an after school program entitled Gently Down the Stream under YMCA's Creative Choices program. The focus of this class for elementary students is how land use affects our ponds and water. Through hands-on explanation children will explore the issues relevant to habitat protection and responsible land use. The final project is planting a native plant "rain garden" at the Oak Bluffs library.
Friends and Gardeners Going Native at OB Library
Friends
of Sengekontacket Inc. (FOS) in collaboration with the Martha’s Vineyard Garden
Club and supported by Going Native Nursery planted a children’s garden at the
Oak Bluffs Library with plants that are native to the island. The public
library is central to community life and a natural place to introduce children
to concepts that they then share with adults in the family. This garden
demonstrates how to landscape the "Vineyard" way. Part of a program to
encourage the use of plants that do not require chemicals or excessive watering,
the children’s garden is labeled to help children (and parents and any library
visitor) to learn about one kind of land and water conservation practice.
In July a children’s reading session at the Library with Kate Hancock, retired
elementary school teacher, shared flower stories and colored native plant
pictures, and included a tour of the garden.
The garden had the blessing of the town selectmen, the assistance of the Highway Department and was designed in conjunction with Mark Crossland, who has provided the gazebo and landscaping for the library. Garden Club members created the bed design and plant layout as well as the critical labor to dig and prepare the beds. Going Native Nursery recommended and provided the island native plant stock with details about habit and color. The project was funded by FOS with a generous grant from the Garden Club and contributions from the Nursery.
2004-2005 Proactive Land Use
An assumption is that the gradual demise of our Pond is
partially from development within the watershed. In 2004, FOS volunteers went
door to door in the entire water shed and distributed a brochure on acceptable
lawn practices and other runoff issues. This June we co-sponsored a seminar on
“Planting with a Purpose” attended by over 60 people at the Oak Bluffs
School. Speakers Matt Pelikan, writer, naturalist and Islands Program Manager
for The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and Kris Henriksen, landscape designer and the
manager, 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 Pelikan spoke about
“The Land in the Landscape” to better understanding 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 which also grow readily under cultivation.
2005 Beach Clean Up
The Friends of Sengekontacket participated in the annual beach clean-up day on April 23 2005 by volunteering to pick-up trash on Joseph Silvia State Beach between the big and little bridges. FOS team leader Malcolm Reed said, “Our FOS sponsored team sent 25 bags of trash and other junk to the dump. It was a very successful day, and I want to say thank you to all the helpers.”
The Friends of Sengekontacket
sponsors the annual student poster art contest to enlist the community’s
awareness and help in maintaining the sensitive and otherwise pristine beach
that borders our pond’s valued shellfish, bird and vegetation habitat. 
Again
this spring, the student’s poster art advocating “Carry In / Carry Out” of beach
users' trash and treasures will show adults how to be environmentally conscious
of the barrier beach that runs parallel to Sengekontacket Pond. David Faber and
John Nelson, the science teachers at each school, integrate this project into
environmental science units. Ray Ellis, famed Vineyard artist, and Paul Brissette, MVRHS Art Director, were again the contest judges to determine the
top 40 posters which will mark the pedestrian pathways from the road to the
State Beach.
Environmental Activism
The directors and advisors of FOS are active in the Island environmental community. As a group and as individuals, we contribute our support of environmental education and water quality projects, including the MV Water Alliance.
Early Morning Sengekontacket© Shoreline at Majors Cove
Photo Courtesy Don Cullivan © 2006
Links: 2005 State of Pond Report Fall 2005 Sengekontacket News