We measure our lives in decades, which is fine; but what if we measured our lives like the mayfly, who reappears in the same place for tens of thousands of years, each individual a facet of single transgenerational being, each individual a carrier of the baton-of-life in the finish-line-less relay-race of the species in time?
“Most droughts occur in late summer. The fact that this one is happening as the leaves come out…” I’d worried.
“The tree species that are native to our area can handle this. It happened a few years ago—the buds dried and fell off, but new leaves appeared,” he retorted, determined to make me cheerful.
It’s good to know that; I don’t mind being reassured. Words are just words, though. Real assurance requires the real.
Reassurance can be found, for example, in the flocks of blackflies that greet you when you step into the woods. As a native species, they’re tough survivors—at least as old as the mammal species they’ve supped upon for plus or minus fifteen millenia. Ah, but this is just more blather! To the river we go, sure our blackflies will follow.
At the river, we find the aerial bobbings of the longtailed mayfly. Up and down they flit, yoyo-ing as if played with by kids. They are older as a native species than the blackfly, and form the basis of the aquatic food chain of which trout and salmon are the hungriest. biggest-mouthed predators. Find a boulder to sit on, exposed in mid-stream—a perch fit for a Zen monk or an osprey. Look closely: the twin tails of the mayfly straighten to parallel as they rocket upwards. They linger at zenith for a moment of motionless poise, then drop; their tails split and become V-shaped parachutes they sit on, like children on swings. Wings of chrome-fuzz in the sunlight, bodies slender and dark, they ride for seconds like William Blake’s cherubim: miraculous beyond the ken of science. How can the value of these lives be over-estimated as they do this, as their ancestors have done since before the Ice Age, and the arrival of mammals? We measure our lives in decades, which is fine; but what if we measured our lives like the mayfly, who reappears in the same place for tens of thousands of years, each individual a facet of single transgenerational being, each individual a carrier of the baton-of-life in the finish-line-less relay-race of the species in time?
This is what the river asks us through its tumbling hiss of water against stone, and answers with the yoyo-ing mayfly. In the same place the river speaks its soothing words of white water, the mayfly does its courtship dance, and lays its eggs from which next years dancers will emerge. The kinetic force that gives voice to white water also trebles the oxygen content, and mayfly nymphs—and hungry trout and salmon—need an oxygen-rich environment.
In this way, the voice of the river—even in drought—is voice that reassures. As long as there’s flow, there are the mayflies.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kurt Heidinger, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of Biocitizen, non-profit school of field environmental philosophy, based in the Western MA Hilltown of Westhampton, MA where he lives with his family. Biocitizen gives participants an opportunity to “think outside” and cultivate a joyous and empowering biocultural awareness of where we live and who we are. Check out Kurt’s monthly column, The Ripple, here on Hilltown Families on the 4th Monday of every month to hear his stories about rivers in our region. Make the world of rivers bigger than the world of pavement inside of you!
Eggs in a vernal pool near the Westfield River in West Chesterfield, MA. (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)
Last night, I sped my family home from a week of Spring Break that took us far from the Nonotuck biome. As they slumbered in their car seats, I was feeling anxious—Had the leaf buds burst yet? I couldn’t see; it was too dark. This fleeting moment of the return of life is one of the sweetest in the circle of seasons, isn’t it? The thought of missing it brought a dull pain to my heart. An imaginary finger wagged in mind: “Was your vacation worth it?” But just as we approached Mt. Tom on Rt 141 in Holyoke, where it ascends and then drops over the old volcanic ridge into the plush yet rusted valley of Easthampton, we heard it..
“PEEPERS!!!“my daughter exalted, suddenly awake. The sound of thousands of frogs, louder than the radio and engine drone, almost vibrated our skins. We were so happy! To be home again where the viva-power of our non-human neighbors is so intense, and so inspiring.
I didn’t need to see the treebuds anymore—the frogs told me they hadn’t burst yet.
The vivifying relationship between the peepers and the trees and the rivers is one we sense, and feel, and celebrate. The mere appearance of the tiny frogs in the vernal pools, their cheerful uninhibited en masse braying—all those Romeos impressing their Juliettes—is something real that signals that life, the bios, is so much bigger and more beautiful than we can embrace with our thoughts, our science, our philosophies, our stories, our paintings and our music (That doesn’t mean we can’t try to, though; Vermont-based musician Nico Case talks about how she sings along with the peepers.).
Go ahead—try to catch a spring peeper. Track their sounds to the pool they’re cavorting in and you’ll find that, just at the moment you’re almost close enough to see them, they hush. Get closer and you’ll find, that unless you’re ready to get your feet and hands wet, all you’ll see is dead leaves submerged under water. The peeper family is an ancient one, and it got that way because it knows how to hide from raccoons, birds and humans.
And yet, despite all this, Robert Frost deserves credit for nearly getting his arms around these squirming multitudes. In his poem Hyla Brook, he re-presents the relationship between Hylas (peepers ), trees and rivers that I want you to witness outside today. He describes how, as temperature rises, trees awaken from their winter slumber and suck the water out of the soil. The vernal pools, and forest streams and brooks, start disappearing the moment that leaves start unfolding on branch tips; all that water becomes the green of the trees. This is why white water canoeing is an early spring sport—
The songs of the peepers, then, peal before buds break and flowers appear. For all we know, it’s not only us who listen with joy; the trees might be listening, too.
Kurt Heidinger, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of Biocitizen, non-profit school of field environmental philosophy, based in the Western MA Hilltown of Westhampton, MA where he lives with his family. Biocitizen gives participants an opportunity to “think outside” and cultivate a joyous and empowering biocultural awareness of where we live and who we are. Check out Kurt’s monthly column, The Ripple, here on Hilltown Families on the 4th Monday of every month to hear his stories about rivers in our region. Make the world of rivers bigger than the world of pavement inside of you!
Wintertime is a great season to look for tracks and for kids to discover their outdoor neighbors. (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)
I was supposed to write about ice.
I wanted to take you away from the CT river, up into the higher elevations, where the crystal trickles are, and where on steep slopes ice fountains rise below dripping cliff edge. When things really get icy, remaining springs of fresh water attract forest creatures. I wanted to help you find one, and urge you to look for tracks and poops.
Wintertime is a great season to learn who your neighbors are. Last year I found out that an otter lived right down the creek. It had been fishing a creek near Hampshire Regional, dragging itself up and over snow-covered boulders. The photo barely captures the thick, beautifully drawn line (finger through vanilla frosting) that linked the pools upstream. Uniform. Not a blemish or rupture in the smooth.
I wanted to tell you, too, about how winter time—ice 3 inches thick—is the best time to explore wetlands. When else can you safety enter the inner realms of white cedar, black mud and sphagnum? Where else can you skate through snake labyrinths, around raccoon and tick islands, all secret but to the bladed voyager, who sweeps over beaver ponds, scaring the crows?
With maple sugaring already underway, I guess I’ll tell you that stuff next year. I will. I promise.
Weird winter: yes, I know the idea is a cliché at this point. But…
The hibernators never really went to sleep, the full several month cold shutdown they need and depend on. Right now they’re hungry and we have about two months before new forage will be available. Unless spring has begun, that is. Expect to see plenty of black bears and deer. Look for hemlock trees bared near their bases of bark—porcupine. Perhaps there will be more predators—mink, fox, coyote—afoot. May you be lucky enough to see or hear the young girl’s crying sound of a bobcat.
Stoneflies are hatching. Ideally, they’d hatch when lots of hungry birds and fish are around. Are they hatching too soon? We’ll know by the end of the summer, when I’ll return to this issue.
Next up—thaw! At least that’s what I had planned to write about—but I’ve seen honeybees looking for blossoms already.
Sooooooo….anyway, it’s snowing right now.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kurt Heidinger, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of Biocitizen, non-profit school of field environmental philosophy, based in the Western MA Hilltown of Westhampton, MA where he lives with his family. Biocitizen gives participants an opportunity to “think outside” and cultivate a joyous and empowering biocultural awareness of where we live and who we are. Check out Kurt’s monthly column, The Ripple, here on Hilltown Families on the 4th Monday of every month to hear his stories about rivers in our region. Make the world of rivers bigger than the world of pavement inside of you!
It doesn’t really matter if you live in the Pioneer Valley or the Hilltowns of Western MA: when you drive I-91 to invade, or retreat from, the DC-to-Boston sprawl it roils conspicuously beneath bridges or courses by your side—the broad, slow, murmuring River. As you’re chased over the Cooli Bridge by a wolfpack of Volvos, it flashes in the sun like a black snake: unruffled, unhurried and calm. In that instant you know it’s serene and powerful, like great people are.
Connecticut is the name of a state, yes, but also a word that describes our river: “Mohican (Algonquian) quinnitukqut ‘at the long tidal river.’” Our river is tidal for only about sixty-miles, from Long Island Sound to Windsor Locks, home of Bradley Airport; so the Mohican word doesn’t describe our part.
For our river, we need a name that jumps from its center like a salmon, that wends and purls like a lazy king snake: a name that pronounces its ungraspable yet saturating heart. Because that’s what the middle of the Connecticut River is: the heart + tuc. The Heartuck River. Hmmm…sounds too much like heartache or heart attack. Or hiccup. No, we can’t name it; we must listen.
Draining Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and its namesake Connecticut, our river watershed is the home of the Connecticut River, and its waters, falling from peaks through wetlands to main-body, make up 65% +- of our own bodies. In no metaphorical way are our hearts connected to our Connecticut; our own heart’s blood is its. Western New Englander’s hearts beat with its flowings. Imagine, as I am trying to get you to, your body’s connection to our river. The one we drive by, barely know and want to meet (Meet it; use this map to head to the green spot off of Bashin Rd in Hatfield. It’ll take some doing, and be an adventure: so worth it.).
Last month in my inaugural post to this new column, I linked you to a story the Pocumtuck told of how Mt. Sugarloaf was once a giant beaver. Now we discover a story from the Anglo-American colonial era, told just as the Industrial Revolution is beginning, by Jonathan Edwards’ grandson & Northampton native, Theodore Dwight. When the first dam spanning our river was built atop the upthrust-granite waterfalls in South Hadley in 1794, the fish population plummeted. And a way of life + a vast free source of protein vanished. Dwight had known, from his youth, the kinds of salmon runs we associate with Alaska.
Before you read his story, think about that. Our river was once as fecund and mighty a source of life, and livelihood, as the Copper or the Kanai. In 1829, Dwight remembered what happened after the Holyoke Dam.
Let these images ripple through…. Go, look back. Read the old words again, see what he saw. Taste what he tasted. Loved what he loved.
Most, or many, of the fish species he loved live in the Connecticut River, a subject I’ll write about in May when stoneflies fly & maples full leaf.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kurt Heidinger, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of Biocitizen, non-profit school of field environmental philosophy, based in the Western MA Hilltown of Westhampton, MA where he lives with his family. Biocitizen gives participants an opportunity to “think outside” and cultivate a joyous and empowering biocultural awareness of where we live and who we are. Check out Kurt’s monthly column, The Ripple, here on Hilltown Families on the 4th Monday of every month to hear his stories about rivers in our region. Make the world of rivers bigger than the world of pavement inside of you!
In this new Hilltown Families column, The Ripple, I’ll share stories about our rivers, in the hopes you might visit these flowing bodies with your family. (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)
We who live in and around the Nonotuck biome (also called the “Happy Valley”) don’t have much of the lore, and language, of rivers. The Pocumtuck people who lived here before 1650, had over 10,000 years worth of stories that voiced the value(s) of rivers. Colonists did not record any of them except for one, unfortunately; thus the giant blank and crypt-like silence where stories should be.
The Pocumtuck had all sorts of words to describe the surging crowds of fish— salmon, sturgeon, shad, eels—that swam up the CT River from the Long Island Sound during their annual spring migration. The Natives were smart, and knew when, how and where to grab easy meat. They’d be down at the rivers, say at the confluence of the Manhan & CT Rivers, when thousands of beautiful and delicious salmon engorged it. Life depended on it—their own.
What are our rivers telling us? Do you wonder? I do. They’re alive with creatures who’ve lived here since the ice age ended, 15,000 years ago. Those creatures know this place: their lives depend on it. For newbies, like us, there’s so much to learn. And ½ of this learning goes way beyond identifying creatures and ecological systems; it involves learning by re-imagining where we live—and when we do that, we’re also re-imagining who we are: we’re not just citizens of a nation; we’re citizens of the bios.
Take a moment and exercise your biotic imagination. Close your eyes and imagine walking out your front door, and seeing the road that’s near your door; imagine taking that road all the way into Northampton. It’s very easy to imagine this, isn’t it?
What you’ve just encountered is the landscape inside of you: a whole world that corresponds to the world of pavement. To a certain extent, that pavement is you!
Next, think of the brook or river nearest your front door. Close your eyes and travel as far as you can downstream. Now, make your way upstream to the source of the flow. How far can you go? How big is the world of rivers inside of you, compared to the world of pavement?
I want the world of rivers to be bigger than the world of pavement inside of you!
In this new Hilltown Families column, The Ripple, I’ll share stories about our rivers, in the hopes you might visit these flowing bodies with your family—and listen closely, perhaps gathering the little sounds that, when puzzled together, form a language to converse with: that gives voices to the value(s) of cold running torrents, or cool swirling eddies, or quiet gleaming stretches of the kind James Robeson sung about. For at least 15,000 years the rivers of Nonotuck have spoken to those who listen, closely.
The only pre-colonial river story we have today comes from the Pocumtuck people, and since I’ve flooded over the banks of the 500 words I’m supposed to stick to, why not visit this UMass site & learn all about the bear-sized beavers that called our rivers home?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kurt Heidinger, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of Biocitizen, non-profit school of field environmental philosophy, based in the Western MA Hilltown of Westhampton, MA where he lives with his family. Biocitizen gives participants an opportunity to “think outside” and cultivate a joyous and empowering biocultural awareness of where we live and who we are. Check out Kurt’s monthly column, The Ripple, here on Hilltown Families on the 4th Monday of every month to hear his stories about rivers in our region. Make the world of rivers bigger than the world of pavement inside of you!
As You’d Expect, Hurricane Irene Drastically Altered Local River Ecology
Kurt Heidinger, Executive Director of Biocitizen School of Westhampton, MA writes:
The past Wednesday afternoon, Biocitizen teamed up with Hilltown Families to do our annual rapid biotic assessment of the Westfield River downstream of the Route 143 bridge in West Chesterfield, MA. Thank you volunteer citizen scientists!
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Before we began, our hosts Sienna, Jim and Persephone described how scarily high the river rose during Hurricane Irene. Not only did beautiful farmland across the river crumble—old barn and antique garbage dump included—into the torrent; but they also heard giant boulders rolling, bumping, crashing below the surface. In fact, they could feel the vibrations of the boulders in the foundation of their house (Face it amigos; we’re all on jello.).
A first view revealed just how drastic the re-ordering of the river, and riparian corridor, was. Tree branches high on the bank held fist-sized clumps of leaves and debris, proof the flood crested around 15 feet above its present level, which is itself abnormally high. Down at the river, Persephone (9yo)—and Rowan (9yo), Owen (8yo) and Cyril (8y0)—showed me where her fort used to be (on a sedimentary sand bank). Then we saw all the flotsam she’s collecting to build a new one, on higher ground. I was relieved to see our sampling area was basically intact, and marveled with grim fascination at the look of the whole river course, which appears to have been bulldozed.
We did 6 invertebrate collections, 2 each at 3 sites that are within 20-30 feet of each other. Our first sampling shocked us, because we couldn’t find a single invertebrate; last year, each sample teemed with writhing, boisterous bugs. Below are RBA data sheets for 2011 and 2010 for your comparison. Look at the top row of each to get the basic idea: we didn’t find any large stoneflies this year, only tiny ones. (“The meek shall inherit the earth”…?) As we might expect, we found plenty of worms that build cases and glue themselves to large stones.
So: it was a “bad’ year, if we consider “good” to be finding lots of big juicy stoneflies. But for the purposes of cold-hearted science, the drastic alteration of the riverbed and reduction of the number of bugs is “great” because the bug population will definitely rebound (“no empty places in nature”). The biotic resurgence will be cyclical, though, and might take a year or more. The benthic invertebrates we collect live their short adult life next spring and summer (some live under water for more than one year); the reproductive cycle takes at least a year. There will probably be a lot of hungry trout next summer and perhaps less osprey 2 years from now, as a result.
We look forward to next year’s RBA with anticipation—it will show us how the river is a superorganism whose health changes in response to climatic influences.
And we are pleased to report that, notwithstanding the trauma it has endured, the Westfield @ Rt 143 is a river of “excellent quality” water!
Nearly every day we add recommended links to the Hilltown Families bank of on-line resources. Some of you might find these links well suited for your family, others, maybe not so much. But it’s a fun and useful list worth perusing of online resource that are educational and entertaining! If you have a link you’d like to share, post it in our comment box below.
Where are these links? You won’t find them on your blog reader nor via email if you subscribe to our blog or our weekly eNewsletter. But if you visit the blog on-line and scroll half way down, on the left you will find the column, “Links We Recommend,” with a list of our most recent recommended links. If you haven’t been visiting the site regularly to peruse these great resources, not to worry – below is the latest 100 links we’ve shared: (you will need to use the “back” button to return to this page).
Archived Lists of 100 Links: If you’d like to peruse our List of 100 Links from months past, click HERE and then scroll up or down. All provided links are provided as a courtesy and not as an endorsement:
"Eat food from the earth not from a box to reduce the amount of packaging thrown into landfills." - Cheli Mennella of Colrain, MA (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)
“Egg cartons make great seed starters! Windows sills are wonderful places to grow the tiny seeds! Kids love to watch life happen inside and outside their world!” – Elizabeth Jensen (Leeds, MA)
“Toilet paper rolls become trumpets in our house.” – Jessica Morris (Northampton, MA)
“My daughter Kacia, age 8, is fanatical about litter. We recently went to the Energy Park clean up and Kacia was very disappointed to be weeding instead of picking up trash! She grabs it everywhere we go; on the sidewalk, in the parking lot, on the grass. She tells people not to drop it on the ground and really notices when others do so. Give a hoot, don’t pollute!” – Pam and Kacia Kinsmith (Greenfield, MA)
“Stop buying bottled water! There are so many beautiful water bottles you can buy and re use. Our tap water is great, give it a try! Also, unplug your phone charger when you are not using it (all chargers). And don’t let the water run when you are brushing your teeth or doing dishes.” – Anna
“We unplug electronics when we are not using them. We also reuse plastic bags!” – Kristy Dyer (Hatfield, MA)
“Eat food from the earth not from a box to reduce the amount of packaging thrown into landfills.” – Cheli Mennella (Colrain, MA)
“Reuse bread bags and produce bags to wrap food items, everything from cheese to sandwiches to leftovers. no need to buy ziplocs, ever.” – Sandra Dias (Holyoke, MA)
“We line dry our clothes almost all year long. They smell great and the sun works as a natural sanitizer. This is especially useful for cloth diapers and towels.” – Robyn
“Recycling is a great thing, my son Joseph and I spread the word and help people learn what items go in what recycle bin. We have fun doing it .” – Lynda Medina
“We put our wireless router and all those miscellaneous computer appliances all on 2 easy to reach power strips. When we leave the house or go to bed, we turn the power off. There was a noticeable drop in our electric bills when we started this and we’re not wasting energy to power things we’re not using.” – Beth Caissi (Greenfield, MA)
“Here are my daughter Zoe’s environmental tips: No paper cups (she holds me to this one); No plastic spoons forks or knives; No plastic bags; Compost; Recycle; Repurpose; and Plant trees.” – Zoe and Tony(a) in Ashfield MA
Drive Slowly! Frogs, Toads and Salamanders on the Hop
Vernal Pool in West Chesterfield, MA. (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)
‘Tis the season for amphibians on the move, especially on warm, rainy nights. Salamanders, spring peepers, wood frogs, and toads will be hopping and crawling across our roadways on warm wet nights, heading to vernal pools and other wetlands to mate and lay their eggs. Reports of amphibians chorusing and on the move have already come in to Division of Fisheries and Wildlife during the heavy rains of March.
Northampton Public Schools Join Together to Make a Giant Earth Day Ball!
Charlotte Causton on Northampton, MA writes:
"The ball will be available to schools and environmental groups wishing to display it as an educational tool in promoting respect for the environment and the reduction of waste," writes Charlotte Causton.
All Northampton Public Schools will work together in April to make the largest ball ever made entirely of single-use plastic shopping bags. The event will culminate on April 23rd at Northampton’s Earth Day celebration in Pulaski Park when the ball will be rolled down the streets of Northampton and into the park. In a tribute to the inspiring kids’ book, Theo and the Giant Plastic Ball, published by the United Nations Environmental Program, Green Action in Northampton Schools, GREEN Northampton and the Center for EcoTechnology are coordinating this project to raise awareness of the environmental impact of using plastic bags in stores and get Northampton to become a bring your own bag shopping district.
AIMED TO EDUCATE
This project is an opportunity for Northampton schools to work together and make an impact on our local environment. All four elementary schools in the district, JFK Middle School, and the Environmental Club at Northampton High School have signed up for the program and teachers and students are busy collecting bags. Classrooms are collecting used plastic bags from their homes and family/friends’ homes that are being tied together to form a rope. The number of bags tied together by the class are being counted and recorded. Plastic bag ropes from the different classrooms will be joined together and a total count taken on 15 April, after which the ropes will be picked up by volunteers and taken to a central location. During spring break students and volunteers will assemble the ball ready for the Earth Day celebration on Saturday April 23rd. After the Earth Day celebration, the ball will be available to schools and environmental groups wishing to display it as an educational tool in promoting respect for the environment and the reduction of waste. Teachers are also using this project as an educational opportunity for hands-on math and science/energy conservation investigations.
EARTH DAY EVENT: APRIL 23rd, 2011
WGBY, GREEN Northampton and the City of Northampton have teamed up as they did in April 2010 to hold an Earth Day Eco- Fair on April 23 in Pulaski Park in Northampton. The Giant Earth Day Ball will be the star among one of over 20 environmental and recycling based exhibits and activities for families and children available between 10a.m.-4:00pm. WGBY will hold an Earth Day film festival at the Academy of Music. WRSI will once again provide a stage and live entertainment from 12:00-4:00pm in Pulaski park and in Amherst at the Amherst Sustainability Festival which will also be held on the town Common from 10-4:00. The Earth day Planning committee hopes that Fair goers will visit both venues and encourage visitors to take a bus or use the bike trail to the different events.
This album is both beautiful and fun and not at all preachy. Maria and her friends (including Rani Arbo, Alastair Moock, and SteveSongs) teach kids all about nature and growing your own food. My favorite song on the album, Didn’t Know What I Was Missing, a duet between Alastair and Lori McKenna, really gets to the point. Until you’ve had a tomato you’ve grown yourself, you just don’t know how good a tomato can be. And I can attest to that since we planted our first vegetable garden last year!
We’ve got plans for a HUGE garden this year. We’re planting tomatoes, green beans, lettuce, radishes, spinach, zucchini… and what ever else we can fit! This could be a great project for your family, too. Listen to the songs on the album and begin planning your garden now. By the time you’re ready to get your hands dirty in May you’ll know all the songs by heart!
Here’s to a prolific garden Dancin’ in the Breeze!
Amber lives with her husband and son in Watertown, MA. Originally hailing from Hawaii, Amber and her family moved to Watertown to be closer to the Perkins School for the Blind where her son attends preschool. She has a Master’s degree in English from Tufts University and spends most of her “free time” writing about being a parent of a disabled child on WonderBaby.org or about the family’s musical adventures around Boston on BostonChildrensMusic.com. But really most of her time is spent caring for and playing with her little boy. info@bostonchildrensmusic.com. (Originally posted at Boston Children’s Music.)
Kurt Heidinger, Executive Director of Biocitizen School of Westhampton, MA writes:
Identifying a sample of benthic macro invertebrates (water bugs) taken from the Westfield River in West Chesterfield, MA. (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)
How many times have you looked at a river thinking, how beautiful—and pulled out your camera to capture the swells of whitewater, a striking blue heron, or blazing maple tree in the autumn overhanging its banks?
A river is not just beautiful, though; it’s alive, and those who witness this life, this bios, never look at or appreciate a river the same way again. Based out of Westhampton, MA, the Biocitizen School has been training volunteers to see and understand the bios that a river is, by teaching them how to do Rapid Bioassessments. We net the benthic macro invertebrates (underwater bugs) and, by inventorying them, we can quickly assess how alive the river is.
Kurt helps kids sort through a sample that included stonefly nymphs. Stoneflies give an abundance of food to trout, feeding the Bald Eagles on the river. (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)
Stonefly nymphs are a bug we want to catch. They are a primary food source for brook trout and, like trout, require clear, clean, cold oxygen-rich water. If there is too much nitrogen or potassium (from fertilizer run off) in the water, algae will bloom and suck the oxygen out of the river. You won’t find many stonefly nymphs—and therefore trout.
By doing a Rapid Bioassessment, you can monitor a river that is dear to you, year after year, to ensure that it’s healthy—and stays that way. Once you have been trained (this year), you can conduct the assessment yourself (next year); Biocitizen collects and sends your bug inventory to DEP, where it is checked and logged, becoming part of the public historical record. Such records are invaluable for scientific research and land-use decision-making.
Families inventoried their samples, giving proof that the oxygen-rich water was of exceptional quality! (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)
I had the pleasure of training a few families on the Westfield river this past weekend, just downstream from the RT 143 bridge in West Chesterfield, MA. One of my favorite moments occurred at the end, after we had identified our last worm species and had the proof we needed to judge the water of “exceptional quality.” “We have bald eagles on the Westfield,” I was told; “They fly up and down the river: must have a five foot wingspans, seem almost as big as a person!” Yes. All of us lucky families have big beautiful eagles living near us. Because the water is oxygen rich, there’s an abundance of stoneflies, which gives us an abundance of trout which the eagles find yummy: enough fish so they can nest and raise their families here too!
Find out more about Biocitizens and how your family can get involved with Rapid Bioassessment, visit www.biocitizen.org.
An Environmental Education for Kids … Through Music!
Have you noticed that green is in? We’ve become big recyclers, we drive a very fuel efficient car, and we take our reusable bags to the grocery store.
But even though the best way to teach a kid any lesson is to practice what you preach, it can still be hard to explain exactly why protecting the environment is important and how doing things like recycling can really help.
These kids’ musicians can help you get the message across… in a fun sing-song way!
PETER PUFFIN
Peter Puffin (aka Peter Lenton) is a Canadian artist who focuses on both the environment and how we treat each other.
His music has a rich folksy sound and his newest CD, Proud Like a Mountain, includes guitar, banjos, fiddle, bass, mandolin, and all kinds of percussion instruments.
But his message is what makes his music so memorable. Songs like Homegrown Tomatoes remind us about what really goes into growing the food we eat, and If I Were You teaches kids that rivers and clean water bring us all life.
You can listen to a clip of Proud Like a Mountainhere.
BILL SHONTZ
Bill Shontz is a very earth conscious musician (he is the spokesperson for the environmental groups EarthWatch and Green Up Vermont) and many of his songs remind us of our relationship with nature and our responsibilities.
We really like his album Animal Tales for its message of caring for and living with animals. Of course, we also like this album for its silly songs and funny rhymes. Pelican Will is a great song about a confused pelican, and You Are What You Eat is another fun song about animals acting like their food—why else would monkeys go bananas?
COCO KALLIS
Coco Kallis, another artist from Vermont, also sings about our relationship with the environment in her aptly titled CD Environmental Songs for Kids.
Coco’s songs teach kids that even their little actions can have a great big impact, from simply taking the time to Recycle to maintaining the beach ecosystem when we Keep Off the Beach.
Coco has a very sweet voice and sings songs that kids will immediately relate to, helping to cement the environmental message. She also plays with different styles, from calypso to the blues, which children just love hearing.
MARIA SANGIOLO
We saw Maria Sangiolo perform last year at TCAN and we were really impressed. Not only is her music beautiful and soothing, but she also manages to teach kids important lessons about love, friendship, and caring for the environment.
Maria’s song, It’s Too Hot! is a very moving tale of polar bears living through global warming, and Power Shower teaches kids to conserve water when they bathe.
Bioblitz in the Berkshires
Friday & Saturday, June 4th-5th in Pittsfield, MA
Specialist will be on-hand to explore and educate, including reptile and amphibian specialist, BCC Professor Tom Tyning. Link to schedule is below. (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)
Celebrating the United Nation’s “Year of Biodiversity,” the Berkshire Museum is holding Berkshire County’s first BioBlitz in Pittsfield State Forest from noon on Friday, June 4th to noon on Saturday, June 5th, 2010. The weekend event will allow scientists and local residents to document the extensive variety of life in their immediate area and see first-hand the diversity and importance of the clean and active ecosystems in their own backyard.
The BioBlitz is an opportunity for biologists, naturalists, and environmentalists to gather in a given area and in a 24-hour period complete a formal survey of all living species. Specialists such as BCC Professor Tom Tyning (reptiles and amphibians), Harvard botanist Walter Kittredge (flowering plants), Berkshire Wild Mushrooms’ John Wheeler (fungi) and Sage College Professor Emeritus Nancy Slack (mosses) will be on-hand to explore and educate. The public is welcome to attend to watch the scientists work, and even participate in sorting specimens.
The biological survey is the “core” of the Berkshire BioBlitz, and anchors a number of interactive, nature-oriented programs which have been scheduled around it. For example, on Friday night, a lively “BioBlitz Drum and Campfire Jam” will take place, followed by a “Moth-Light” demonstration and an “Owl Prowl” hike. A bird walk and a “fitness hike” will be held the following morning, as well as a presentation on Asian Longhorned Beetles—an invasive insect species recently discovered in Worcester, MA.
“It’s a great opportunity for people from all walks of life to come together and learn about their own backyard,” said Berkshire Museum Natural Science Coordinator, Scott LaGreca. “It’s a powerful tool we can use to get people away from their television sets and computer monitors, and spend time outside—providing an antidote to what some educators have dubbed ‘nature-deficit disorder’. It provides valuable information about Pittsfield State Forest’s flora and fauna that can be used by Pittsfield State Forest staff to better manage the local resources.”
The Pittsfield State Forest is located just five miles from downtown Pittsfield. From Park Square, go west on West Street for 2.7 miles. Turn right on Churchill Street and continue for .7 miles. Turn left onto Cascade Street and continue for .3 miles. The entrance to the forest in just over a mile on your left-hand side.
All events are free and held at the Pittsfield State Forest. Friday evening programs and Saturday morning naturalist hikes are weather-permitting. For a full schedule, click here. Call Scott LaGreca at 413.443.7171, ext. 17 to sign up
Bioblitz in the Pioneer Valley
Saturday, June 5th in Springfield, MA
What is a Bioblitz? - A 24 hour event to find, identify, and record as many species as possible, from microbe to mammal, at a given location. (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)
What’s Living in Forest Park? Forty seventh-grade students and a dozen local experts/scientists will try to answer that question on Saturday, June 5th, 2010 in a first-ever attempt at a bioblitz in Springfield’s beautiful Forest Park.
What is a Bioblitz? A bioblitz is a 24 hour event to find, identify, and record as many species as possible, from microbe to mammal, at a given location. Bioblitzes provide valuable information to park managers and get kids excited about science and the natural world.
During the weekend students will head out on various themed nature walks to explore, investigate, and record what is found. About a dozen local area experts have been recruited to lead these walks. For example, John Foster, of the New England Naturalist Training Center will lead an ecology exploration walk, and Charley Eiseman and Noah Charney, authors of Tracks & Signs of Insects and Other Invertebrates, will help students identify insects and more in the park.
According to Ms. Cesan, science teacher at Duggan Middle School, the United Nations Program for the Environment has declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity to draw attention to the rapid loss of biodiversity the planet is experiencing. The Forest Park Bioblitz is a small, local action that we can undertake to increase awareness and appreciation for the biodiversity in our own backyard. In addition, the event applies and reinforces several state science standards that students have been working on this school year. Students are creating a booklet about the ecosystems in Forest Park and the data collected during the event will be included.
The event will not be all work and no play as kayaking lessons, a zoo tour, and campfire s’mores are also scheduled. Joining students around the campfire will be their entire team of teachers. Students and teachers are excited about this event. Consider coming to the park on Saturday and visiting our “base camp” near the grandstands to view student work and check in on our data as students collect and report it. The event runs 8am-3pm on Saturday June 5th.
For more information contact Duggan Middle School Science Teacher, Kerry Cesan at cesank@sps.springfield.ma.us.
Educational & Fun Competition for Students Promotes Awareness About Transportation, Technology and the Environment
The Junior Solar Sprint happens on June 5th in Pittsfield, MA and is open to teachers, home educators and community groups. A great opportunity for students to learn firsthand about non-polluting transportation.
On Saturday, June 5th, area middle school students will gather at Reid Middle School in Pittsfield, MA to race their model solar-powered cars in the eleventh annual Berkshire Junior Solar Sprint (JSS). Participation is open to teachers, home educators and community groups. More than 80 students from Western Mass are expected to participate in the JSS this year.
The JSS is a fun and educational competition for students in grades 5-8 who work in teams to build model vehicles powered by the sun. In the process they learn firsthand about non-polluting transportation. Now in it’s 11th year, the Berkshire JSS is part of a national program that offers 5th through 8th grade students the opportunity to design, construct and test the performance of a model solar electric vehicle. It inspires teachers, students and their families to learn, teach and raise community awareness about transportation, technology and the environment.
Registration for students begins at 8:30am Judging of entries begins at 9:30am and races begin at 10am. The solar vehicles will be judged for speed, craftsmanship, innovation and technical merit, and the top three winners in each category will be eligible to compete in the regional JSS championship in Springfield, MA on June 13th.
If you are interested in registering a team, or are interested in volunteering for this event, contact Cynthia Grippaldi at 413-445-4556 ext. 25.
This year commemorates the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, and Western Mass is filled with events that raise awareness and honor the planet. In celebration of Earth Day’s 40th Birthday, here on Hilltown Families we have a fantastic media collection to giveaway to one very lucky family. Deadline to enter to win is Wednesday, 04/28/10 @ 7pm. Details below.
Here’s what being offered in our Earth Day 40th Birthday Media Giveaway:
CD – The Missoula Coyote Choir & Friends, Ask the Planet
DVD – He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands … and More Stories to Celebrate the Environment
BOOK – A Child’s Introduction to The Environment by M. Driscoll & D. Driscoll
The Missoula Coyote Choir & Friends, Ask the Planet (CD)
Ask the Planet is a great educational CD designed to reconnect children to their natural environment while discovering concepts of biomimicry. Released last year, this album was created by the Missoula Coyote Choir & Friends. “Friends” on this CD include: Dar Williams, Ani DiFranco, Erin McKeown, Bill Harley, Amy Martin, Brandi Carlile, Laura Love, Bill Sims, Jr. and Bruce Cockburn. A stellar cast of musicians!
Educators have long called for more creative and palatable approaches to raising awareness about environmental problems. Given the reality of the current ecological crisis, it is challenging to develop the emotional connection to the natural world that creates caring without instilling fear or hopelessness. Today’s children need positive solutions and realistic tools, such as biomimicry, to address the environmental challenges that they will grow up with. There is a teaching guide that can be downloaded on-line that supplements Ask the Planet. The guide includes curriculum for grade school children.
Songs on this album like “The Great TV Rebellion” (with Ani DiFranco) and “Start From Here” (with Amy Martin) (both featured this week on the Hilltown Family Variety Show 3Rs Episode) will inspire and motivate kids to make change in this world. This award winning album can be used as an educational tool in both formal and non-formal settings.
He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands … and More Stories to Celebrate the Environment (DVD)
Coming out this April, Scholastic Storybook Treasures will release He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands … and More Stories to Celebrate the Environment on DVD. Featuring a guide for parents and kids with tips on how to be green, the 60 minute DVD includes a wonderful adaptation of this beloved folk song, illustrated by Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator Kadir Nelson and sung by Crystal Taliefero. With environmental issues top of mind, this DVD is perfect for a new generation of eco-conscious kids ages 5 and up.
Additional stories in this celebration of all things green include Jane Yolen’s Owl Moon about a magical, night-time walk through the snowy woods in search of the Great Horned Owl; “Come On, Rain!” an ode to a good, soaking rainstorm by Karen Hesse, narrated by Laila Ali, and the appreciative Thanksgiving address, “Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message”, written and narrated by Chief Jake Swamp. Three bonus stories include “The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks” narrated by B.D. Wong and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon, multiple Caldecott Medal winners who’ve also received five New York Times Best Illustrated Book Awards; “Patrick”, written and illustrated by Quentin Blake, and a live-action adaptation “A Boy, A Dog and a Frog”, based on the book illustrated by Mercer Mayer.
A Child’s Introduction to the Environment (Book)
A Child’s Introduction to the Environment by Michael Driscoll and Professor Dennis Driscoll is both an activity and educational book that gives a tour through text and lovely watercolor illustrations by Meredith Hamilton of the air, earth and sea. Through experiments, projects and hands-on activities, young environmentalists (ages 9 & up) will find this beautifully illustrated gem a great resource for studying the planet.
Opportunities for kids to learn how they can help solve some of our eco-challenges are highlighted in sections titled, “How You Can Help!” Experiments like “Make a Smog Detector” and “Make Your Own Ice Sheet” allow kids to test and explore what they learn. And the book comes with a reusable lunch sack, stickers with save-the-Earth messages, and a poster.
Key words are highlighted throughout the text for kids to add to their eco-vocabulary, like coniferous, hibernation, aquifers and plankton. And in the back of the book is a handy glossary of all these new words. A Child’s Introduction to the Environment is a great tool for teaching children about the earth or letting them read and learn themselves!
HOW TO WIN
Your chance to win our Earth Day 40th Birthday Media Giveaway is as easy as 1-2-3 (4)!
To win simply:
SHARE BELOW AN ECO-TIP WITH OTHER FAMILIES (one entry per family) and be sure to tell us your
FULL NAME and where you
LIVE (TOWN/STATE)PLEASE include your town and state to be eligible.
ACCURATE EMAIL (we never share your email address).
We’ll randomly draw a winner and will share the results below.
IT’S THAT SIMPLE! — Deadline is Wednesday, 04/28/10 @ 7pm (EST).
April 22nd, 2010 marks the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. This month we have many opportunities to work towards building a healthy community as local organizations, community members, museums, and schools all over Western Massachusetts are offering up ways to participate and join together to create a clean environment and sustainable economy. Movies are being screened and songs are being sung; classes on gardening and sustainability are being offered; opportunities to recycle and clean-up; nature studies, art, local food … the celebrations and opportunities are abundant this month.
With the excellent help of Susan Olshuff, we’ve put together a list of events in April that address the concerns and needs of our communities here in Western Ma, with locations ranging from Pittsfield out to Amherst, from Greenfield down to Springfield. Below are many opportunities to get involved, explore your local environment and entertain/educate your family. And more events are coming in, so check back often as this list is updated. If you have an Earth Day event to share, please post in the comment box at the end of this list: Read the rest of this entry »
Many families have expressed how much they enjoyed Jamie’s recommendation for Molly the Barn Owl live cam, we thought we’d share with our avid birders and budding nature scientist another live cam. This time it’s a Channel Island Allen Hummingbird’s nest in Orange County, CA.
In 2009 hundreds of millions of people around the world showed their support by turning off their lights for one hour.
Earth Hour 2010 will continue to be a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community. A call to stand up, to show leadership and be responsible for our future. People and places, like your local general store to The Great Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx, from all over the world are all participating in this global message.
Pledge your support here and turn off your lights for one hour, Earth Hour, 8.30pm, Saturday 27th March 2010.
ABOUT EARTH HOUR
Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Global landmarks such as the, Sydney Harbour Bridge, The CN Tower in Toronto, The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.
Earth Hour – Chile
In March 2009, hundreds of millions of people took part in the third Earth Hour. Over 4000 cities in 88 countries officially switched off to pledge their support for the planet, making Earth Hour 2009 the world’s largest global climate change initiative.
Earth Hour 2010 takes place on Saturday, March 27th at 8.30pm (local time) and is a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community throughout the world. It is a call to stand up, to take responsibility, to get involved and lead the way towards a sustainable future. Iconic buildings and landmarks from Europe to Asia to the Americas will stand in darkness. People across the world from all walks of life will turn off their lights and join together in celebration and contemplation of the one thing we all have in common – our planet. So get involved and let’s make 2010 the biggest Earth Hour yet!.
EARTH HOUR EVENT IN THE HILLTOWNS
Musician Sarah Stockwell-Arthen (and hilltown mother) will be hosting a concert and Earth Hour Event at the Cummington Community House (33 Main Street) in Cummington, MA this Saturday, March 27th, beginning at 7:30pm. Join others for an evening of music about living a sustanable good life here in the hilltowns. Lights out at 8:30pm for Earth Hour. Children in a quiet mood are welcomed. Sliding scale of $1-$10 for event. For more info email Sarah at music@sarahstockwell.com.
Course to Establish Forest Garden
at Williamsburg Elementary School on May 28th-31st, 2010
Climbing spinach
The garden curriculum at Williamsburg’s Dunphy Elementary School will get a boost this year, when a special kind of garden, known as a Forest Garden, will be built on the school grounds. A Forest Garden includes perennials and annuals, and mimics the layered structure of a forest, utilizing trees, shrubs, vines, and ground covers. The garden will include common plants such as strawberries, and lesser-known species such as honeyberry, and perennial climbing spinach.
Sally Loomis of Fertile Ground said, “For several years students and teachers from the Anne T. Dunphy School have been walking to the nearby James School for weekly gardening activities. But most at the Dunphy School have wanted a garden space at their school to expand outdoor learning opportunities beyond weekly lessons. The Dunphy School Forest Garden will provide that space and expand the gardening curriculum for 3rd – 6th grade students.”
Dave Jacke, author ofEdible Forest Gardenssaid, “Kids of all ages can learn so much from a forest garden: science, art, math can all be learned in a forest garden. A forest garden offers more learning opportunities above and beyond an everyday garden, because the focus is on designing specific ecological relationships between plants, insects, and wildlife into the garden. There has been a upsurge in interest in forest gardens all over the country since Edible Forest Gardens was published”
A group of local permaculture teachers and their students will establish the garden during a 3-day Forest Garden Immersion Course, taking place at the Dunphy School over Memorial Day Weekend, May 29th – 31st, 2010. The course is offered to adults, who learn through a mix of classroom and outdoor time. Course participants spend 10 hours of classroom time learning Forest Garden theory and design, including how to design for beneficial ecological relationships between plants, insects, and wildlife. The work of course participants, and funds generated by the course make possible the Dunphy School garden installation.
Benneth Phelps, local farmer and forest garden educator said, “The idea for the course came from an ongoing course at the Epworth Center in High Falls, New York. It’s clear from the interest in Permaculture and Forest Gardening around here, there was no question that we had to bring the course here this year.”
On Friday May 28th at 7pm, the course kicks off with a special lecture, “Gardening Like the Forest: A Forest Garden Introduction,” with Dave Jacke, co-author of Edible Forest Gardens, at the Williamsburg Grange (Route 9). This lecture is a fundraiser for the Dunphy School Forest Garden and is open to the public. $10-$25 suggested donation.
Find out more details about this course at www.mosaicfarm.com, or email Benneth at farmer@mosaicfarm.com, or Alisha at forestgardenimmersioncourse@gmail.com. To find out more about Forest Gardening, visit www.edibleforestgardens.com
The link below will take you to a live streaming camera inside the nest box of Molly the Barn Owl. Her eggs are due to begin hatching any moment now. It’s so exciting!
Transition Towns Informational Meeting
In Williamsburg on Sunday, March 21st
The Transition Towns Movement is a vibrant, grassroots movement that seeks to build community resilience in the face of such challenges as peak oil, climate change and the economic crisis. It represents one of the most promising ways of engaging people in strengthening their communities against the effects of these challenges, resulting in a life that is more abundant, fulfilling, equitable and socially connected. We believe that we can make the transition to a more sustainable world. We hope that you will join us!
An informational meeting will take place at the Williamsburg Grange (Route 9) in Williamsburg, MA on Sunday, 03/21/10 from 3-5pm. Childcare is available. A community potluck will follow from 5-7pm. Please bring a labeled dish to share.
This is a FREE event and all are welcomed! Donations to cover expense of childcare and renting the Grange are welcomed. Learn about Transition Towns and bring it to your community!
For more information, contact Marie Westburg at amwestburg@verizon.net or call (413) 268-7899. Please RSVP if you need childcare.
Angie Gregory of Northampton, MA, owner of Mother Herb Diaper Service writes: The Transition Movement is something to take notice of. I highly recommend folks take the time out to hear what it’s all about and how amazing it would be to have in Williamsburg! There’s transition towns movements happening also in Amherst and Northampton, and folks are getting together to work on ways to materialize this amazing effort. Please join in if you’re a part of the community, you’ll be glad you did!
DIRT! The Movie
Free Screening In Cummington, MA
At the Sustainability Library
Monday, March 15th @ 7pm
If you missed the screening of DIRT! The Movie at the Farm Film Fest this weekend, there will be another local opportunity to view this film. DIRT! The Movie, tells the amazing and little known story of the relationship between humans and living dirt. The screening will be at the Sustainability Library, located upstairs at The Old Creamery off of Route 9 in Cummington, MA on Monday, March 15, 2010 at 7pm. This screening is free and open to the public.
Why Dirt?
Dirt feeds us and gives us shelter. Dirt holds and cleans our water. Dirt heals us and makes us beautiful. Dirt regulates the earth’s climate. Dirt is the ultimate natural resource for all life on earth. Yet most humans ignore, abuse, and destroy our most precious living natural resource. Consider the results of such behavior: mass starvation, drought, floods, and global warming, and wars. If we continue on our current path, Dirt might find another use for humans, as compost for future life forms. It doesn’t have to be that way. Another world, in which we treat dirt with the respect it deserves, is possible and we’ll show you how.
DIRT! The Movie offers a vision of a sustainable relationship between Humans and Dirt through profiles of the global visionaries who are determined to repair the damage we’ve done before it’s too late. There are many ways we can preserve the living skin of the earth for future generations. If you care about your food, water, the air you breathe, your health and happiness… it’s time to see DIRT! the Movie, roll up your sleeves for action and Get Dirty.
Join the Great Backyard Bird Count
February 12-15, 2010
Heading south for some sand and surf during the February school break? Bring along a tally sheet and count the sea gulls, sand pipers and pelicans at a nearby beach or wildlife refuge. Click on the image above for a printable tally sheet. Use your postal code, town or name of National Park to generate a custom tally sheet. (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)
Bird watchers coast to coast are invited to take part in the 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, Friday, February 12, through Monday, February 15, 2010. Participants in the free event will join tens of thousands of volunteers counting birds in their own backyards, local parks or wildlife refuges.
Each checklist submitted by these “citizen scientists” helps researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology,the National Audubon Society , and Bird Studies Canada learn more about how the birds are doing—and how to protect them. Last year, participants turned in more than 93,600 checklists online, creating the continent’s largest instantaneous snapshot of bird populations ever recorded.
Anyone can take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, from novice bird watchers to experts. Participants count birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the event and report their sightings online at www.birdcount.org. One 2009 participant said, “Thank you for the opportunity to participate in citizen science. I have had my eyes opened to a whole new interest and I love it!”
On the www.birdcount.org website, participants can explore real-time maps and charts that show what others are reporting during the count. The site has tips to help identify birds and special materials for educators. Participants may also enter the GBBC photo contest by uploading images taken during the count. Many images will be featured in the GBBC website’s photo gallery. All participants are entered in a drawing for prizes that include bird feeders, binoculars, books, CDs, and many other great birding products.
Participants submit thousands of digital images for the GBBC photo contest each year. Participants are also invited to upload their bird videos to YouTube tagged “GBBC.” – Businesses, schools, nature clubs, Scout troops, and other community organizations interested in the GBBC can contact the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at (800) 843-2473 (outside the U.S., call (607) 254-2473), or Audubon at citizenscience@audubon.org or (215) 355-9588, Ext 16.
There is bag sew tomorrow, January 5th, 2010 for The Cornucopia Bagshare. All are welcome of any age and skill level. It is from 3:30-6:30 in the lower level of Thornes Market next to Acme Surplus. Bag kits are provided. Please bring a sewing machine if you have one. Any donations of pre-made bags, fabric, sewing supplies, machines and webbing, neckties for handles are always welcomed. Please RSVP to me if you are coming and if you can bring your sewing machine. leni@titaniumarts.com, 634-5591
I just got back from D.C. and a 5 cent bag tax has been passed citywide. The article is below…
Leni
D.C. bags wasteful shopping habit with tax on paper and plastic
[Washington, D.C.] 01/01/10 – It seemed like a good idea at the time — good for the environment and all — but in the bleak light of the new year, some people shopping in the District weren’t happy about the debut of the 5-cent bag fee.
“It’s stupid,” said Daniel Dyson, 22, a clerk for the U.S. Marshals Service. He had already been charged twice for bags — once at 7-Eleven, once at the liquor store — before noon. “I don’t want to pay for bags. It’s too much,” he said.
The District’s user fee on plastic and paper bags at stores that sell food and/or alcohol went into effect New Year’s Day and is one of the toughest such measures in the country. Read the rest of this entry »
Christmas Bird Count: Citizen Science in Action
December 14th – January 5th
Hilltown kids participating in a bird count last year at the Chesterfield Gorge. (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)
For three weeks beginning December 14th, 2009, tens of thousands of volunteers throughout the Americas take part in an adventure that has become a family tradition among generations. Families and students, birders and scientists, armed with binoculars, bird guides and checklists go out on an annual mission – often before dawn. For over one hundred years, the desire to both make a difference and to experience the beauty of nature has driven dedicated people to leave the comfort of a warm house during the Holiday season.
Each of the citizen scientists who annually braves snow, wind, or rain, to take part in the Christmas Bird Count makes an enormous contribution to conservation. Audubon and other organizations use data collected in this longest-running wildlife census to assess the health of bird populations – and to help guide conservation action.
From feeder-watchers and field observers to count compilers and regional editors, everyone who takes part in the Christmas Bird Count does it for love of birds and the excitement of friendly competition — and with the knowledge that their efforts are making a difference for science and bird conservation.
Events happening in the Berkshires for the Christmas Count:
Saturday, December 19th
North Berkshire Christmas Count
Count species in Williamstown, New Ashford, North Adams, and Adams with members of N. Berkshire Audubon. Contact Gary Soucie (458-0309, wf5f@roadrunner.com) or Pam Weatherbee (458-3538) for more information. Blizzard date: 12/20
Sunday, December 20th
Central Berkshire Christmas Count
Join a team and keep the tradition going. Sign up at Members Night (12/1), or contact count leader Tom Collins (499-2799, tcbirder@nycap.rr.com) for departure place and time. Blizzard date: 12/27.
Friday, January 1st
South Berkshire Christmas Count
Join a team and welcome the new year with some winter birding. Contact René Laubach (637-0320, rlaubach@massaudubon.org) to sign up or for more information about time and place.
February Bird Count
Another bird count your family can participate in this winter is the Great Backyard Bird Count, a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society. This year the GBBC happens February 12th-15th, 2010. Click HERE to read more about the GBBC.
Nearly every day I add recommended links to the Hilltown Families bank of on-line resources. Some of you might find these links well suited for your family, others, maybe not so much. But it’s a fun and useful list worth perusing! If you have a link you’d like to share, post it in our comment box.
Where are these links? You won’t find them on your blog reader nor via email if you subscribe to our newsfeed. But if you visit the blog on-line and scroll half way down, on the left you will find the column, “Links We Recommend,” with a list of our most recent recommended links. If you haven’t been visiting the site regularly to peruse these great resources, not to worry – below is the last 100 links we’ve posted in the past two months: (you will need to use the “back” button to return to this page).
Archived Lists of 100 Links: If you’d like to peruse our List of 100 Links from months past, click HERE and then scroll up or down.
Health Group Finds High Lead Levels in Toys
By Jennifer C. Kerr (AP Writer)
Children’s toys carrying the Barbie and Disney logos have turned up with high levels of lead in them, according to a California-based advocacy group – a finding that may give consumers pause as they shop for the holiday season.
The Center for Environmental Health tested about 250 children’s products bought at major retailers and found lead levels that exceeded federal limits in seven of them. Lead can cause irreversible brain damage.
Among those with high lead levels: a Barbie Bike Flair Accessory Kit (pictured above) and a Disney Tinkerbell Water Lily necklace. The group said it also found excessive lead in a Dora the Explorer Activity Tote, two pairs of children’s shoes, a boys belt and a kids’ poncho.
Read more from the Associated Press at knoxnews.com.
Welcome to Hilltown Families, a grassroots communication network for families living in Western Mass, established in 2005 by hilltown mother and long time activist Sienna Wildfield.
As a recent transplant to Easthampton, MA, Hilltown Families has been a great connector for us with like-minded communities, making it easy for our family to fit into the region. We’ve found fun kid-friendly events and local resources to make this transition easy and smooth. Thanks for being there!" - Marin Goldstein (Easthampton, MA)
Next stop for the exhibit, Treehouse in Pittsfield in June, Cummington Community House in July, the Westampton Library in September and the Quarry Cafe at River Valley Market in Northampton in November. - We're currently booking shows for 2013. Each exhibit is a unique showcase of images that correspond with the season and venue. Contact us to inquire about hosting this fundraising exhibit for Hilltown Families in your town/venue.
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disclaimer
Information provided on Hilltown Families (HF) is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Reasonable efforts are made to provide the most accurate information, but no guarantees of any kind can be made. Information can be changed without prior notice. Please check with 3rd parties to confirm all listings for date/time, cost, location and age appropriateness before attending. Opinions expressed on HF are that of the writer and not necessarily that of HF. In no event shall HF be liable (directly or indirectly) for any losses or damages causes (or allegedly caused) in connection with HF. All health and wellness related information is for entertainment purposes only and should not be used to substitute for professional medical advice or diagnosis. All provided links are provided as a courtesy and not as an endorsement.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The Connecticut River is ours, right?
Amber Bobnar
for its message of caring for and living with animals. Of course, we also like this album for its silly songs and funny rhymes. 
is a great song about a confused pelican, and 
is another fun song about animals acting like their food—why else would monkeys go bananas?
.
to maintaining the beach ecosystem when we 
.
is a very moving tale of polar bears living through global warming, and 
teaches kids to conserve water when they bathe.
and 
, are great additions to any music collection. 
Ask the Planet is a great educational CD designed to reconnect children to their natural environment while discovering concepts of 
Coming out this April, Scholastic Storybook Treasures will release He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands … and More Stories to Celebrate the Environment on DVD. Featuring a guide for parents and kids with tips on how to be green, the 60 minute DVD includes a wonderful adaptation of this beloved folk song, illustrated by Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator Kadir Nelson and sung by Crystal Taliefero. With environmental issues top of mind, this DVD is perfect for a new generation of eco-conscious kids ages 5 and up.
April 22nd, 2010 marks the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. This month we have many opportunities to work towards building a healthy community as local organizations, community members, museums, and schools all over Western Massachusetts are offering up ways to participate and join together to create a clean environment and sustainable economy. Movies are being screened and songs are being sung; classes on gardening and sustainability are being offered; opportunities to recycle and clean-up; nature studies, art, local food … the celebrations and opportunities are abundant this month.
In 2009 hundreds of millions of people around the world showed their support by turning off their lights for one hour.
