• Lush vegetation on the top of Spectacle Island's North drumlin dominates the foreground. Boston's skyline can be seen in the distance. The park's logo with tag line minutes away, worlds apart empashises the stark contrast between the city and islands.

    Boston Harbor Islands

    National Recreation Area Massachusetts

Rocky Intertidal

A volunteer scientist explores the intertidal zone.

A volunteer scientist explores the intertidal zone.

Rocky Intertidal Habitat Monitoring
Rocky shores provide critical habitat to a great diversity of intertidal seaweeds and invertebrates. However, intertidal plants and animals are threatened by a variety of stressors, including climate change, invasive species, pollution, and human trampling.

The National Park Service is collaborating with Northeastern University Marine Science Center to develop a long-term protocol for monitoring rocky shores. Volunteers have an active roll in monitoring the intertidal areas, and the data they gather will be used to assess the effects of stressors, and to identify shifts in ecosystem structure or function. If you are interested in volunteering, please review the following and contact us.

» Rocky Intertidal Volunteer Job Description (PDF - 38kb)
» Rocky Intertidal Monitoring Poster (PDF - 519kb)

 
Rocky intertidal zone on Outer Brewster Island
Rocky Intertidal zone on Outer Brewster Island
Aya Rothwell

Did You Know?

Vintage Aerial View of Boston Light

Boston Light Station, part of Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, is visited every year by the Flying Santa, a long-time New England tradition started by William Wincapaw in 1929.  The Flying Santa delivers food, toys, and other necessities to lighthouses across New England. More...