News Release

News from the Superintendent, June 2008

Date: June 30, 2008

Civic Engagement & Volunteers

Island Cleanup—One hundred and ten volunteers joined forces on June 7 with staff from NPS and Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation to beatify Peddocks Island. This effort, conceived and spearheaded by graduate student Rob DeCoste, started out as a school project, and turned into a community event (including a YouTube entry) and environmental success story. Rob, on behalf of Island Alliance, raised over $4,000 in cash donations from corporations and individuals to support the event and secured free trash disposal (likely an additional $3,000 contribution). Their work filled a 30-yard dumpster and more; and totaled time equivalent to 4 full-time people working for a month!

Community Stewardship—Volunteers contributed more than 32 hours of service, removing invasive non-native garlic mustard from a newly identified patch in the forest understory at Worlds End. This volunteer program was coordinated with The Trustees of Reservations, the owners of Worlds End.

Education & Youth

Curriculum-based Programs—Just this past month, a new joint NPS-Thompson Island Outward Bound education team conducted 49 field expeditions, totaling 2,296 student visits to the Boston Harbor Islands. We served the entire fifth grade from Wellseley and several Boston schools.

Resource Stewardship

Launch of PredatOR Prey—On Thursday, May 22, Mayor Thomas Menino joined representatives from NPS, Island Alliance, and Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology to learn the fine points of playing PredatOR Prey, a new educational card game conceived and taught by teens, the Island Ambassadors. Publication of the game is part of our FY2008 Centennial Challenge project. The game showcases biodiversity on the harbor islands in a format that encourages public interest and participation. Thanks to Mary Raczko for her role in organizing the event.

Dragonflies, Damselflies and Butterflies—In late May, Jessica Rykken, Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, and Mary Raczko, NPS, met with Odonate experts that will be identifying dragonflies and damselflies on several of the islands over the summer and fall. These citizen science volunteers are eager to search in the hope of a surprise or two. All of their discoveries will add to the park's all-taxa biodiversity inventory. Additionally, an expert in butterflies will also perform monitoring efforts for us twice this year.