Munnawtawkin & Master Naturalists

 Well before “Fishers Island” was penned on any map, the Pequot Indians called their summer hunting grounds Munnawtawkin or “Place of Observation”.
I can imagine centuries ago, these indigenous people paddling into West Harbor with the days catch or collecting various sea bird’s eggs from the stony spits looking north and even standing atop bluffs facing south forecasting the arrival of a turbulent gale.

I imagine the Pequot Indians were the original and authentic master naturalists. They lived the rhythm of Munnawtawkin and shared their local traditional knowledge with tribal members and even settlers on the distant mainland.

Well, with all this imagining in the dead of winter it came to me that now was the time for me to better become a master naturalist myself. And so to continue to share the passion of marine conservation and island preservation with future Island Sentinels(all students), I am going back to school myself.

Through University of Florida and The Marine Discovery Center in New Smyrna Beach, I will dive deep into Coastal Studies in the Masters Naturalist Program. And while I am busy taking notes these next months, I hope to share a few of my own- from the field.

I am grateful to both the Fishers Island community and our school as Lisa Eiriksson, Ace Ahrens and Olivia Backhaus continue to monitor and observe trends on “Munnawtawkin”. For it is outside in their own unique island classroom that they will glean knowledge from Nature’s best.