President’s Message: 2013

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The Fishers Island Conservancy has had another wonderfully busy year. The Conservancy increased funding for our existing programs and took on new responsibilities with dedicated vigor, all the while maintaining our mission and promise to protect and enhance the natural environment of Fishers Island.

We have continued to grow and expand in our core competencies such as mosquito control, water testing, invasive plant education, and outreach within the Long Island Sound Community. Newer initiatives, such as the Parade Ground Habitat restoration project, are a model of Conservancy success.

Habitat Restoration: Started just three years ago, the grassland restoration project now includes over 50 acres of native cool and warm season grasses. Paths have been mowed and benches have been set out for viewing the abundant bird and insect life. To watch a Northern Harrier float three feet off the ground in pursuit of prey is truly a site to behold. At the same time, we have fought and appear to be winning the battle against invasive Japanese knotweed and kudzu. Just a few short years ago, it looked like the entire Parade Grounds could be lost to these unwelcome guests. Now look for bird boxes this coming spring as we attempt to lure back the likes of the Eastern Bluebird, Bobolink and Meadowlark. Parade Ground birding has never been better.

Island Naturalist and Island Sentinels: Grants by the Conservancy continue to fund the work of Island Naturalist Justine Kibbe, and a new grant this year initiated the Island Sentinels program with students from the Fishers Island School. Justine, with help this summer from the Sentinels, gathers valuable data and observations at over a dozen sites on the island. Data on weather readings, as well as observations of flora and fauna, help us to understand our precious environment and what we should be doing to help preserve and protect it. Your support enabled the Conservancy to fund this exciting partnership with the Community Center and the FI School. Click here to learn more from one of the first Sentinels: FI School senior, Olivia Backhaus.

Otter Research: Another Conservancy grant brought a team of researchers to the Island to confirm the existence of a healthy River Otter population. Who knew? There are plans in the works to bring more scientists on island to help us find and catalog the island’s natural assets.

Advocacy and Outreach: While we are an island, we are not alone. The Fishers Island Conservancy continues to reach out to other similar and like-minded organizations who share our concerns and views on the natural world around us. We have the responsibility to learn what is going on in the waters surrounding us and how it could impact our environment. Dredging, dumping and run off from the lands that make up the Long Island Sound watershed could have great consequences for Fishers Island, so it is imperative that we, as the Conservancy, stay on top of these issues.

The Fishers Island Conservancy is a small group of volunteers dedicated to the well-being of the natural environment of Fishers Island. As the Conservancy closes another ambitious and busy year, we look forward to meeting the challenges that may confront our little island oasis. Please consider a generous gift to the Fishers Island Conservancy. A gift to the Conservancy is a gift to Fishers Island, a truly special place that deserves our care and support.

 

Cheers and thanks.

Tom Sargent
President, Fishers Island Conservancy

River Otter Survey Report

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In April, we wrote about Mike Bottini’s river otter survey on fishers Island. A Conservancy grant funded the survey of river otters on Fishers Island, which included FI School 9th graders and members of the Island community.

Shortly following board approval of their proposal, Mike Bottini and a team of three other wildlife biologists visited Fishers and conducted a successful survey, determining the presence of established river otter territories on Fishers Island. They surveyed 40-50 sites on the island by foot and kayak and found otter sign at 20, including an otter den (pictured below)! The research team presented to the Senior Lunch and gained critical information from island residents Steve Malinowski, Lou Horn and Ken Edwards, Bob Evans and Pierce Rafferty. They were accompanied and assisted by FI school 9th graders in some of their survey work. Mike Bottini will return to the Island in July to provide educational programming to FI residents regarding the research and the broader implications for wildlife on Fishers Island.

The team was fascinated by Fishers’ natural environment, including our coyote population. The researchers were thrilled to make their first osprey sighting in 2013, and to see a great-horned owl feeding its chicks on an osprey nest at the east end. To quote team lead, Mike Bottini: “Fishers Island is an amazing place, both the landscape and the folks living there. Although geologically so similar to eastern Long Island, in some ways it is very different. You have some of the largest swamp azaleas I have ever seen, and stands of yellow birch in some of your forests – a species that we don’t have on eastern Long Island. We have some fairly deep and dramatic kettleholes here, but I have never seen anything as striking as the clay pit kettleholes near Isabella Beach…”

Mike’s report is complete and available at the below link.

Download PDF
River Otter USFWS Chris Paul

New Conservancy Grants Fund Otter Research, Naturalist Work, Student Program and Native Trees

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The FI Conservancy Board voted March 9 to fund work under four new grants. The first grant will fund planting of native trees in the FI Cemeteries. Another grant will support Justine Kibbe in her work as our island naturalist for another six months. The board also approved a second proposal by Justine and the FI Community Center to work with two FI high school students on stewardship and monitoring of our island’s natural environment. The fourth grant funded a survey of river otters on Fishers Island, which included FI School 9th graders and members of the Island community.

Read more about the grants:

Native Trees – Fishers Island Cemetery Committee – The Cemetery Committee asked for support of their hurricane recovery effort, which involves clean-up, removal, and replacement of damaged and dying trees on the three island cemeteries. The board approved funding for replacement trees, which will be native trees chosen from a list generated in consultation with Penny Sharp and Edward Richardson, President of the Connecticut Botanical Society.

Justine Kibbe, Island Naturalist – Justine has successfully completed her first six months of for the Conservancy. Justine monitored a wide range of sites, collecting data, documenting and reporting on her findings with notes and photographs. She has also authored Field Notes on the Conservancy’s website, in an effort to engage our membership with the state of the island’s natural communities. The board approved Justine’s work for another six month cycle, beginning April 2013.

Island Sentinels – Justine Kibbe – The Conservancy board voted to approve a pilot environmental stewardship program for Island high school students, being developed by Justine Kibbe with support from Island Community Center Director, Elizabeth Reid. Justine will start the program with two students, chosen in collaboration with the FI School. Justine will train the students, the “Island Sentinels”, in late June. During the months of July and August, Justine will work with the students each week to conduct an environmental survey of the island by monitoring key sites. She will then work with the students to help them present their data and findings to the community. The hope is that the data will also provide the basis for further student work during the school year, and, if successful, that the program may expand to the full year.

Mike Bottini/Group for the East End – Shortly following board approval of their proposal, Mike Bottini and a team of three other wildlife biologists visited Fishers and conducted a successful survey, determining the presence of established river otter territories on Fishers Island. They surveyed 40-50 sites on the island by foot and kayak and found otter sign at 20, including an otter den (pictured below)! The research team presented to the Senior Lunch and gained critical information from island residents Steve Malinowski, Lou Horn and Ken Edwards, Bob Evans and Pierce Rafferty. They were accompanied and assisted by FI school 9th graders in some of their survey work. Mike Bottini will return to the Island in July to provide educational programming to FI residents regarding the research and the broader implications for wildlife on Fishers Island.

The team was fascinated by Fishers’ natural environment, including our coyote population. The researchers were thrilled to make their first osprey sighting in 2013, and to see a great-horned owl feeding its chicks on an osprey nest at the east end. To quote team lead, Mike Bottini: “Fishers Island is an amazing place, both the landscape and the folks living there. Although geologically so similar to eastern Long Island, in some ways it is very different. You have some of the largest swamp azaleas I have ever seen, and stands of yellow birch in some of your forests – a species that we don’t have on eastern Long Island. We have some fairly deep and dramatic kettleholes here, but I have never seen anything as striking as the clay pit kettleholes near Isabella Beach…”

 

Photo by USFWS Chris Paul.

President’s Message: 2012

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2012 has been a fantastic year for the Fishers Island Conservancy. The Conservancy has continued to fund and expand our existing programs while taking on several bold new initiatives thus further expanding our mission.

While we continue our core responsibilities of mosquito control, beach monitoring and clean up, water testing on and around the island, invasive plant education and control, and continued outreach within the Long Island sound community, the Conservancy has launched and funded our grants program to stimulate and encourage environmental research education and related studies.

Starting this fall, we awarded one of our first grants to an island resident, Justine Kibbe . She will serve as our resident naturalist and will be responsible for observing, monitoring, collecting and recording data related to all things environmental on Fishers Island from weather observations to wildlife sightings and tracking. Through her field observations, we will get a concise picture of what is happening environmentally on Fishers Island and what we can do as a community to enhance and protect our precious ecosystem. We look forward to sharing this information with all of you.

We are very excited to announce that the Habitat Committee, whose restoration work is in evidence around the grasslands at the airport and parade grounds, has been brought under our charter. With the help of volunteers and other island support, more than 35 acres have been reclaimed, plowed and over seeded with native grasses. Not only has this resulted in an overwhelming victory against invasive species such as Japanese Knotweed and Kudzu but we have seen an increase in birdlife not enjoyed on Fishers Island for years. Late last summer, the grasslands provided a cornucopia for migrating warblers and other birds as they stopped to feed on seeds and insects before heading to warmer climates. Listening to their varied and lovely calls is a true delight. I hope that it is only a matter of time before we hear the once familiar call of the Bob White quail. As I write, there are plans to expand and enhance the Parade Grounds / Airport grasslands project thus continuing the Conservancy’s commitment to the natural environment.

Lastly, once again we have teamed up with other island organizations and individuals to spearhead a coastal study of the south side of Fishers Island. This study will give us an idea about the trends in erosion patterns of our vulnerable south coast and how we can prepare for potential changes to our fragile shores. Stay tuned as this project evolves.

As you can see the Conservancy has been very busy this year and we show no signs of slowing down. We have dramatically increased our commitment to Fishers Island so as we close out our year, I ask you to please consider making a generous gift to the Fishers Island Conservancy. A gift to the Conservancy is a gift to Fishers Island, a truly special place that deserves our love and support.

Cheers and thanks.

Tom Sargent
Preisdent, Fishers Island Conservancy

A Battle Won, in the War Against Invasive Plants

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The Habitat Committee, now a sub-committee of the Conservancy, is completing the second year of a project that has revitalized much of the Parade Ground and Airport area, by replacing invasive plants with native grasses. The results have been dramatic in this sixty-five acre area, which is the largest grassland on Fishers Island. The grassland had been choked with vines and scrub and was depleted of wildlife. It is now covered with beautiful native grasses teeming with butterflies and grasshoppers and birds.

invasive plants removed

Visitors are welcome – paths have been mowed to allow easy access from Equestrian Avenue. A rare sedge wren was heard on the grounds this Summer; and most recently, there are reports of whippoorwill calls. Ground-nesting whippoorwills have not been heard or sighted on Fishers in years. Keep your eyes and ears open.

This work was begun in the Fall of 2010 by the ad hoc Habitat Committee, led by Joe Henderson. Joe enlisted a broad group of dedicated Fishers Island individuals and organizations, who banded together to create a project that demonstrates what can be done throughout the Island to beat back the invasives that have choked out so much of the Island’s natural wildlife.

The Ferry District adopted a three-year-plan with the objectives of: (i) restoring a grassland habitat that can be managed in a cost-effective way; (ii) increasing the safety of the Airport and Parade Ground by improving aircraft visibility and controlling access to airport runways and Fort Wright concrete structures; and (iii) increasing public access to the improved habitat by enlarging the walking path system throughout the Parade Ground and creating directed access to Race Point.

The Fishers Island Fire Department has carried out the burns essential to maintaining the grasslands.

The Fishers Island Conservancy joined the Ferry District in funding heavy concrete and stone removal in 2011, and native grass seeding.

The Fishers Island Sportsmen’s Club provided specialized mowing, disking and reseeding machinery.

The Fishers Island Club helped propel the effort and reseeded the school athletic field. Donnie Beck, Larry Horn, Jimmy Ski, Greg Cypherd, J.R. Edwards, Louie Horn, Don Murray, Don Brown, Dave Mcintyre and others worked tirelessly and selflessly, clearing the invasive scrub, mowing and seeding the first half of the sixty-five acres in 2010-2011 and then the second half in 2011-2012.

Milkweed for butterflies, wild iris, native warm season grasses and cool season grasses are seen in the “After” pictures above, providing a sustainable multi-culture grassland habitat for nature’s creatures. The work continues. The Conservancy has given the effort permanence by adopting the Habitat Committee as a standing, ongoing sub-committee.

A battle has been won at the Parade Ground and Airport, but the war continues. This is an encouraging demonstration that we can restore our island working together. The Habitat Committee is in discussions to expand its efforts to other areas of the Island.

The Conservancy plans to prepare and distribute instructional materials describing how the techniques demonstrated on these grounds can be used by individual landowners to stop the spread of invasives and reclaim their property.

osprey cam

Conservancy Grant Supports Osprey Cam

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The Fishers Island Conservancy is pleased to announce that the first recipient of a Conservancy 25th Anniversary Grant, the Osprey Cam Project, has launched!

In February 2012, the Conservancy Board unanimously voted to make a grant to the H. L. Ferguson Museum to fully fund the costs of establishing the Osprey Cam.

Many thanks go to the work of our Grant Program Committee, to the Board’s support of the Grant Program and to donors to our 25th Anniversary Grant Fund.

We all now have web access to a special view on the nesting activities of Fishers Island ospreys.

The Osprey Cam can be viewed live here.

Bike Path

Invasive Plants Along Rec Path

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In 2011, the Conservancy made a donation to the Fishers Island Recreation Path for the purpose of managing and removing invasive plant species along the path.

To date, these grant funds have been used in conjunction with the path’s weekly scheduled landscape maintenance to remove invasive weeds from the retaining wall along the path near Middle Farms Pond, to clear existing mature trees of invasive vines such as poison ivy and bull briar, and to promote the health of several mature native trees through pruning.

For those who use and enjoy the recreation path, the Conservancy’s work is most notable where mature existing trees have been highlighted and brought to the forefront through the removal of invasive shrubs and vines that were jeopardizing their health and obscuring their presence along the path.