Leading the Way Spring 2016

Spring 2016
A newsletter for our most special supporters
Supporting Access for All
by Polly Reeve
“Drumlin Farm is the gold standard for happiness.” This is how Chris
Connolly and Marjie Liner sum up their feelings about the farm and
Mass Audubon. “It’s just not possible to see the chicks, goats, and sheep,
or the curious and excited children, without smiling!” Wanting to spread
the joy and help others experience all that the sanctuary has to offer, in
addition to supporting general operations at Mass Audubon, Chris and
Marjie have been generous supporters of the Drumlin Farm Outreach
and Assistance Resources (DOAR) program for many years. The DOAR
program is part of Drumlin’s ongoing $4.7 million Landscapes for Learning
Campaign, and promotes social diversity at Drumlin Farm by subsidizing
the cost of our school and group programs for people with special
needs, the elderly, and those with financial hardship.
Chris joined Mass Audubon as a member in 1974, shortly after moving
to the Boston area and happening upon Drumlin Farm as a young man. “I pulled over, got out of my car, and just
explored.” He was delighted by what he found, and that first visit was the beginning of a relationship that has continued
to blossom for more than 40 years. When his and Marjie’s children were young, he visited Drumlin Farm with them
regularly. When they were in school, for six years he managed the Metco host family program in their town of Lexington,
and brought the student his family hosted to Drumlin Farm every week. Once he no longer had children at home, he
continued to visit. He always felt uplifted by the sanctuary, and when grandchildren arrived he brought them too.
Chris and Marjie have both worked with young people professionally, Chris as an educational psychologist and Marjie as a
special education teacher. Knowing firsthand how experiences at the farm can be both joyful and educational for children
and adults of all abilities and backgrounds, they were excited to lend their support to Drumlin Farm’s efforts to increase
the accessibility of its programs.
“As the years have gone by, we see more and more all the good that Mass Audubon and Drumlin Farm are doing for so
many people. We see the creativity and commitment of the staff and the organization, and we want to support it as much
as we can.” Thank you, Chris and Marjie! For more information about DOAR and the Landscapes for Learning Campaign,
please contact Polly Reeve at 781-259-2239 or preeve@massaudubon.org.
If You Build It, They Will Come!
by Sarah Arsenault
Ronna Erickson has had an affinity for amphibians, or “phibs” as she affectionately
calls them, for as long as she can remember. “Hearing spring peepers and tree frogs
calling always gives me a thrill.”
President’s
Update
I hope you’ve had a chance
to enjoy the beautiful spring
weather at your favorite
wildlife sanctuaries. I want to
thank all who participated in
our Statewide Volunteer Day
on April 30. The day was a
great success!
As you may know, this year
Mass Audubon is celebrating
the 100th anniversary of our
statewide wildlife sanctuary
system. In 1916, the Moose
Hill Wildlife Sanctuary was
established in Sharon with the
support of Dr. George W. Field.
Today there are dozens of
wildlife sanctuaries to explore.
Visit massaudubon.org to view
our interactive timeline and
slideshow of photos.
Mass Audubon’s conservation
impact is largely due to the
support of loyal donors like
you, who understand the
importance of protecting
habitat as well as educating and
advocating for the nature of
Massachusetts for both people
and wildlife.
Thank you all so much. See you
on the trails!
– Gary Clayton
Mass Audubon is very fortunate that
Ronna’s passion has fueled her support for
the pioneering Eastern Spadefoot Toad and
Wetlands Restoration Project, managed
out of our Ashumet Holly
(East Falmouth) and Long
Pasture (Barnstable)
Wildlife Sanctuaries. Due
to habitat loss, the eastern
spadefoot toad, a once
widespread member of the
anuran family, is now listed
as threatened under the
Massachusetts Endangered
Species Act. “Amphibians,
creatures that are often
considered ‘slimy’ or ugly,
are not usually chosen
as the poster child for
environmental organizations. Nevertheless,
they are a very important part of the web
of life. Humans have changed and drained
the areas they need to survive and this
program provides a way to restore those
areas and possibly reverse the rapid decline
in populations,” says Ronna.
Since 2011, Long Pasture Sanctuary Director
Ian Ives has worked with partners and more
than 150 individuals to
create 14 vernal pools,
which provide habitat
for the toads and other
rare species including
frogs, salamanders,
dragonflies, and
butterflies. Once
created, spadefoot eggs
are transferred from
a healthy population
at Sandy Neck Barrier Beach to local
classrooms where students feed and care
for the tadpoles until they are mature
enough to be released. “We are breaking
new ground; no one has ever translocated
spadefoots before,” says Ives. And with risk
oftentimes comes great reward. “I believe it
was this realization that lead to expanding
support for the project, that we are not
only growing small toadlets to release in our
ponds, but growing small scientists too!”
Ronna joyfully remarks, “The
children were told that they
were gathering ‘real’ data.
Because Ian told them these
were not lab experiments
where the answers were
predetermined, they have
taken the sampling protocols
very seriously.” Since 2011,
more than 7,000 toadlets
have been headstarted and
translocated.
Due to the success of
this project, Ian’s team is
now creating wetlands
with students on land abutting Monomoy
Regional Middle School in Chatham and
Falmouth Academy to serve as “living labs”
in studying vernal pool ecology. His team
also holds a workshop each year, teaching
wetland restoration and headstarting
protocols to conservation professionals
across the state.
“Ronna is the single most supportive
individual donor to
contribute to the
Eastern Spadefoot Toad
Restoration Project.
It is her support that
is spearheading this
pioneering work in citizen
science and ecological
engineering,” says Ian.
Ronna thoughtfully
remarks, “What happens when I am gone?
Hopefully, there will be some budding
scientists who took data at Ashumet,
or fed the tadpoles in their elementary
school classroom and watched their
metamorphosis occur, who will grow up and
be as captivated by amphibians as I am.”
Emily Wolf: A Source of Joy and Inspiration
by Jan Adams
Emily Vaughn Wolf revels in life, adventures, and nature.
Across Mass Audubon
her “footprints” span
years and continents
as a member, traveler,
Leadership Friend, and
Tern. With a talent for
writing, her journal,
An Austral Adventure:
being an Enthusiast’s Account of a trip to Chile, Antarctica,
and Subantarctica-1986, regales her unforgettable Mass
Audubon journey as an “ornithological tyro.” “Paradise
Bay was gorgeous, sublime...shining everywhere in
absolute newness. We had the best of two worlds: On
exposed sheer rock walls were blue-eyed cormorants,
kelp gulls, snowy sheathbills; in the air were Antarctic
terns; lounging on floating icebergs with Henry Moore-like
configurations were sleek Crabeater and Weddel seals.”
Emily also adroitly tied her passion for the natural world to
Mass Audubon through annual unrestricted gifts and two
planned gifts: a charitable gift annuity that pays her
fixed income for life and subsequently becomes a gift for
Mass Audubon, and a bequest naming Mass Audubon a
beneficiary of her estate. With these gifts, Emily is a
member of Mass Audubon’s Tern Society - our valued friends
who’ve blended philanthropic and personal financial goals to
carry forward the mission of Mass Audubon for generations
to come.
Spring Blues
by Chris Leahy
What’s your favorite early sign of spring? Redwings bugling in the
still-brown marsh? The bell-like notes of pinkle-tinks (a.k.a. spring
peepers) apparently emanating from the surrounding air? Or
perhaps, more subtly, the rosy haze suffusing a distant stand of
red maples?
My own favorite is a small butterfly, easily missed if you’re not
paying attention as you walk an open woodland on the first warmish days of April. Once seen, however,
wings spread wide in the sun, the spring azure is not easily forgotten. Like all butterflies and moths, the
wings of this species are covered in tiny scales that cumulatively, like the colored grains in a Buddhist sand
mandala, give the butterfly its characteristic pattern and color. Rather than being tinted with chemical
pigment, however, the wing scales of a spring azure are little prisms that reflect one small section of the
light spectrum. To call the “structural” color thus produced “blue” (or even azure) is akin to describing the
Sistine ceiling as “pretty.” The butterfly’s genus name, Celastrina, which seems to invoke the heavens, may
be closer. Vladimir Nabokov, who made a lifelong study of this family of butterflies (when he wasn’t writing
brilliant novels), compared their wings to living fragments of sky.
As with people, beauty in butterflies is enhanced by an interesting life story. Adult azures lay their eggs on
the buds of a wide variety of plants, and the emerging slug-like caterpillar feeds on the flowers, rather than
leaves like most butterfly larvae. Nearly immobile and lacking chemical or physical defensive strategies,
this and other blues have evolved a relationship with certain ant species: The caterpillar produces droplets
of sweet “honeydew” from its “tail” that the ants relish, and in return protect the provider from parasitic
wasps and other predators. The azure spends the longest portion of its life overwintering in the chrysalis
stage, while the adult butterfly is on the wing for only a few days—a fitting emblem perhaps for the
ephemerality of the New England spring.
Chris Leahy holds the Bertrand Chair of Natural History and Field Ornithology at Mass Audubon. He
can be reached at 978-927-1122 ext. 2702 or cleahy@massaudubon.org.
Forwarding Service Requested
You Are Cordially Invited to the Garden Party!
Please join us as we celebrate your support of Mass Audubon and 100 years of our wildlife
sanctuary system! Connect with friends—old and new—as guest speaker Barry W. Van Dusen,
internationally recognized wildlife artist, and the Museum of American Bird Art’s newest
Artist-in-Residence, shares with us his two-year project traveling across the state, visiting and
chronicling the majority of our rich and diverse Mass Audubon sanctuaries through
his artwork and writing.
Mass Audubon Headquarters
Gordon Hall Backyard
Sunday, June 12
3-5 pm
208 South Great Road
Lincoln, MA 01773
To RSVP or for more information, please contact Sarah Arsenault at 781-259-2127 or sarsenault@massaudubon.org.
The Century Challenge:
Celebrating the First 100 Years of our Wildlife Sanctuaries!
Born out of our 100-year celebration of our wildlife sanctuary system, Mass
Audubon Development Staff, Sanctuary Directors, Board and Council are
striving toward 100 ways to help Mass Audubon stay strong! How can you
help contribute to this equation? For more information, call Development at
781-259-2123 or email development@massaudubon.org. 40 New Leadership Friends
30 New Gifts of $10,000+
20 New Tern Society members
10 New Grants from Foundations New to Mass Audubon
100 Ways to Help Mass Audubon Stay Strong!
Leading the Way is a production of Mass
Audubon’s Development Department.
For more information, contact
Sarah Arsenault at
sarsenault@massaudubon.org or
781.259.2127.
Photography
P 1: Chris Connolly–
Polly Reeve/Mass Audubon©
P 2: Gary Clayton–Bob Speare/Mass Audubon©
Ronna Erickson–Lisa Reynolds©
Eastern Spadefoot Toad–Ian Ives/
Mass Audubon©
P 3: Emily Wolf–
Sarah Arsenault/Mass Audubon©
Spring Azure–Darlisa Black, Flickr©
P 4: Painted Trillium at High Ledges; Canada Warbler
in Witch-hazel at High Ledges, watercolors by
Barry W. Van Dusen©