Ecology Map Aids Planning
Released By Nature Conservancy, Sophisticated Color Blueprint Shows
Diverse Habitats End to End on Island
By IAN FEIN
A detailed map that identifies all of the ecological habitats on the
Vineyard was released this week by the Islands office of The Nature
Conservancy. The map is the first of its kind for the Vineyard.
"People here know how important this place is, but now for the
first time we have scientifically credible data that puts all of the
Island's habitats in context," said Tom Chase, director of
The Nature Conservancy Islands program. "Vineyarders can now know
exactly how much of something they have that's both rare on the
Island, and rare in the world as well."
SRC="http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2005/01/14/content/nature_conserv_map_sm.jpg" The full color version of the map, which appears on the Gazette web
site this morning at www.mvgazette.com, distinguishes between 20
distinct vegetation communities - ranging from the maritime
shrublands of Squibnocket to the agricultural grasslands of West Tisbury
to the red cedar woodlands of Chappaquiddick.
The Nature Conservancy data actually quantifies 50 different
communities, which were narrowed to 20 to make the map simpler to use.
"A lot of people don't realize we have such incredible
biodiversity for so small an Island," Mr. Chase said. "When
you look at this map, it's really quite striking."
Mr. Chase and his colleagues spent three years researching and
compiling the map. Biologists went out on foot to identify the makeup of
certain habitats, which were then compared with aerial photographs to
make larger projections. Once the map was sketched, biologists went out
again to confirm the photographic findings.
"The first step was to figure out where everything is,"
Mr. Chase said. "Now we can determine where we need to try to
protect and restore the regionally and globally important areas."
When the new vegetation map is overlaid with a map of all the Island
conservation lands, strategic areas arise where organizations might want
to concentrate their efforts. Nature Conservancy ecologist Kendra
Buresch said that certain areas offer an opportunity to expand rare
native habitats - such as grasslands, heathlands and scrub oak
- by connecting key plots of conservation land.
"I look at the Vineyard as a big jigsaw puzzle," said
Dick Johnson, executive director of the Sheriff's Meadow
Foundation. "And now this map will help us try to put together
enough habitats of particular types that support species we think would
have normally occurred there. It's a great long-range planning
tool for land acquisition, but even more so for managing and restoring
the land as we put the pieces back together."
SRC="http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2005/01/14/content/nature_conservancy_down_sm.jpg" Mrs. Buresch identified the central and southern sandplains in and
around the state forest as a particularly high priority for protection
and restoration. The map shows stretches of native scrub oak,
interspersed throughout overgrown oak woodlands, that could be expanded
and connected.
But while the map shows specific areas where organizations might
want to target their conservation efforts, it also identifies areas
where development would not pose as much of a threat to unique Vineyard
ecology.
"This puts things in perspective," Mrs. Buresch said.
"There are areas that make more sense for development, that are a
lower priority for conservation."
Mr. Chase said initial concern was expressed both within and outside
The Nature Conservancy that the map might make it easier for developers
to build in certain areas. But he maintains that the map will help the
Vineyard manage growth and development in a way that protects the most
important areas.
In fact, the $75,000 funding for the map came from a one-time golf
course developer, the late M. Anthony Fisher, who had been involved in
the early plans for Meetinghouse Golf on property near the Edgartown
Great Pond.
SRC="http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2005/01/14/content/nature_conservancy_edg_sm.jpg" When a public controversy began to brew over the prospect of a golf
course in an environmentally fragile area, Mr. Fisher reversed direction
and pulled the plan, after listening to his critics. The Meetinghouse
Golf land was eventually sold to The Nature Conservancy, which has since
restored it to native heath and grasslands.
"We were collegial adversaries who became close allies,"
Mr. Chase said of the late Mr. Fisher this week.
"One of the high points of my professional life came at the
end of the Meetinghouse Golf debate, when I got a letter from Tony that
said after he learned The Nature Conservancy's intentions for the
land, he felt it was in better hands," Mr. Chase recalled.
"He said that next time he wanted to be on our side, and he
made good on his word," Mr. Chase said. "Tony felt strongly
that the Island should be planning proactively instead of reactively,
and that's exactly what this map will now allow us to do."
Mr. Fisher specifically requested the map be shared with the entire
Island, hoping it would be valuable as a baseline document to help
agencies plan for human uses as well as conservation.
"We hope it's a useful tool," Mr. Chase said.
"We're contributing it, and Tony made it happen."
The Nature Conservancy recently donated the map to the
Martha's Vineyard Commission, which added it to a series of other
digital planning maps and sent them to all of the towns. When used
together in a computer overlay program, the different maps offer an
endless array of information that can be useful to planning.
SRC="http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2005/01/14/content/nature_conservancy_wt_sm.jpg" "Say a town was interested in protecting all stands of pitch
pine greater than two acres located on town-owned land," said
Christine Seidel, geographic information systems coordinator for the
commission. "Using the vegetation map with an assessors overlay,
you can find all of those specific locations."
As the MVC prepares to embark on its own three-year Islandwide
planning effort, the maps represent an important step in regional
conservation planning.
In the past each town conservation commission did its own planning
using a vague "bubble map" that drew circles around areas
where rare species were thought to exist. The new map will give them
more accurate information about specific habitats, and will allow towns
to see their vegetation in the context of adjacent towns and the Island
as a whole.
The Vineyard map will also offer another layer of regional context
when compared to similar maps The Nature Conservancy previously compiled
for Nantucket and the Elizabeth Islands. Conservation organizations can
now identify parts of the Vineyard that are unique not only for the
Island, but also within the entire region.
In particular, Mr. Chase said that The Nature Conservancy created
the term "Squibnocket moorlands" to identify the Squibnocket
and Moshup Trail habitat because it exists nowhere else in the world.
SRC="http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2005/01/14/content/nature_conservancy_up_sm.jpg" Mr. Chase said The Nature Conservancy is now working on another
overlay map that will show how different ecological processes -
like soil types, wind, salt spray and fire - affect different
habitats. The map will give conservation organizations yet another tool
in determining where and how to restore natural habitats.
"I guess one of the things I really like about these maps is
that they are working documents. You can constantly update the
information," Mr. Chase said. "And I think for me that sort
of symbolizes Tony's continued involvement in helping Vineyarders
plan for the future of the Island."
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