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.”

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.”

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

President’s Update

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.

Spring Bluesby Chris Leahy

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.

Emily Vaughn Wolf revels in life, adventures, and nature.

Emily Wolf: A Source of Joy and Inspiration by Jan Adams

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.

Forwarding Service requeSted

The Century Challenge: Celebrating the First 100 Years of our Wildlife Sanctuaries!

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©

You Are Cordially Invited to the Garden Party!

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!

To RSVP or for more information, please contact Sarah Arsenault at 781-259-2127 or sarsenault@massaudubon.org.

Mass Audubon Headquarters Gordon Hall Backyard

Sunday, June 12 3-5 pm

208 South Great Road Lincoln, MA 01773