Boston Flora

Tag: Massachusetts Division Of Fisheries And Wildlife

  • Thursday, October 5, 8:30 am – 3:30 pm – Massachusetts Green Careers Conference

    The 9th Annual Massachusetts Green Careers Conference will be held at the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife. 1 Rabbit Hill Road in Westborough, Massachusetts on Thursday, October 5 from 8:30 – 3:30. Learn about careers and trends in clean energy, working for nature, and sustainability. The programs are designed for everyone interested in these topics. The venue is a LEED platinum building adjacent to 900 plus acres of woodlands and fields. The Early Bird registration fee of $65 (Public) and $50 (Teacher rate) includes breakfast, lunch, speaker sessions, networking, and reception. Early bird pricing ends August 31. For more information visit www.MassGreenCareers.org or contact the Conference director at JenBoudrie@gmail.com, or telephone 508-481-0569.

  • A History of MassWildlife 1866 – 2012

    A History of MassWildlife 1866-2012, a 334 page, exceedingly well referenced volume by UMass Wildlife Biology alumnus James E. Cardoza, documents the history of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife from its inception in 1866 as a two-member Board of Commissioners of Fisheries to its present configuration of over 100 staff members responsible for the management and protection of over 400 species of plants and animals and over 200,000 acres in wildlife management areas and lands under conservation easements.

    The book was published in a limited bound edition by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, 1 Rabbit Hill Road, Westborough, Massachusetts as it approaches its 150th anniversary. It will soon be available to the public in digital form. For more information email info@eco.umass.edu.

  • Thursday, October 30, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm – Biodiversity and Land Conservation at the Massachusetts Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program

    The overall goal of the Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program (NHESP), part of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, is the protection of the state’s wide range of native biological diversity, particularly the vertebrate and invertebrate animals and native plants that are officially listed as rare in Massachusetts. The talk by Patricia Swain, Ph.D., Natural Community Ecologist on Thursday, October 30, at noon, will focus on conservation through identifying, tracking, managing, and regulating rare species and identifying and mapping NHESP priority natural communities. Land use history, climate change, and other influences on native biodiversity will be part of the discussion.

    Patricia Swain’s job as natural community ecologist for NHESP means working state wide with the rarest and most imperiled natural communities in Massachusetts and the best examples of the more common types. Patricia is currently revising The Classification of Natural Communities of Massachusetts that was first produced in 2001; since then they have been adding new types and adjusting the original descriptions so that a clean version (with illustrations and a key) seems like a useful product. Patricia has been the Natural Community Ecologist for MassWildlife’s Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program since 1987. Before that she was a stay at home mom and part time academic, teaching occasional ecology and biology classes at the local university and technical college. She graduated from Tufts with a Biology major, and obtained her MS and PhD degrees in Ecology from the University of Minnesota.

    Lunch & Learn lectures take place every Thursday from 12:00-1:00pm at the Lincoln Filene Center, Rabb Room on the Medford Campus during the academic year. The Tufts Institute of the Environment generously sponsors lunch. If you are interested in participating in the Lunch & Learn program as a guest lecturer/participant, contact environmentalstudies@tufts.edu. You can’t make it to the talk? No problem! Watch it live here from your computer or smart phone.  Photo by Patricia Swain.

  • Avoid Decorating with Invasive Plants

    The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife has sent us the following reminder:

    During the holiday season, many people use plant material gathered from their yard to decorate their houses or businesses. The Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (DFW) and the Department of Agricultural Resources (DAR) encourage people to avoid using exotic, invasive plants such as Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) and Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) in holiday decorations. Though these plants are attractive, it is best not to use them. Birds eat fruits from wreaths and garlands and the digested, but still-viable seeds, sprout where deposited. Exotic, invasive plants create severe environmental damage, invading open fields, forests, wetlands, meadows, and backyards, and crowding out native plants. Bittersweet can grow over and even kill mature trees. These invasive plants are extremely difficult to control: when cut off, the remaining plant segment in the ground will re-sprout. It is illegal to import or sell Oriental bittersweet and Multiflora rose in any form (e.g. plants, cuttings, or wreaths) in Massachusetts.

    Home and business property gardeners, garden club members, nursery staff, landscapers and conservationists can learn more about invasive plants from DFW’s “A Guide to Invasive Plants.” The guide includes invasive plant descriptions, photographs, the plant’s regulatory status, key identification characteristics, habitats where the plant is likely to be found, type of threat the plant poses to native species and their habitats, its current distribution, and place of origin. Similar plant species are also briefly described to aid in plant identification.

    To purchase a guide, stop in the Field Headquarters office in West Boylston (note new address) during business hours or send a request to “Invasive Plant Guide,” DFW Field HQ, NHESP, 100 Hartwell Street, Suite 230, West Boylston, MA, 01583, and include a check for $5 (per copy) payable to: Comm. of Mass.–NHESP. Sorry, but DFW does not accept credit cards. Learn more about invasive plants from DFW’s Natural Heritage webpage at:

    http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/natural-heritage/land-protection-and-management/invasive-species/invasive-plants.html. Find this and other NHESP publications at: http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/natural-heritage/publications-forms/publications/.

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  • Friday, March 15, 1:30 pm – 4:00 pm – Wildlife in the Landscape

    Marion Larson, Chief of Information and Education with the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, will speak at the Arnold Arboretum on Friday, March 15, beginning at 1:30 pm, in a program co-sponsored by the Ecological Landscaping Association.  Whether trying to attract backyard wildlife, coping with the effects of wildlife damage in the managed landscape, or hoping to enhance habitat on a landscape scale, you must first understand the animals. Marion Larson will discuss the components of wildlife habitat; factors affecting wildlife populations; how to attract beneficial wildlife; and practices to consider which keep wild things wild. She will address the wildlife known to cause landscape damage and suggest strategies for preventing damage before it occurs, as well as legal options for removing or destroying wildlife when management fails. She will also share information about habitat management initiatives that the MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife is promoting to managers and owners of larger properties.  $20 for members of the sponsoring organizations, $25 for the general public.  Register at www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

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  • Sunday, September 20 – Director’s Open House at Tower Hill

    Sunday, September 20 – Director’s Open House at Tower Hill

    Celebrate John W. Trexler’s 25th Anniversary as Tower Hill’s founding Executive Director, showcasing the best of Tower Hill.  Fun activities for all ages, multiple garden tours, demonstrations on organic gardening and Italian slow food cooking demonstrations, wildlife exhibits from the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, live birds of prey, hawk watching, wildlife photography, lectures on the interaction of plants and animals, videos, and at 2 pm, a special tree dedication in John’s honor.  For more information log on to www.towerhillbg.org.  Free admission all day.