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Marblehead Conservancy Inc.

Preserving Marblehead's open spaces

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Map of Marblehead Open Spaces

Marblehead Conservancy Inc. > Map of Marblehead Open Spaces

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Conservancy Updates

What’s coming next?
The Marblehead Conservancy has embarked on a project at Lead Mills to enhance and continue the restoration work already done. In 2012 the Town of Marblehead and City of Salem acquired this property, rescuing it from commercial development. Remediation was done to address known lead contamination at the site. Then, to better understand its potential as an open conservation space, a study was carried out that outlined topography, soil composition, climate zones and other natural characteristics at the site. With the study’s findings in mind, the Conservancy undertook a huge task: converting this former contaminated site into a space that would include trees, shrubs, grasses and a wildflower meadow. While many hours of volunteer work on this task have been logged to date, and many positive changes have been made, more work remains to be done. Five annual Earth Day / Arbor Day celebrations sponsored by the Conservancy have involved volunteers in the planting of several thousand square feet with native wildflower plugs. Getting these wildflowers to settle and proliferate has been a slow process and has included much trial and error. But progress has been made. In the fall of 2019, the Conservancy decided to put a push on this conversion to a native wildflower meadow by seeking professional guidance from outside sources. An ad hoc Wildflower Committee was formed, chaired by Don Morgan and including Jody Howard, Nina Robertson, Mary Krull and Kathy Krathwohl. Consultants were solicited and evaluated. With input assistance from science teachers at Tower School, which has worked with the Conservancy on other projects, this new planning effort morphed into a native wildflower / native pollinator project with a focus not only on native wildflowers, but also the native pollinators they might draw. As is well documented, honeybee populations are in sharp decline, resulting in serious challenges for produce growers nation-wide. Additionally, wild pollinators, a diverse and perhaps less well-known group, are also in decline. They have suffered due to the disappearance of their natural habitats, monoculture farming, pesticides, predation from other insects, diseases, and more. It turns out that most efforts to restore pollination systems to date have focused on a few common bee and butterfly species, rather than on the range of wild pollinators needed for a healthy and resilient ecosystem. The Conservancy hopes to address this issue. We invite the public to help. As maintenance is key to the success of this project, weeding expertise would be especially welcomed! As an added educational benefit, Landscape Interactions will be available to teach a short seminar on pollinators, perhaps at a future ED/AD celebration.

Support the Conservancy

Smile on the Conservancy with AmazonSmile!
Are you an Amazon shopper? Have you heard of AmazonSmile? AmazonSmile provides buyers with a simple and automatic way to support their favorite charitable organizations without adding any cost. The AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of an item to whatever charitable organization you designate on the Foundation list. The Conservancy has added its name to the AmazonSmile list of charitable organizations. Eligible products are marked “Eligible for AmazonSmile donation” on their product detail pages. Visit smile.amazon.com today! If it’s your first visit, simply select a charitable organization to receive donations from eligible purchases before shopping. Every eligible purchase after that will result in a donation. We hope you select the Marblehead Conservancy! If you’ve already signed up for AmazonSmile, visiting smile.amazon.com will show you which charity you have selected. Note that purchases must be made with a web browser (not your phone or tablet/iPad) and you must use the smile.amazon.com URL to shop. Amazon will remind you to select AmazonSmile if you go to the normal Amazon URL. Unfortunately, orders from the Amazon app on your mobile device (phone or tablet/iPad) are not eligible for AmazonSmile. AmazonSmile is not associated with AmazonPrime, so AmazonPrime members must still go to smile.amazon.com to activate AmazonSmile. The Marblehead Conservancy appreciates your interest and contributions!

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