Dragonflies and Damselflies Unusual Projects
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DOWNSTREAM Page Number 15 Small Wonder Dragonflies and Damselflies Beautiful and Benificial A voracous insect hunter with little fear of people, the 12- spotted Skimmer makes for good company when visiting riparian areas. Photo, Dave Small Summer days lie ahead. Many of us will find ourselves outside enjoying nature at a pond, on a nusual rojects river, or near some other water feature. More U P often that not we won’t find ourselves alone. Along the Way to Insects of all kinds will pay us a visit to see what Water Quality we are all about. Some are pests, but others will merely capture our attention as they go about The preeminent goal of the DCR office their daily business. Two such creatures are of Water Supply Management is to dragonflies and damselflies. They tend to be provide the highest quality drinking bold, sometimes friendly, wishing to hitch a ride water. Science and society agree that the on the bow of your canoe or the top of your best way to achieve this end is through shoulder. This can make the squeamish jump, but careful land management. These efforts these daring creatures almost always escape include conservation and preservation of unscathed. The adventurer who can resist the the natural environment. One might urge to react will have the opportunity to observe wonder what exactly constitutes this an amazing array of colors and patterns these practice. The following stories give an creatures display. And while each of them may inside peek at some of the unique and have certain “fashion” appeal, all of them live a unusual things done to ensure the very unique life and are voracious predators for highsest quality water from the DCR NUMBER 15 many of the aforementioned pests. reservoir system. Spring 2006 SMALL WONDERS - SEE PAGE 4 UNUSUAL PROJECTS - SEE PAGE 2 In This Issue: Springtime is here again and that Dragonflies and Damselflies 1 place for the snow shovel is now occupied The basics on these special critters by gardening tools. Old outdoor projects Unusual Projects 1 resume and new ones are undertaken. In Some odd things we do for water quality it’s own way, nature makes this transition Please don’t feed the animals 2 as well. Little creatures that were just a Reasons to let them make their own way memory a few short weeks ago are back. Where the Dragonfly Roam 5 Department of Conservation Activity recently frozen solid not long ago, A visual dragonfly guide and Recreation has come alive again. In this issue we look Recreation Options 6 Division of Water Supply at some of natures unique contributants, as A quick guide for adventurers Protection well as some of DCR’s efforts to protect the Kids’ Corner 7 www.mass.gov/dcr/ environment. What’s to find in heathy pond water? waterSupply.htm DOWNSTREAM Page2 Spring 2006 Wildlife Needs Good Habitat, Not Handouts UNIQUE PROJECTS -FROM PAGE 1 Wachusett Reservoir Side-Scan Sonar Project While deer may look gentle from afar, they are Elevated levels of mercury were always poised to protect discovered in 1986 in the tissue of fish themselves from danger. taken from the Wachusett and Quabbin If this deer were to Reservoirs. A subsequent report perceive a threat in this assessed potential sources of mercury; situation, this home- one possible source was abandoned, owner could find himself submerged structures. A follow-up in serious trouble. investigation was made to test this hypothesis. The study compiled maps to create a mosaic of the bottom of the Wachusett Reservoir, identifying Photo, DCR/DWSP locations of historic manufacturing buildings. These locations were used to Winter and early spring can be a difficult are often nutritionally deficient or direct sampling to the areas most likely to time for wild animals, and our instinct is to unsuited for wildlife. For example, white- retrieve contaminated material. try and offer a helping hand. However, tailed deer gradually adapt a high fiber To improve sampling accuracy, sidescan consider the following information before diet of woody browse, leaves, etc., during sonar was used to take images of the you start feeding the neighborhood the winter. Providing high carbohydrate bottom of the reservoir. The sonar is wildlife. food (bread, corn, and grain) can angled so that the sound waves produce overwhelm the digestive system because Feeding wildlife can spread an image similar to aerial photography. it doesn’t have the right bacteria in place The images confirmed that practically disease. to process the food. Animals congregating at an artificial food every structure within the reservoir area source can lead to overcrowding, and this Feeding wildlife can lead to had been demolished or moved before close contact can encourage the spread of harmful behavior. inundation. For example, cellar holes diseases. Diseases could include rabies, Animals that are fed by people often loose were evident where homes once stood. Lyme disease, bovine tuberculosis, their fear of humans. Although the The biggest discovery, however, was two chronic wasting disease (currently not in animals may appear timid, nearly all steel trestle bridges, bent but intact. The Massachusetts), distemper, and wildlife has the potential to injure humans Sawyer Mill and Scar Hill Road bridges in roundworms. These diseases are harmful or pets and conditioned animals may Boylston were the only structural to wildlife and some may be dangerous to become aggressive. Behavior between humans or pets. animals may also change. Crowding often leads to physical aggression among Supplemental feeding is not animals, and larger individuals will exclude beneficial to wildlife. weaker ones, causing either physical harm Wild animals are well adapted to surviving or preventing feeding. harsh conditions, and their digestive systems are best suited for processing Be cautious when feeding wild natural foods. Foods provided by people birds. Although birdseed is nutritious and wild birds do not loose their fear of humans, dirty bird feeders can cause the spread of Photos, DCR/DWSP disease. Conjunctivitis outbreaks in house finches are associated with dirty These feeders. Feeders should be cleaned with a images mild bleach solution, and the ground show the old Scar under the feeder should be free of moldy Hill Road seeds and bird droppings. bridge. Side-scan Dan Clark - - DCR/DWSP Wildlife Biologist sonar data taken in November, 2000 through 70’ of water is shown at top. While a hand-out may sound like a The black and white photo shows the good idea, wildlife favor feeding bridge over the Nashua River in naturally on their preferred foods in a Boylston from 1890s. safe, healthy habitat. Photo, DCR/DWSP UNIQUE PROJECTS - CONTINUED PAGE 3 DOWNSTREAM Page3 Number 15 UNIQUE PROJECTS -FROM PAGE 2 Building Demolition remnants found below water; there is no recorded information regarding why these In its efforts to protect bridges were left standing. watershed lands, DWSP occasionally acquires The investigation ultimately found no properties with buildings submerged sources of mercury. It was or other structures that A DCR site determined, and has since been require demolition. To before (above) corroborated by other studies in New ensure that these and after (right) England, that the source was atmospheric properties do not become restoration. Photos, Robert Lowell deposition. The most likely source is from environmental risks, DCR coal, which contains small amounts of has each site inspected by a licensed mercury. When the coal is burned for industrial hygienist to check for the Structures slated for demolition are often power in the Midwest, the wind carries the presence of materials such as asbestos, in isolated areas and thus can be an mercury through the atmosphere until rain lead, and underground storage tanks. If attractive shelter for trespassers. The carries it down to the watershed’s streams hazardous materials are found, DCR hires peace of a once charming camp acquired and ponds, where it bioaccumulates. licensed contractors to remediate the site by DWSP in the Ware River watershed Bioaccumulation is the process where prior to demolition work. continues to be enjoyed by squatters that minute amounts of substances are have truly transformed the structure – ingested by small organisms, which are A building is safe for demolition after all porcupines! The porcupines have then eaten by larger organisms, that hazardous materials have been removed consumed most of the interior of the eventually impact larger fish and other and underground storage tanks are house and surrounding trees, converting animals higher on the food chain. extracted (ensuring that the soil is free of the wood products to a biodegradable end contaminants) and the subsequent hole product which they are storing in the To learn more, see ‘Picturing Our Past,’ a is back-filled. After building structures house. Their digestive efforts have been compact disc of images and data compiled are dismantled and loaded into waste so productive that residuals from the during this investigation by Douglas containers, the foundation is either converted structure and surrounding trees Levin, Ph.D. It is available at the Boylston removed from the site with other building nearly fill the basement and the first level and West Boylston Public Libraries. materials or is crushed to pieces of six- of the house (now affectionately called inches or less and then compacted and Vincent Vignaly - DCR Project Engineer “The Porcupine House”). Fortunately, the buried under grade. The demolition industrial hygienist found minimal contractor completes grading the site to a hazardous materials on the property, so smooth, natural contour; DWSP then for the time being DWSP is encouraging makes sure that erosion control measures the porcupines to complete their work are adequate and restores the site to a converting the structure to pelletized natural state. compost. Robert Lowell - DCR Civil Engineer The amount of birds roosting on the The Bird Harassment Program uses reservoir depends on what time of year it pyrotechnics from both shore and boat to Photo, DCR/DWSP is, ranging from several hundred to prevent birds from congregating near the Gulls spotted by the Cosgrove intake.