Ecological Stewardship and Restoration in Massachusetts
Project Partner: The Trustees of Reservations, Summer 2024
Project Description: During her internship, Bright partnered with The Trustees of Reservations on several projects aimed at monitoring and assessing the health of marshes adjacent to low-lying Environmental Justice communities and grassland bird populations. Bright worked on monitoring the piping plover and bobolink populations through nest and egg counts and labeling for further monitoring and assisted with soil sampling assessments of the Neponset River marsh. She also tracked the progress of salt marsh restoration work on the North Shore. She compiled and analyzed data on the Trustees’ rare plant surveys and grassland bird monitoring efforts using the iNaturalist dataset to help distinguish between native and invasive species for proper management. Through this experience, Bright gained practical experience in bird monitoring, soil sampling, and marsh ditch healing techniques, and applied data analysis skills to real-world environmental problems.
The ongoing monitoring of grassland birds has led to the recovery of the piping plover population at Crane Beach from 5 pairs in 1986 to 40-55 pairs in 2024, despite the increasing sea level rise threat. Bright made the Trustees’ plant/animal data on iNaturalist usable for management purposes, helping them assess and develop a better understanding of the breadth of species on all Trustees’ properties and allowing them to identify gaps in the dataset that they can work to fill in.
Project Deliverables:
- Data reports on rare plant surveys and bird monitoring
- Contributions to the salt marsh restoration monitoring program
- Presentation on internship outcomes to the Trustees team
Watch Bright’s URBAN Internship lightning talk here.
