All welcome to join our growing earth repair community for this last Community Science Ecological Inventory of the year. This data is beling compiled for our impending presentation to the Burlington Conservation Board this fall to encourage this land to be donated to the city, put into conservation and ammended for robust true remediation research to occur by scientists still to be determined. After that the aim is for its stewardship to be guided by Abenaki partners who are primary stakeholders in this ancestral land.
Already as our inventory is indicating the site is naturally attenuating (i.e. microbes, fungi and plants are already breaking down, hyper accumulating, or sequestering some of the 56 toxins of concern) from this site's colonial history hosting a coal manufacturing gas plant after the lumber industry waned.
This project is a classic case study of how a small, dedicated grassroots group of community members can guide land stewardship out of development, out of the 'business as usual' scoop dump build (which is 2-3 decades behind remediation science) and model collaborating with the land's Original peoples from the start. There are many moving, complex parts to this. We currently have been facilitating an active ecological educational centerat this site with high school, college, technical school and community member workshops and have responsively begun to restored parcels of the site currently in public trust. Some of our long-term success will require outdated laws which determine policy and funding to be updated so all hands on deck!
There are 14 Superfund sites in VT, 150 in the NE and over 1500 in this country. Join our efforts to guide a regenerative way to rehabilitate these lands for future generations and our wild kin!
Event details:
Calling all seasoned to newbie naturalists to join in this community effort to gather accurate ecological inventory of who is living on this fragile urban wild for long term conservation, restoration, remediation, and rematriation aims.
Wear long sleeved pants and shirts and water resistant sturdy foot wear. No flipflops nor sandals! Bring field guides, binoculars, handlenses, and your phone if you want to enter data into our 2 INaturalist projects. Bring any water, snacks, and ecofriendly sun & insect protection you may need.
Because both sites we are inventorying are Superfund sites, wear footwear you can leave outside for 2 days on your porch. Note: the toxins are below the soil surface but in case any particulates enter the tread of your shoes, this is an extra precaution we encourage all site visitors to take.
People have gotten lost getting here. Meet at the silver gate across form Dealer.com on Pine Street.
If you have expertise in a particular area of natural history identification (i.e. ornithology, macroinvertebrates...) reach out (yepeth@gmail.com) so we can set you up to lead the group that day!
All ages and abilities are welcome!
Thanks to Grassroots Fund for supporting MycoEvolve's community branch, Mycolab this work!!
To learn more about our work around this check out: http://www.mycoevolve.net/mycolab.html