Somes Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary
(opens in a new tab)The Somes-Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary is dedicated to conservation, research, and education in the Somes Pond-Long Pond watershed and beyond
Vibrant colors are still with us around Somes Pond and Long Pond during this week of sunny weather. The huckleberry shrubs are particularly brilliant along the shorelines.
I'm glad were able to have almost all MDI school district 7th graders (and some 8th) join us for the Floating Classroom watershed science program over the past few weeks. Our last field day was last Thursday with the 3rd group of Bar Harbor's big 7th grade class. Unfortunately, due to a rain day that couldn't be rescheduled, we weren't able to have the Trenton class visit this fall.We were able to return the 8 canoes and 24 paddles to National Park Canoe & Kayak rental company this afternoon. Thanks to Matt Hall and the staff for allowing us to use the equipment for the Floating Classroom! You can see from the video that the kids enjoy paddling the canoes, that are clamped together for stability, besides learning about water sampling and science methods.
With the rain of last week Somes Brook was able to flow enough to allow juvenile alewife to move from Somes Pond to the Somesville Mill Pond and Somes Harbor on Friday and Saturday (yesterday).The last time we know of and were able to sample the young of the year fish was late July when the majority of them were between 1.0 and 1.5 inches. After that we went into severe drought mode, with lake and stream levels too low for various sections of the watershed to be connected. We have a special permit from the Division of Marine Resources to sample 50 per week, measuring their length and mass, when they are running. We then return them to the stream to continue their journey to the ocean. Yesterday's sample showed how much the young alewife grew since mid-summer, now ranging from 2.5-3.2 inches. The significant growth suggests that Somes Pond has good plankton populations for supporting the extended stay of these planktivorous fish. Collecting this data will enable us to look at growth rates throughout each season and compare to other runs in the state.Hopefully, many of them will return as adults in 3 or 4 years to spawn for the 1st time, and perhaps continue to return in successive springs. With still low water and lots of leaves and small branches falling into the stream, it takes regular maintenance to keep passage possible.
