Continuing Support for 2008

Pepperweed Patrols

Two GOMI Groups in the News

Port students pitch in to root out bad plants

By Jimmy Carroll , Staff writer
Daily News of Newburyport

NEWBURYPORT - Call it a monster of the marsh. It attacks the estuary and chokes out native plants. It's also the first to sprout and the last to die. With no pun intended, pepperweed is a growing problem.

Pepperweed is a swift-moving, regenerative plant that can travel and spread in many different ways, including on the bottom of trucks and other equipment that come into contact with it. It can also spread easily through root fragments, said Sarah Janson, pepperweed coordinator at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge.

Newburyport High School students are pitching in to help stop the spread of pepperweed.

Under the leadership of retired Nock Middle School teacher John Halloran, nine students have volunteered to help clear out the weed by hand - by pulling plants out by the roots.

One student, Kate De Stadler, 16, of Newburyport has been working along side Halloran for years.

"I wanted to further my understanding of science," she said. "Helping out the local estuary and having a better understanding of it, as well as helping out the community, are basically my reasons for volunteering in the first place."

The project is part of a Gulf of Maine Institute plan to help improve the coastal waters and shoreline. The institute is a youth/adult partnership that works with all five of the state boundaries of the Gulf of Maine, identifying problems in each areas and trying to solve them. The Newburyport team's goal is the eradication of the pepperweed plant.

In densely populated areas of pepperweed, chemical controlling agents can be used to get rid of the problem. However, in smaller, more spotty areas of the plant, it is required to pull the plants by hand. The group is currently involved in the second annual pepperweed pull, which took place this week.

"Research shows that in the second year of removal, three-fourths of the pepperweed doesn't return," Halloran said. "At this year's site (the east side of the Plum Island bridge) there is 50 to 60 percent reduction from last year."

'Burger Burn'

Each summer, the Gulf of Maine Institute sends students to different locations for a "summer institute." At these programs, students are dispersed through different themes and work closely with local scientists. They then report to a panel about their research and findings. Last year, the students went to Nova Scotia, and this year, they will go to the University of New Hampshire for their hands-on research.

The institute recently lost a grant they had that provided the funds for the students to attend these summer institutes. Donations have already been made for a group of Newburyport High School students to attend the "summer institute." The Newburyport Five Cents Savings Bank, the Newburyport Financial Advisors and other business owners, such as Bill Hoyt and John Holt, have contributed.

A "Burger Burn" fundraiser for the Newburyport High students will be held on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days in the parking lot of Sam's Club in Seabrook. Donations will also be accepted, and all proceeds will benefit the students' trip.

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Related story on Essex Marsh

click on photo to link

Mini-Conference in the Maritimes

GOMI Maritime Mini-Conference held at Acadia University,Wolfville, NS, May 25-27, 2007. See Workshop section for full details. Here are a few photos of the activity.