Day on the Island Clam Seeding!

On Wednesday, Bridget took a couple of us to Thompson Island to clam seed. At first, everyone was wondering, "What is clam seeding?" I was confused and didn't know what it was about, but I still wanted to try it out.  On my way to Thompson Island, all I was thinking about was, "Am I going to get dirty?" Trying new things out is a great experience.

When we got to Thompson Island, the workers were there waiting for us to arrive. There were people from different parts of Boston at the clam seeding event. So we went on the beach because we had to plant the clams when it was low tide. We got a huge net to cover the spot on the ground where we are going to dip. We started to dig the sides about 1-2 inches deep. Then we buried one side of the net. After, we flipped the net over and started to rake to find green crabs because they would eat the clams. After we raked, we laid the clam seeds down. Then, we laid the net over and buried all the sides down. It was actually fun because I never got to do something like planting clam seeds before.

Getting dirty!

Young Clams and Young Bostonians!

Hello all!

This past Wednesday, Ana, Anthony, Brianna, and I headed out to Thompson Island to seed clam beds. Now, the last time I wrote, I talked about all the things I was doing for the first time this summer, even though it's my third summer with our youth programs. Well, our day out on Thompson Island definitely added to the list!

First and foremost, I'd NEVER been out to Thompson Island, so I was really excited to see what the island had to offer. Each island out in Boston Harbor has it's own identity, whether its the spooky tunnels of Georges or the gorgeous beach glass of Spectacle or the menacing and ominous cone-shaped marking atop Nix's Mate. I've been so fascinated to learn about each one in my time here at Save the Harbor. Thompson Island is additionally fascinating because it isn't typically publicly accessible, so we were granted a behind-the-scenes look at the many uses and beautiful resources of the island! Home to a former trade school, a current youth development camp, organic gardens, native american historic preservation efforts, and an effort to rebuild the Harbor's clam population, it was great!

Now you might be wondering: How the heck do you "seed" and "clam bed"? Honestly, I was wondering the same thing. It was another first for me! We "planted" thousands of juvenile clams -- smaller than the size of a dime-- in the native salt marshes of the island. Here's how...

Step 1: We laid down a net on the muddy beach to mark our clam bed area. Baby clams would soon make the area their home!

Step 2: We dug a deep trench around the net. Here's Ana, showing us how!

Step 3: We removed the net and raked the top layer of sand and mud. We wanted to disturb any green crabs-- which are natural predators of clams-- in the area and capture them.

Step 4: Once as many green crabs as possible were eradicated from the plot, we scattered some young clams! We put about 6,000 in each plot.

Step 5: We replaced the net. We filled mud back into the trenches, securing the edges of the netting. We wanted to make sure the net was secured so that it would stay put at high tide when it was entirely submerged. Our team did a great job, and I really liked meeting the high school Thompson Island Green Ambassadors on my team!

Here's Anthony with the finished product!

My favorite part of the entire experience was getting to work literally alongside so many other great organizations that are serving youth on Boston Harbor. The day before, I had been given the opportunity to attend a Boston Harbor Island Alliance meeting and briefly present to the board and several other community organizations about how Save the Harbor's summer programs with be connecting 7,000 kids and teens to the Harbor Islands this summer. But I also got to listen to what other groups around the Harbor were doing around the Harbor, regardless of whether they were focusing on children, teens, families, conservation, public education, youth development, or recreation. And it was fantastic to see so many familiar faces on Thompson Island the next day.

As Arthur Pearson, CEO of Thompson Island Outward Bound, said to me on the island: it was so great to see the sum of all the work that we're all doing for kids on the Harbor, all in one place. One group is serving 5,000 kids this summer, another is working with 3,000, another will connect 6,000 new people to the water, another group is serving hundreds of local teenagers, etc, etc, etc.... and Save the Harbor will bring 7,000 kids and teens out to the islands and will work with thousands more at our youth environmental education sites and on our region's public beaches this year. All those numbers really add up! I love the work I do, but I'm even MORE excited to see it in an even larger context of so many common goals across these organizations. It was an inspiring day!

Thank you so much to Thompson Island Outward Bound for hosting us, and to Chris at the Department of Marine Fisheries for showing us the clam-seeding ropes! We can't wait to help again next year!

See you out on the islands, everyone!

Michelle Palermino

Memories Last a Lifetime

Taking this summer job was a great idea. Now I have experience working in the office from the six week internship I did this past April, along with experience outdoors. Having the chance to work with children from Boston was wonderful. As I taught them how to identify a female and male crab, the type of crab, etc. I was able to learn with them. A lot of what I did was new to me. It was my first time working, working with kids, fishing, crabbing and flying kites. The time has come, summer is coming to an end, but I will carry these memories forever.

I remember my first week I was at Piers Park. I grew close to as eight year old girl, Olivia. Olivia was teaching me how to speak Italian. :) Even though she only knows how to say fruit in Italian it was lots of fun. While I repeated the pronunciation of the fruit she spotted a wrapper floating in the Harbor. She screamed at me "Kristina go get the net, QUICK!" I quickly got the arancione "orange" net and handed it over to her, and she patiently waited for the plastic potato chip bag to float closer to the dock before she was able to have a safe scoop. I let her know if everyone was as aware and concerned about trash in the Harbor, it would be even cleaner. I told her imagine if everyone was able to scoop and grab a piece of trash they seen floating in the Harbor, and she said "I guess we need more people like me. People who care about their environment". Overall, Olivia and I learned something new. I learned some Italian and she learned that we need more concerned and caring people to help keep the Harbor clean.

This summer I caught my first fish. It was a 35" Strip Bass that won me two Red Sox tickets in the fishing competition. The fish was so heavy, until this day I can not believe I was the one who reeled in that large fish! I am so proud of myself. I love the fact that I was announced in the East Boston Times and that my parents brag to his friends about it. This was by far one of the best memories this summer. I learned how to fish this summer and managed to catch one of the largest fish as my first. My mom has the newspaper article pinned up on her bulletin board at work for all her co-workers to see. It makes me feel good about myself every time this memory pops into mind. If I was to never accept this summer job I would have never learned how to fish and never would have caught one.

Staff day! That day was fun with my co-worker. I had the opportunity to learn about my co-workers. On the boat ride to Spectacle Island I learned along with others that Mehki takes his Mac with him.everywhere, or as Kassy says "His Jumbo IPOD!" haha. I learned how most of us had similar taste in music that later led to the discussion of an upcoming concert. Surprisingly the majority of us staffers are attending it! When we reached Spectacle Bruce and Patty, two amazing host, had prepared hot dogs on the grill. Of course Manny, Hughes and I were the first to create the line and ready to eat! :) We ate and socialized amongst each other and laughed at silly imitation Mekhi, Hughes, Manny and Vihn did. While some decided to play a game of capture the flag others hit the beach later on that day. I hit the beach and cooled myself off. It was such a relaxed day.It ended in a great way, a hula-hoop contest. Candido impressed us all with his hip movement and jumping skills that led him be the hula-hoop champion although Kassy was last to drop hers. Getting back to Boston I was happy with the tighter bonds I had built with some of my co-workers.

The first time I seen ghost at George's Island! It was scary! The main attraction at George's Island is the dark tunnel. As many times as you go by the tunnel there are a bunch of kids and adults waiting to overcome the fear of entering this creepy, dark tunnel. While I helped get people in and out of the tunnel two older women had snapped a photo of the tunnel. They both came out with a scary look as if they saw ghost.. Surely their camera captures white blots down the tunnel that seemed to actually be GHOST! I was freaked out. I could not believe this. I quickly pulled out my camera and snapped a bunch of photo of what seemed to be a never ending tunnel. My camera along with the other women's camera had caught the same image. Some people said it was the lens of the camera that was dirty; therefore, I cleaned it several times to still get the same picture. A bunch of blurry, white circles in scattered places in the tunnel.

The Clam Seeding was something different! My team and I had headed to Thompson Island. As we waited for the ferry Bruce took pictures of us. At first I thought the event was going to be cancelled due to the weather forecast, but the weather pulled through was okay for the day.I had no idea of what we were going to do, it was a surprise to me when I heard we were headed to Thompson Island. It was a surprise to all of us staff along with what we were up for at the island.Once we got there we were told we were going to do clam seeding. I was not prepared to do so because I had jeans on. Luckily, the staff at Thompson provided us, around 40 people, long rain boots and gloves. I tied my hair up, pulled up my boots up and put my gloves on. My group of eight headed out to the water, it was low tide. We placed a net on a muddy surface and began digging around the square net. After we did that we pulled the net back and began racking the surface removing Green Crabs we seen.We all grabbed clam seeds and carefully sprinkled them on the surface as the other eight groups did. We pulled the net over the seeds and put tons of mud on the edges of the net to told tight when the tide comes in. At the end of the seeding everyone was dirty! Some had squishy, dark , watery mud on their face, gloves, arms, pants and shirts.Before we knew it, it was time to bring our materials back and head back out to Boston. This was my first time clam seeding and I enjoyed myself. I hope I get the chance to do this again!

Overall, this has been the most memorable summer! A summer of learning, teaching, having fun and networking. It is a perfect way to end my summer and begin my new beginning in the fall for college in Schenectady, New York. :)

I had to be the one with the muddy shoes

Last Monday we headed out to Thompson island to take part in the clam seeding process. When we arrived, we ate lunch and was split into groups so we can start to seed. I was in group 8 and as all the groups were being called to get their boots, we remained waiting. After about 10 mins of socializing within the group we were called to get our boots. We were also warned that there might not be enough. What do I mean there wasn't enough? I mean that I was so enthusiastic about clam seeding that I said forget the boots and just went into the mud in my low top chuck taylors. Now at first I was cool with it but eventually my feet started to sink and my socks got muddy. That's when I became the laughing stock/ mud model. My words to you; Don't EVER go clam seeding without boots, or you can end up worse than I did!

It's Clammin' Time

Today I got to experience my second field trip with Save the Harbor! Along with eight other Save the Harbor staff and various volunteer groups and individuals, I traveled by ferry to Thompson's Island to plant clams. A couple of the staff had been there before and knew much more about the island than I did. Originally, Thompson's Island was a farm school, later evolving into a farm and trade school, and eventually becoming Thompson's Academhy, a boarding school for boys. At the top of the island remain the brick sturctures built for the prep school, and are now used at dormitoriews for overnight camps and summer school programs that use the island.

When we arrived, we were all brought to the "Family Fun Area" to sit, drink and eat, and get to know each other. We were then split up into 9 groups, each led by an Outward Bound summer student who was knowledgable in clam seeding. Every group was responsible for seeding one "net" area of clams. This required us to dig trenches, pull out crabs and worms, and pack in mud to keep the net in place. Thankfully, they provided us with boots. But Mark had a hard time getting his hip-boots off at the end of the day.

A professor from UMass Boston who helped to lead the project also explained the importance of water testing in the harbor and what we can do to make sure it stays clean and preoductive.

At the end of the day we were able to lounge on the grass and play Ladder Golf before the ferry arrived. It's so cool knowing that the clams eaten in Boston in the next year coul dbe ones that I planted! It was a wonderful first trip to Thompson's Island!

Alana

Clam Seeding

Today, I headed to Thompson Island with seven other co-workers. As we waited for the ferry Bruce took pictures of us. At first I thought the event was going to be cancelled due to the weather forecast, but the weather pulled through was okay for the day.

I had no idea of what we were going to do, it was a surprise to me when I heard we were headed to Thompson Island. It was a surprise to all of us staff along with what we were up for at the island.Once we got there we were told we were going to do clam seeding. I was not prepared to do so because I had jeans on. Luckily, the staff at Thompson provided us, around 40 people, long rain boots and gloves. I tied my hair up, pulled up my boots up and put my gloves on. My group of eight headed out to the water, it was low tide. We placed a net on a muddy surface and began digging around the square net. After we did that we pulled the net back and began racking the surface removing Green Crabs we seen.

We all grabbed clam seeds and carefully sprinkled them on the surface as the other eight groups did. We pulled the net over the seeds and put tons of mud on the edges of the net to told tight when the tide comes in. At the end of the seeding everyone was dirty! Some had squishy, dark , watery mud on their face, gloves, arms, pants and shirts.

Before we knew it, it was time to bring our materials back and head back out to Boston. This was my first time clam seeding and I enjoyed myself. I hope I get the chance to do this again!

-Kristina :)