The Martha's Vineyard Times

There are many interesting (and social) ways to appreciate Martha’s Vineyard as the Island landscape reveals its more tranquil off-season beauty. Let’s start with the Island’s decades-long tradition of guided winter walks, led by the Vineyard Conservation Society, Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, The Trustees, and MV Land Bank, among others. Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary offers a variety of birding explorations with knowledgeable guides. Polly Hill Arboretum continues its popular weekly session Balance in Nature, a mindful hour of gentle movements drawn from Tai Chi, along with guided walks.

This fall and winter, look for more offerings geared toward people with limited mobility, seniors, and others with physical limitations, from conservation groups and the Island’s Councils on Aging, Healthy Aging MV, Vineyard Independence Partnership, and other organizations working to make the outdoors more accessible to people of all physical abilities.

Many conservation groups are partnering with town libraries and others to create multi-layered outdoor experiences to appeal to a wide range of interests and abilities, including the Beach Befrienders program set up by the Vineyard Conservation Society. MassDCR is making the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest more welcoming and easier to navigate, and it’s also the setting for several informal natural history programs. Biodiversity Works and the Martha’s Vineyard Bird Club offer a variety of ways to engage with the natural environment.

Check out the Events listing on the free TrailsMV app for details. Get outside and start exploring. Time spent in nature uplifts our physical, mental, and emotional well-being, and a shared love of the outdoors encourages new friendships. Experience the off-season on Martha’s Vineyard in all its quiet glory.

Deer hunting season runs Oct. 7 – Dec. 30 this year on Martha’s Vineyard. Some conservation lands are open to hunters, including the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest and many MV Land Bank properties.

All walkers, bikers, and others using public trails should:
• Check beforehand to see whether hunting is allowed where you’re headed.
• Wear blaze orange or other bright color to alert hunters to your presence.
• Make sure your dog is leashed at all times.
• Avoid walking at dawn and dusk, when visibility is low and animal activity increases (making those times of day popular for hunting).

Hunting is allowed Monday through Saturday, starting 1/2 hour before sunrise and ending 1/2 hour after sunset. Hunting is NOT allowed on Sundays in Massachusetts.

Archery Season: Oct. 7 – Nov. 30, 2024
Shotgun Season: Dec. 2 – 14, 2024
Primitive Firearms Season: Dec. 16 – 31, 2024

Keep an eye out for ticks, too.

Ticks are active year-round. Joining deer ticks and wood ticks out on the trails, meadows, beaches, and woodlands these days are lone star ticks, a relative newcomer with potentially serious consequences. Here’s how to avoid Lyme and other tick-related diseases:

• Learn before you go – read about ticks and how to avoid them.
• Wear light-colored clothing to spot ticks more easily.
• Treat shoes, clothing, and gear with permethrin or an EPA-approved insect repellent. Follow application instructions carefully.
• Avoid wooded and brushy areas, tall grass, beach dunes, and leaf litter.
• Walk in the center of the trail away from vegetation.
• Inspect yourself and companions carefully for ticks afterward.

Community support for the free mobile app TrailsMV has grown in leaps and bounds following its redesign and launch in July 2022. With nearly 13,000 downloads, it’s become a must-have guide to 220+ miles of public walking trails on 114 properties across Martha’s Vineyard. Make sure you download the latest update from the App Store or Google Play.

The TrailsMV mobile app is made possible through the generous financial support and collaboration of individual donors, the Island’s conservation organizations, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, and the six Island towns. Special thanks to Cape Cod 5, Edey Foundation, Farm Neck Foundation, Martha’s Vineyard Bank Charitable Foundation, and Martha’s Vineyard Community Foundation, who have helped underwrite recent upgrades to TrailsMV.

Additional support for TrailsMV projects comes from Martha’s Vineyard Falls Prevention Coalition, Healthy Aging MV, NAACP of Martha’s Vineyard, The Tisbury Printer, Pawnee House, BeWell-MV, and Hanschka Fine Metalwork.

Want to help support TrailsMV? Your tax-deductible contribution goes directly toward developing and improving the app’s many features, and we’re always interested to hear your feedback and suggestions at trailsmv@sheriffsmeadow.org.

Three insidious invertebrates are having a dramatic impact on the Island’s woodlands:

The southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) tunnels under a tree’s bark and eats the phloem, the fleshy pipeline through which food is passed to the rest of the tree. The beetles are spreading quickly across the Island’s numerous stands of pitch pine (Pinus rigida). Conservation land managers have begun an extensive tree-cutting program in an attempt to slow the beetle’s spread, including in the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest and on properties owned by the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank and Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation. Phillips Preserve in Vineyard Haven is closed to the public until further notice while tree-cutting and removal is in progress.

 

Beech leaf disease, caused by a foliar nematode (Litylenchus crenatae ssp. mcannii), a species of tiny worm that invades leaf buds and kills the leaves as they unfurl, is wreaking havoc with the Island’s American beech trees (Fagus grandifolia). To date, arborists and researchers have had little success finding an effective and reliable remedy for beech leaf disease. Around the Island, beech trees – beloved for their distinctive, smooth, mottled-gray bark and late-autumn flutter of papery, bright-yellow leaves – are in various states of decline and are expected to slowly die off.

 

While walking Island trails, you may also notice that some beech trees show signs of infestation by the beech blight aphid (Grylloprociphilus imbricator), which forms dense colonies to feed on sap. These aphids, which appear along tree branches as wooly white clusters with dark droppings on the ground below, are less damaging than the nematodes, but they make trees weaker and more susceptible.

Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary / Mass Audubon
Mass Audubon invites folks of all ages and from all backgrounds to explore four miles of trails through woodlands, meadows, ponds, salt marsh, and shorelines. Discover 350 acres of beautiful, dynamic landscape and take in the local wildlife that includes more than 100 species of birds. Here are some helpful tips and links if you’ll be visiting us:

• Trails are open from dawn to dusk for your enjoyment.
• Please be mindful of trash and stick to our “Carry in, carry out” policy.
• Members have free admittance. Adults are $4, seniors (65+) and children (up to 12) are $3.
• Kids can enjoy two nature play areas and a butterfly garden.
• Restrooms and water fountains are open.
• Remain on the trails at all times to protect plants, animals, and yourself.
• Dogs are NOT allowed anywhere on the sanctuary.
• Bicycles may use the entrance trail leading to the sanctuary, but no bikes are allowed on the interior trails.
• Upcoming Programs for children, families and adults.

Polly Hill Arboretum
Explore a horticultural and botanical landmark property in West Tisbury.

• The 72-acre property, including 25 cultivated acres, is open dawn-dusk year-round.
• Admission is $5 and Arboretum members receive free admission.
• The Visitor Center, with plants for sale, is open mid-May through mid-October.
• Pets are not allowed at the Arboretum.
• Check our website, pollyhillarboretum.org, for program information and occasional closure notices.

Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation
Founded in 1958, Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation is the local land trust for Martha’s Vineyard, protecting 3,220 acres of land in all six island towns. The mission of Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation is to conserve the natural, beautiful, rural landscape and character of Martha’s Vineyard for present and future generations.

Sheriff’s Meadow maintains public trails for hiking, bicycling, bird-watching, and other passive recreation, offers environmental education programs, leads guided natural history walks and other activities on its 22 publicly accessible properties.

• Leash all dogs at all times on Sheriff’s Meadow properties, and carry out waste.

The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is a global environmental nonprofit working to create a world where people and nature can thrive. Over the past 35 years, TNC has helped protect more than 1,500 acres of land on Martha’s Vineyard, with a focus on conserving, managing, and expanding coastal plain heathland and grassland habitat. Island properties include the Hoft Farm Preserve in West Tisbury and David H. Smith Preserve in Edgartown.

The Trustees of Reservations
The Trustees asks that visitors follow these guidelines for the health and safety of all, including wildlife:

• Please keep dogs leashed and away from other visitors at all times.
• Carry out all waste.
• If a parking area is full, please come back at a less busy time.

Long Point Wildlife Refuge: Dogs, horses, and other pets are prohibited at Long Point year-round.

Menemsha Hills Reservation and the Brickyard: Bicycles are not allowed on the trails at these locations.

Mytoi: Bicycles and dog walking are not allowed at Mytoi gardens on Chappaquiddick Island.

Wasque: Biking at Wasque is only allowed on permitted trails. Dogs must be leashed at all times. Swim at own risk as there is no lifeguard on duty.

• Moshup Beach (Part of Aquinnah Headlands)
• Great Rock Bight
• Chilmark Pond Preserve (Atlantic Ocean Beach) 
• Chappy Point
• Edgartown Great Pond Beach (Atlantic Ocean Beach) 
• Hillman’s Point 
• Wilfred’s Pond Preserve 
• Tashmoo Preserve 
• Tisbury Great Pond Beach (Atlantic Ocean Beach) 

Land Bank boat user guidelines for Sepiessa Point Reservation boat launch: 

• All boat ramp and canoe launch users shall practice social distancing. Users should allow appropriate space for users of the boat ramp or launch and clear the ramp immediately when their launch is complete.
•  Users should ensure they are ready to depart quickly from the ramp or dock as soon as their boat is put into the water. Users not actively launching their boat should clear the launch area.
• Upon return to ramp, users should load their boat as quickly as safely possible and then clear the launch area.
• Use of ramps for organized fishing tournaments, derbies, or any other type of gathering is prohibited.
• Loitering on ramps or use of ramps for any activity other than launching boats is prohibited.
• Parking at ramps for activities other than launching boats is prohibited.
• All recreational crafts shall remain a safe distance apart. Tying boats or other crafts together is prohibited.
• All recreational boating is subject to the discretion of local officials, harbormasters, and law enforcement. 
• Boaters may only land at the Land Bank’s Tisbury Great Pond Beach and not at other locations on the pond, which are on private land. Tisbury Great Pond Beach is several hundred yards east of the current cut and is marked with an orange buoy.

The state forest’s 5,300 acres and many miles of trails at the heart of Martha’s Vineyard are open in accordance with the following rules: