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Vineyard Research in the News
This summer, HF Director David Foster and his research team are coring trees, extracting pond sediments, and recording vegetation and soil makeup in a Martha's Vineyard landscape that's rapidly eroding into the sea. The site is on the island of Chappaquiddick in an area called Wasque Point, a property owned by the Trustees of Reservations. This research is part of a larger Harvard Forest effort to study long-term changes in the climate and vegetation of the Vineyard.
According to a recent news article published about Foster's Wasque research, "Where a parking lot once existed and provided room for 100 vehicles, now fewer than 10 cars can park. Stairs that were part of a pathway down to the beach have disappeared, washed away by the ocean. Trees are continually uprooted and a fence blocks the old path. A sign cautions visitors of a 20-foot drop to the water."
Read the articles:
- Martha's Vineyard Times: Researcher documents Wasque forest before it is lost to the sea
- Harvard Gazette: A forest washing into the sea
