Summer Walks Series 2011
Highlights include an outing to Hurricane Island, a tour of the Transfer Station, a moss walk with Ralph Pope, and a visit to the organic farm managed by Kate and Dean Stockman
On a foggy morning in August, more than a hundred folks were ferried to Hurricane Island to learn of the history of island from Jim Boone, VLT board member and historian. He spoke of its development as a granite quarrying and carving center by Davis Tillson, who owned the island and everything on it save the workers themselves. The story of the life of those workers and their families, the sudden and complete crash of the business in 1914, and the overnight conversion of the entire community into a ghost town is a mesmerizing story. The group accompanied Jim up the remnants of Broadway, the town's main street and beyond, to visit the stone foundations, steps and cellar holes of a lost town.
Much appreciation is offered to Dr. James Gaston, current owner of Hurricane, for permission to visit, and to John Dietter, director of the young Hurricane Island Foundation, who explained the plans his organization has for the island's future. Also thanks to our volunteer captains and dock crew: David Chambers, Alan Farago, George Fosque, Tuck Godfrey, David Lawrence, Hugh Martin, Steven Sontheimer, Merrie Boone, Patience Trainor, and Elizabeth Swain.
Jim distributed a multi-page hand-out of old pictures and post cards of town as it once had been. Please contact us if you have an interest in obtaining a copy.
Heartfelt thanks to Luther Tolman for a highly informative tour of the island transfer station, where the infamous black vulture even put in an appearance, and to Kenny Martin for helping to manage such an impressive and efficient facility. We thought we knew how the transfer station operated, but what we see when we bring our garbage and recyclables, and check the swap shop for some goody, is just the tip of the iceberg. For example, there are 16 recorded categories for recyclables and solid waste that are all itemized by tonnage, and the line item budget for the transfer station involves more than 20 categories. This is quite an operation!
We learned that our municipal solid waste is sent to the Waste Management landfill in Norridgwock, where they charge the town a $55 per ton tipping fee and $725 per trailer for transport, plus the ferry ticket. Our guys, with help from Waste Management, installed a creative new Velcro closure system for those green bins, so rodents and other vermin can't get in (or out). This has solved leakage problems you may remember on the ferry from years back. We generate about 900 tons (!) of municipal solid waste, which, according to the State Planning Office, would be 24% higher if we didn't recycle. The state wants communities to recycle 50%. We have a long ways to go to hit that number, but Ken and Luther make it relatively easy to recycle all manner of material, including paint and batteries. In some communities there is only one day a year when you can bring in paint and used oil, etc. But on Vinalhaven, you can bring it anytime. We spend $6,500 per year to have our recyclables hauled by Bunker's Trucking, but this saves us about $12,000 because recycling costs less than disposal. The 2012 budget for the transfer station is $305,000 and the revenue it generates is projected at $100,000. Those small bills we give Luther each week when we toss in our garbage really do add up.
Probably the biggest surprise we learned was that it is permissible to dispose of garbage when the dump is closed, but only if the bags contain the correct VINALHAVEN HOUSEHOLD WASTE stickers. And don't try to sneak any in without the stickers, because there are cameras on the poles. Our island transfer station gets high marks from state inspectors whenever they conduct a site visit, a fact that comes as no surprise to those of us who use it regularly. We are all grateful to Ken and Luther for running such a tight ship, and to Marjorie Stratton for supplying much of the background information summarized above.
Report contributed by Elizabeth Swain; Vulture photo by Kirk Gentalen
Almost 40 people gathered to walk with Ralph Pope, expert on non-vascular plants (lichens, mosses, liverworts), to learn all they could from him. Ralph has led walks before, and the participants knew that a good time was ahead. He distributed an impressive 9-page worksheet: The Charismatic Bryophytes of Vinalhaven. Armed with Latin and English identification, full descriptions, and close-up color photos of almost 30 woodland mosses Ralph has documented on Vinalhaven, the group followed Ralph through the Basin Preserve. More than a dozen species were found there. It was a profitable hike; Ralph runs a lively bryophyte camp!
Report contributed by Sylvia Reiss
ORGANIC FARM
Kate and Dean Stockman, along with their two young children, have, for the last year, been restarting 10 acres of an old Vinalhaven farm owned by Carey Cameron and Giovanni Ferrero. Thirty-plus VLT visitors toured. This new farm already is certified organic by MOFGA (Maine Organic Farm Growers Association) and has produce available at the ARC downstreet.
The Stockmans told of their own farming experience (in northern Vermont, almost to the Canadian border), demonstrated their light use of machinery for turning the soil and planting (yes, that is Dean towing Kate as she plants the seedlings in the furrows), and shared the challenges they face: they are commuting farmers who live in town, and can't deal immediately with problems such as sudden wind storms and not-so-sudden hungry deer. Nevertheless, they are growing a good-looking range of mixed vegetables on some of the rare good-looking soil on the island. Thanks are due to a knowledgeable and gracious couple.
Report contributed by Sylvia Reiss
