As part of their Research at the Reserve Series, the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, on the evening of March 9, 2023, hosted a webinar with Massachusetts State Botanist, Dr. Robert Wernerehl (above left). The webinar focuses on Sandplain Grasslands, a unique, treeless ecosystems in the Northeast. Like similar grasslands across the United States, the extent and quality of these grasslands has greatly diminished over recent decades. A few thousand acres remain in New York, Massachusetts, and Maine. This habitat is critical for endangered plant and animal species, from harriers and short-eared owls, to several state and federally endangered plants, some of which are globally rare.

Click on the link below to watch the webinar in it’s entirety.

Sandplain Grasslands: A Rare Habitat at the Waquoit Bay Reserve Headquarters

Members of the Sandplain Grasslands Network discuss flora and fauna during a site visit to a high quality sandplain grassland on Cape Cod.

For a calendar of upcoming webinars in the Research at the Reserve Series, click here: http://waquoitbayreserve.org/calendar/

By Rich Couse, BiodiversityWorks