The Natural Communities of Massachusetts

Wednesday, August 17, 2016 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
NRWA River Resource Center, 592 Main Street (Rt. 119) in Groton, MA

What is a “natural community”? It is a group of plants and animals that occur in a particular location and point in time. Scientists have been able to identify recurring patterns of these occurrences, and have created a system for classifying them. And it turns out that there are more than 100 defined natural communities in the state of Massachusetts, some common, some rare, not just in our state but on a global scale.  The public is invited to join us for this free presentation on “The Natural Communities of Massachusetts.”  Learn more about the concept of natural communities, how they are identified and classified, why they are important to identify, and how that information is used to determine priority conservation projects.  This talk will focus on natural communities in the Nashua River watershed area of Massachusetts.

Our presenter will be Patricia Swain, PhD, recently retired natural community ecologist for the MassWildlife Natural Heritage Endangered Species Program (NHESP).  She worked with NHESP for nearly 30 years, and has done extensive teaching and publishing on this topic. NHESP is in the final steps of updating and revising its Classification of Natural Communities of Massachusetts. Pat Swain is the author of the revised Classification, and has created a key that can be used as a tool for classifying these natural communities.  She will also be providing information on and the opportunity to sign-up for a follow-up technical field workshop for individuals with some botanical knowledge who would like to assist with testing her draft key. Pat holds a PhD and MS in Ecology from the University of Minnesota, and a BS in Biology from Tufts University.

This program is free and open to the public.  Pre-registration is not required, but is appreciated for planning purposes.  To pre-register, please contact the NRWA at (978) 448-0299, or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..