Wildlife Monitoring and Connecting with the Natural Environment

My name is Erik Blomquist, and I have been fortunate enough to call Fishers Island a second home my entire life. Since I was little, I have come to the island to visit my grandparents and experience the unique little world that is Fishers Island. It was at a young age that I began finding undeniable interest in the natural world, always being told by my grandpa, John Ski, to “observe nature”.

For the past seven years, I have spent summers on Fishers working various jobs. Last summer, I worked as an intern for the Fishers Island Conservancy doing basic invasive plant species removal, mostly throughout the Parade Grounds. I worked alongside Adam Mitchell and Joe Henderson, helping to make progress in the projects they envisioned for that specific area.

After making only a tiny dent in overall removal goals for the Parade Grounds, I began thinking of ways to ramp up removal of these invasive species. Down a somewhat unexpected avenue, I found the means to further the progress in the battle against invasives.

During the off-season, I was given a spot on the Island Sentinels team. Justine Kibbe gave me the opportunity to create my own project to add to the Island Sentinels program. My project is still developing into a monitoring site that will encompass a portion of the Parade Grounds, from Airport Road east towards the movie theater, all along the Fort stretch. It will be a monitoring site, where we can observe and record invasive plant species.

Monitoring will be ongoing over the summers so we can gain awareness of how quickly and aggressively these species are taking over the area. My goal is that by recording the location and density of these invasive plant species, we can formulate an appropriate removal and restoration plan. The end result is to eventually see a healthier Parade Grounds habitat.