Bruce Irons Trail Guide
Cedar Tree Neck Sanctuary
Click on a marker to read about it.
Take a close look around you, on both sides of the trail. In this small area there are many
different types of plants - maple trees, oak trees, shrubs, ferns and flowers. If you are lucky you may also see or hear a mouse,
chipmunk or gray squirrel. Even if you don't see or hear them, you can be sure that there are many birds and small animals waiting
quietly to go about their business once you leave.
Every kind of plant, and every kind of animal is different, with its own special ways of staying
alive and producing young. But everything is also connected: plants and animals, wind and water, all affect each other in countless
ways. Ecology is the study of the ways that plants and animals connect with their environment, including each other. As you walk
this trail use all your senses. Look closely at the different types of plants and where they grow, listen for the rustle of small
animals and the songs of birds, and think of each one as special but connected to all the rest.
By now you have seen many different types of plants, of all sizes and shapes. All green plants
have one thing in common: they all capture and store energy from the sun in a process known as photosynthesis. This stored energy
is the basis of all the food we eat, whether we get it directly by eating plants or by eating the meat of animals that eat plants.
In the process of capturing the sun's energy, plants also produce the oxygen we breathe. The oxygen you are now breathing may have
been released by one of the oaks in this woods, or it may have come from a tree in a tropical rainforest thousands of miles away.
But this is only half the story, for when you breathe out you release carbon dioxide, which plants need for photosynthesis. Thus
neither plants nor animals could exist without the other: animals get food and oxygen from plants while plants need the carbon
dioxide produced by animals.
Take the right fork here, and then the right fork onto the yellow trail in about 50 feet.
This beautiful body of water is Ames Pond, If you are quiet and watch carefully, you may see
or hear some of the animals which live in or near fresh water. Painted turtles often sun themselves on the logs sticking out of
the water, their black shells allowing them to absorb as much warmth as possible from the sun's rays. Small insects called water
striders scoot over the pond's surface, their small size and specialized feet allowing them to actually walk on water. Geese,
muskrats, snapping turtles, green frogs and pinkletinks (spring peepers) also spend at least part of the year here, and at night
bats feast on the many flying insects.
Go straight. for about 140 feet, then turn right and continue on the yellow trail.
Acorns, the seeds of oak trees, are a good source of food for squirrels and other animals.
Did you know that some acorns are buried by squirrels and never dug up, and these may sprout and grow into a new tree? Squirrels
get a good source of food and the oaks get help in producing new trees.
The oak in front of you has been dead for several years, but it is still important to wildlife.
The hole at the bottom of the tree makes a good home or hiding place for small animals such as mice, chipmunks or shrews. Beetles
and other boring insects live under the bark and in the wood. Woodpeckers find these insects quite tasty, and you can see where
the birds have pulled the bark away and drilled into the wood to get at them. Both the insects and the birds help break the tree
apart, speeding the return of the tree to the soil where it can be used by other plants. Nature is the ultimate recycler. Everything
is used and reused, changing form but never disappearing.
Notice that all the trees in this area are of one type, beech trees, which have developed
special ways of keeping out other trees and plants. Their roots are very close to the surface, often sticking out of the ground,
which makes it difficult for other plants to get started. Young beech trees also sprout from these roots. Since they can get food
directly from the parent tree, they can grow very quickly and shade out other small trees. In addition when beech leaves decay
they make the soil very acidic, which prevents many other plants from growing.
About 20,000 years ago huge sheets of ice a mile thick moved down from the cold, Arctic region.
These huge glaciers made it this far south before melting and beginning a slow retreat. The huge piles of rock and sand which were
left behind form much of Martha's Vineyard. The rocks you see scattered about this beech grove, as well as the many other large
rocks at intervals along the trail, were dropped here by the last glacier and are reminders of that ancient time.
The two streams which join here are formed by rainfall from a wide area collecting and slowly
working its way toward the sea. In a short distance the stream empties into Cedar Tree Neck Pond, and from there the water travels
underground into the Sound. At the same time water is constantly leaving the Sound and ocean as water vapor formed by the heat of
the sun, similar to steam from a boiling kettle. Eventually this water returns to earth as rain or snow, completing the cycle and
beginning the long journey back to the sea.
To the right, the trail goes uphill to the parking lot. To the left it leads out onto the beach.
If you continue on to the beach, please be sure to stay on the marked trails. Walking on the dune grass kills the roots which spread
underground and hold the sand in place. When the dune grass is damaged wind and waves cause blowouts, large patches of open sand
which can lead to increased erosion. Without the dunes and dune grass, the beach is in danger of being washed away. The snow fence
among the dunes has been set up to help rebuild spots where past misuse has caused blowouts and increased erosion.
R. Bruce Irons III
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R. Bruce Irons III was an educator from Charlotte, North Carolina. He loved the Vineyard and
cared deeply about protecting and conserving it. He and his family visited here as often as they could and tales of their Vineyard
adventures became an important part of their family lore.
When Bruce died unexpectedly of cancer at age 46 in July 1988, his wife and children decided
that one way to memorialize him would be through a gift to conservation efforts on the Island. In response, the Sheriff's Meadow
Foundation have dedicated this trail to his memory.
Because Bruce cared so much about children and enjoyed teaching them about their natural environment,
this trail is designed especially, although not exclusively, for use by school children.
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