Did you know that we have a plant and animal habitat of worldwide importance in our backyard? It is called the coastal sandplain, and it is now largely confined to small patches around the Vineyard's southshore. Islanders and island groups are now discussing ways to restore and expand this habitat elsewhere on the island as an essential part of the island's natural character and wild heritage.

What is the Martha's Vineyard Coastal Sandplain?

The Vineyard sandplain is an ecosystem which brings together some of New England's most unusual and rare plants and animals. They live here on the edge of the continent, adapted to fire and storm.

These plants and animals cannot survive in an unbroken woodland. Birds such as the short-eared owl and the northern harrier (marsh hawk) need stretches of open land with low vegetation for hunting and nesting; likewise, the sandplain flax, bushy rockrose and nantucket shadbush need ample sunlight and freedom from encroaching trees. These are only a few of the many species that rely on the sandplain habitat.

Many state and federal agencies regard the sandplain heathland and grassland habitats as the highest priority for protection. So do many Vineyarders, who recognize that their island is a treasure precisely because its lands are not only beautiful but unique.

What does a sandplain look like?

A prairie. Not a bleak, Kansas-style farmed flatland with no birdlife and no color, but instead an expanse of green and yellow and tawny grasses and wildflowers punctuated by low trees and with a broad sky above. Ecologically, the sandplains are connected to the coastal great ponds and to similar, but smaller, habitats occurring elsewhere throughout the island.

We already have several good, but small, examples here on the island, and these areas show how the Vineyard originally looked: the Katama Great Plains Preserve, the Trade Wind Fields Preserve, the Wasque Reservation and the Long Point Wildlife Refuge. This meeting of land and water and sky -- and the sense of vastness that it imparts -- is today rare in New England, where landscape tends more toward hidden valleys, tucked-in hollows and pockets of woodlands.

Where is it?

Sandplain habitats can occur within the rough triangle between Quansoo, Tashmoo, and Wasque. The soils in this triangle are all generally well-drained and the topography is low-sloping. In pre-historic times, the sandplain extended onto the continental shelf but the rise of the ocean after the Ice Age reduced it to its current location.

Why does the sandplain need restoration?

For centuries, lightning-ignited fires kept the Quansoo - Tashmoo - Wasque triangle in its naturally open state. Because these fires have been suppressed by humans for decades, large swaths of this triangle have been allowed to -- against the natural pattern -- turn to woodland. Meanwhile, development has also impacted these areas.

Without an active restoration program, woodland encroachment will overtake the still-undeveloped areas of the triangle and any remaining plains will be lost. Ordinary pines and oaks will crowd out the rare species, and the resulting woods will look no different than what you see from the Mid-Cape Highway: pretty enough, but with a monotonous character and little biological diversity.

Restoration calls for clearing and mowing of overgrown land, and, where possible, by authorized controlled burning. Once the land is open, the rare plants and animals will return naturally or under the supervision of biologists.

It is important for landowners in the sandplain to consider restoring parts of their land. Both the large public and private conservation tracts in the area and the smaller properties owned by individuals and homeowners' associations are critical in preserving this habitat.

What is the Martha's Vineyard Sandplain Restoration Prolect?