Joppa Flats junior volunteer Alison Lashendock demonstrates a rock crab to Lucinda Hough
There’s something new to do this summer! Families looking for all-weather activities are invited to drop in at Mass Audubon’s Joppa Flats Education Center to meet beach creatures, Tuesdays through Fridays, 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., all free of charge, all through July and August.
“Come visit us before the beach, after the beach, or instead of the beach,” says Lisa Hutchings, Teacher-Naturalist at Joppa Flats. “Our team of junior volunteers will explain all the critters in our tanks – what they are, why they live where the do, how they interact with each other. You’ll know so much more about crabs and clams and barnacles and all kinds of shore life the next time you go to the beach!” Besides a touch tank, there is a look-only tank for guests to observe special behaviors, such as a sea anemone feeding or a crab molting.
Joppa’s junior volunteers, ages 12 to 15, are trained to share information with visitors of all ages, but they are also expert at collecting and caring for marine wildlife. Supervisor/intern Elyssa Davis explains, “Our exhibit is a direct representation of what’s currently in local tide pools. Every two weeks, we take a trip out to the beach to release the animals to their natural habitat and to collect new ones, so we can show seasonal changes and offer new species to our guests.”
Invasive green crab with northern sea star
Junior naturalist volunteer Paige Ameen, age 15, says, “Crabs get fish food, and anemones get brine shrimp, and we let some critters eat each other, because that’s life in a tide pool. We clean out the muck every day except for one tank wall, where we let the algae grow. We call it the salad bar.”
Mass Audubon is the largest conservation organization in New England, caring for 34,000 acres of conservation land and providing education programs for 200,000 children and adults annually. Mass Audubon’s Joppa Flats Education Center, located at One Plum Island Turnpike in Newburyport, is a natural history education center that is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday and Monday holidays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Call 978-462-9998 for information about additional programs and events, or visit the website at www.massaudubon.org.
