Two of our Ambassador Preserves now sport Rewilding Photo Points by Chronolog. Visitors to Binney Hill (NH) and Muddy Pond (MA) Wilderness Preserves a can snap a picture at the photo deck. They can then email the photo, per instructions at the site, to be compiled into a crowd-sourced timelapse of the landscape.

This citizen science project will catalogue changes to these rewilding ecosystems over time, while engaging new people with the philosophy and experience of wild places.

The Rewilding PhotoPoint at Muddy Pond focuses on an inlet of this Atlantic coastal plain pond. An important feature of this rare ecosystem is that the water levels fluctuate greatly over the summer in accordance with the rainfall. The plants who live on the shoreline and within the shallow waters are adapted to withstand both wet and dry conditions. The inlet captured in these photographs was once converted into a cranberry bog for agricultural production. Documenting this small but significant spot on the landscape will show the natural fluctuations of water that occur year-round in this dynamic ecosystem. It will also capture the process of rewilding as, over time, we are witness to the changes that occur when nature’s processes unfold unimpeded.

The Rewilding PhotoPoint at Binney Hill Wilderness Preserve shows a rewilding meadow. Once a log landing at the center of a large timber operation, this open space was completely bare when Northeast Wilderness Trust acquired the property in 2016. To gently encourage recolonization of this compacted earth, the Wilderness Trust held a tree planting day where staff and volunteers planted white pine and oak seedlings, and scattered wildflower seed. In the frame, the historic Wapack Trail can be seen to the right. As the years pass, this photo project will show the natural evolution of this meadow into a young forest.