Massachusetts
Getting kids up close with nature is the goal of this environmental center in southeastern Massachusetts
DARTMOUTH – The Lloyd Center for the Environment in Dartmouth, Massachusetts has been teaching children about nature for more than 40 years.
Executive director Rachel Stronach said they’ve been around so long they’ve been written into the curriculum at local schools.
“Respect and affection for nature”
“Our goal is to instill a respect and affection for nature,” she told WBZ-TV. “We have 82 acres here. And we are waterfront, on the Slocum River estuary.”
With five miles of hiking trails open sunrise to sunset all year long, it’s not just kids who enjoy the scenery.
“We do walks, we do talks, we do hikes. One of our most popular programs is a canoe trip,” said Stronach.
Students from both southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island are brought in for a coastal field study that takes them to four unique stations about the environment.
“It’s so nice to see them be able to see what we’ve been learning about in the classroom in a real world setting,” said fourth grade teacher Chelsea Mauricio.
Mauricio teaches science and math and has brought her students to the Lloyd Center for several years. Her student Landon Dean told WBZ the best part of his day was meeting Norbert the turtle.
“We learned about a box turtle. So it can go in its shell and then close its shell,” Landon said.
15,000 students a year
Up to 15,000 students visit the center each year. It’s the only organization in the area whose sole mission is to educate the public about coastal and watershed issues.
“Today the fourth graders were really looking at all the connections in the ecosystem here,” Stronach told WBZ. “So looking at the maritime forest, the salt marsh and the estuary and how all of the things there interact.”
They’re also opening a new welcome center later this summer that they hope will have the Living Building Challenge certification. It’s the strictest of environmental building standards.
“The building will actually generate more energy than it uses,” said Stronach, adding that the welcome center would be one of 29 in the world that meets the certification.
The Lloyd Center’s mission is to have an overall impact on the students who visit.
“They’re the generation that has to grow up and take care of it,” said Mauricio.
Visiting the Lloyd Center is completely free. For more information, go to their website.
Massachusetts
Mass stranding of bottlenose dolphins off Cape Cod said to be largest in Massachusetts history
Rescuers were working to save around 30 bottlenose dolphins that got stranded off the coast of Cape Cod early Monday morning. It is the largest known stranding of bottlenose dolphins off Massachusetts, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
The dolphins had become stranded between First Light and Ellis Landing in Brewster at about 5:30 a.m. when they came in with the tide. A woman noticed the animals and reported it. The IFAW quickly responded to the area, but five to six of the marine mammals died before help arrived.
The IFAW worked throughout the day on Monday to get the mammals away from the shoreline before the next low tide at 5:13 p.m. They said late Monday afternoon that they were still successfully being steered away.
“Our team remains in the area to monitor and herd the animals away from shore,” an IFAW spokesperson said. “We know these events can sometimes repeat in the coming hours and days, but we remain hopeful.”
The organization said it had seen an uptick in bottlenose dolphins becoming stranded off Cape Cod in the last few years.
“Bottlenose dolphins are typically an offshore species,” the spokesperson said.
They asked that anyone who encounters a stranded or distressed marine mammal not get close and never drag or push the animal back into the water.
“Similar to a person involved in a car accident, dolphins can become injured and exhausted during a stranding event,” the IFAW said.
Instead, they recommend calling their IFAW stranding hotline at 508-743-9548.
A man has died following an apparent drowning at a pond in Randolph, Massachusetts, on Sunday.
The Randolph police and fire departments received a 911 call at around 4 p.m. for a swimmer in distress in the water on Pond Street, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office..
Firefighters located the man a short time later, officials added, and he was taken by ambulance to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The Kingston Fire Department had said just before 4 p.m. that their dive team was activated for a missing swimmer in Randolph, but that the activation was canceled after the swimmer was located.
Further information is not being released at this time, including the man’s name.
Massachusetts State Police detectives and the Randolph Police Department are investigating.
Firefighters in Lawrence, Massachusetts are working to contain a fire that damaged at least three buildings on Sunday afternoon.
Lawrence Fire Chief Patrick Delaney said they received multiple 911 calls about the buildings on fire at the intersection of Haverhill and Margin Street at about 12:45 p.m.
When firefighters arrived, there were three occupied multi-family buildings with heavy fire.
“Crews did an excellent job once they arrived on scene to make sure we did a primary search of all three buildings, make sure everybody was out,” Chief Delaney said.
No injuries have been reported. It is unclear how many people have been displaced from the three buildings that were on fire.
Chief Delaney said the firefighters were impacted by the hot weather.
“The crews are working extremely hard, they’re taking a lot of heat in all three fire buildings and we’re trying to get crews in here to make sure that they’re safe and give them some relief,” Chief Delaney said.
Investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire. Firefighters from other nearby communities responded for mutual aid.
“We’re at a fourth alarm which brings a lot of resources to our city, but they’re well needed in a fire like this,” Chief Delaney said.
Police are asking residents to avoid the area of Haverhill Street at Margin Street because of the fire.
Lawrence, Massachusetts is a city about 30 miles north of Boston.
-
Los Angeles, Ca2 hours agoRitzy Pasadena hotel settles lawsuit for allegedly price gouging wildfire victims
-
Detroit, MI2 hours agoBrother Nature at Night: Jack’s backyard & kayaking the Huron River
-
San Francisco, CA2 hours agoHardin Fire in Napa County burns 55 acres near Pope Valley
-
Dallas, TX2 hours agoFormer Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa runs for Dallas Mayor
-
Miami, FL2 hours agoSouth Florida mother arrested for leaving daughter chained to fence, police say
-
Boston, MA2 hours agoBoston man charged after allegedly assaulting Burger King employee, punching customer
-
Denver, CO3 hours agoDenver Country Club caddie earns full-ride Evans Scholarship, becomes first in family to attend college
-
Seattle, WA3 hours agoSeattle very much in running for another World Cup
