{"id":7359,"date":"2016-04-11T10:35:43","date_gmt":"2016-04-11T14:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/?p=7359"},"modified":"2016-04-11T10:35:43","modified_gmt":"2016-04-11T14:35:43","slug":"5-fun-facts-about-arcadia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/5-fun-facts-about-arcadia\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Fun Facts About Arcadia"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jonah Keane, Sanctuary Director<\/p>\n

Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary<\/a> in Northampton and Easthampton is Mass Audubon\u2019s flagship sanctuary in the Connecticut River Valley. Sandwiched between the two cities\u2019 downtown areas, its 700+ acres of forest, river, wetlands, and\u00a0restored grasslands are remarkably\u00a0diverse and easily accessible.<\/p>\n

Even though the wildlife sanctuary has been around from more than 70 years and thousands of visitors have walked the trails<\/a>, canoed the river, or taken a program<\/a>, you might be surprised by some of Arcadia\u2019s lesser known history and inhabitants.<\/p>\n

A River Runs Through It<\/h3>\n

\"RiverRunsThroughIt\"<\/p>\n

The heart of Arcadia is an ancient oxbow of the\u00a0Connecticut\u00a0River. You know the large oxbow visible from Interstate\u00a091? It used to be a part of the river prior to 1840, when the river changed\u00a0course and separated the bend\u00a0from the channel. That same\u00a0process occurred 800 years ago directly\u00a0to the west, meaning that if you were on what is now Arcadia\u2019s Fern Trail back then, you would have been in the river!<\/p>\n

Hotel Heronry<\/h3>\n
\"Copyright

Copyright Phil Doyle<\/p><\/div>\n

Located in the wetland known as Ned\u2019s Ditch (sadly, the origin of this moniker remains unknown) in the middle of the meadows is a great blue heron rookery<\/a>. A\u00a0rookery is the place where great blue herons nest communally.<\/p>\n

Herons typically use the same rookery every year, until, eventually, the trees collapse. As many as 59 nesting pairs have called this rookery home. And more recently, a pair of bald eagles successfully nested here as well!<\/p>\n

Bird\u2019s-Eye View<\/h3>\n
\"copyright

copyright Phil Doyle<\/p><\/div>\n

The viewing tower (think big tree house) on the Fern Trail<\/a> has been overlooking the marsh for decades. From the tower, you can observe ducks, geese, herons, otters, beavers, and many more critters. In the winter, you can see out through the trees to the Arcadia Meadows, too.<\/p>\n

The tower sits squarely in the yearly floodplain, and markers on the tower\u2019s legs indicate just how high the water level has reached during two of the area\u2019s biggest storms (the highest coming from the Great New England Hurricane of 1938).<\/p>\n

Imperiled but Protected<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"MassAudubonArcadiaMillRiver\"<\/p>\n

Arcadia is home to three \u201cPriority Natural Communities<\/a>\u201d that are state listed as rare and imperiled, which means these communities of plants are found in only 20 or fewer locations across the Commonwealth. The most visible from the trail network\u00a0is the floodplain forest. This forest contains lovely large silver maple, shagbark hickory, and black birch trees, a treat for the budding botanists out there.<\/p>\n

Nature\u00a0For All
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"The

The rope-and-post accessible trail. The round bead means there a stop with braille signage and\/or audio tour.<\/p><\/div>\n

Arcadia is home to one of Mass Audubon\u2019s universally accessible multi-sensory interpretative trails<\/a>. The goal of these trails is to create a richer experience for visitors with a wide range of vision, hearing, and mobility levels. In addition to Braille signage and a rope-and-post guiding system, Arcadia\u2019s Sensory All Person’s Trail<\/a>\u00a0features an audio tour that you can download or listen to via cell phone.<\/p>\n

This post was adapted from a guest blog\u00a0post on\u00a0MassVacation.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jonah Keane, Sanctuary Director Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Northampton and Easthampton is Mass Audubon\u2019s flagship sanctuary in the Connecticut River Valley. Sandwiched between the two cities\u2019 downtown areas, its 700+ acres of forest, river, wetlands, and\u00a0restored grasslands are remarkably\u00a0diverse and easily accessible. Even though the wildlife sanctuary has been around from more than 70 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[165,15],"tags":[168],"class_list":["post-7359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sanctuaries-100","category-wildlife-sanctuaries","tag-arcadia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3t87A-1UH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6308,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/take-5-arcadia-wildlife-sanctuary\/","url_meta":{"origin":7359,"position":0},"title":"Take 5: Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary","author":"Rosemary","date":"October 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In the coming weeks we'll be featuring beautiful, surprising, and intriguing portraits of our wildlife sanctuaries that were captured by past participants in our Photo Contest. Here are five images from Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary\u00a0in Easthampton and Northampton.","rel":"","context":"In "Take 5"","block_context":{"text":"Take 5","link":"https:\/\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/category\/take-5\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/10\/Martin-Espinola-2013.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/10\/Martin-Espinola-2013.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/10\/Martin-Espinola-2013.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7953,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/7-ways-to-zip-to-mass-audubon-wildlife-sanctuaries\/","url_meta":{"origin":7359,"position":1},"title":"7 Ways to Zip to Mass Audubon Wildlife Sanctuaries","author":"Mass Audubon","date":"July 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you heard? We\u2019ve teamed up with Zipcar to make it easier to get to our wildlife sanctuaries! Here\u2019s the deal: Now through the end of the year, Mass Audubon members can join Zipcar at half price, and Zipcar members can join Mass Audubon at a special rate, too! 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Mass Audubon protects locally-breeding shorebirds through\u00a0our\u00a0Coastal Waterbird\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Birds & Birding"","block_context":{"text":"Birds & Birding","link":"https:\/\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/category\/birds-birding\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/08\/N8A3045SMALL-750.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/08\/N8A3045SMALL-750.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/08\/N8A3045SMALL-750.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/08\/N8A3045SMALL-750.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14875,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/planting-a-forest-with-the-climate-in-mind\/","url_meta":{"origin":7359,"position":3},"title":"Planting a Forest with the Climate in Mind","author":"Mass Audubon","date":"November 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"More than 50 volunteers turned out in the last days of a mild October to help restore a floodplain forest at Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Northampton. 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Experienced naturalists\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sanctuaries 100"","block_context":{"text":"Sanctuaries 100","link":"https:\/\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/category\/sanctuaries-100\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sanctuaries 100th","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/03\/MA_100th_4x4sq-1024x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8084,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/icymi-arcadias-instagram-takeover\/","url_meta":{"origin":7359,"position":5},"title":"ICYMI: Arcadia’s Instagram Takeover","author":"Hillary T.","date":"August 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In case you missed it, our wildlife sanctuaries are taking over the Mass Audubon Instagram feed one week at a time showing off what makes each sanctuary so unique. Last week featured Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary\u00a0in Easthampton and Northampton. 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