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Lily Green
Science Educator, Manomet for All
Manomet in partnership with Wildlands Trust closed the books on yet another successful Green Team season! Split between two crews and with the introduction of a new Alumni Program, 28 teens from the Brockton area spent July and August completing stewardship projects, participating in ecological monitoring, and contributing to large-scale community improvement plans.
Initial feedback shows that our teen stewards enjoyed the variety of projects and felt more connected to their community through the Green Team experience. At D.W. Field Park, they picked up trash, repainted picnic tables, restored gardens, and cleared and maintained trails. They also monitored bird boxes at the D.W. Field Golf Course, noting Tree Swallows and evidence of fledged Eastern Bluebirds. Macroinvertebrate surveys of Lower Porter Pond and the presence of pollution-intolerant critters led our youth stewards to deem the pond not polluted!
At the Fuller Craft Museum, the teams cleaned the fountain and completed landscaping projects. Many crew members said they felt more confident using tools after learning to build benches and sandboxes and sand and seal stumps for outdoor learning spaces at three Brockton elementary schools.
The summer included more than stewardship projects. Participants explored natural areas, learned from environmental professionals during Lunch & Learn, and wrapped up with a campout at the Stewardship Training Center, followed by a visit to Shifting Lots Preserve. Partners enriched the experience, including the Wildlands Trust Stewardship Team, Manomet’s Summer Banding Interns, the Brockton Garden Club, Fuller Craft Museum staff, MassWildlife, and Plymouth Extension.
These experiences are at the heart of Green Team, a paid summer service-learning program started by Wildlands Trust in 2015, with Manomet joining in 2022 as the focus shifted to Brockton in support of the D.W. Field Park Initiative. We’re proud of what this year’s crews accomplished and excited to keep growing Green Team and creating opportunities for more young people to build skills and connect with their community.
