Resources and Links
Sharon Government Resources
Sharon Conservation Commission
The Conservation Commission is responsible for the protection of wetlands. The purpose of the Commission is to protect the water resources and adjoining land areas in Sharon by controlling activities deemed by the Conservation Commission as being likely to have a significant or cumulative effect upon wetland values. Visit the Sharon Conservation Commission website…
Sharon Mercury Recycling — Required
Don’t throw mercury products in the trash — recycle them. It’s the law. The Sharon DPW accepts mercury products at its office, 217R South Main Street, behind the Police Station. Mercury products include thermometers, fluorescent light bulbs, thermostats, flat panel display screens, and button cell batteries. Look for a mercury label or Hg symbol on newer products.
Sharon Water Conservation Program
The Town of Sharon Water Department has partnered with the Neponset River Watershed Association and EPA WaterSense program to create a Water Conservation Program in the Town of Sharon. Visit the Sharon Water Conservation Program website…
Sharon Water Division Rebate Program
Sharon’s Atlantic White Cedar Swamp Information
Sharon’s Atlantic White Cedar Swamp purifies and stores our town’s drinking water, releasing it gradually to the underlying sand-and-gravel aquifers that feed our municipal wells. Here is a link to more information on this vitally important natural resource:
Sharon Nonprofit Resources
Sustainable Sharon Coalition
The Sustainable Sharon Coalition is a group of citizens working towards a vision of Sharon as a leading sustainable community. To this end we work with neighbors, elected officials, and town staff to promote measures that conserve and sustain our community’s use of natural & man made resources in order to take part in the global effort to protect our planet. sustainablesharon.org website…
Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary
The Mass Audubon Society’s oldest sanctuary has more than a dozen trails traversing its nearly 2,000 acres of forest, grassland, swamp, and bogs. For a trail map and more information, visit the Moose Hill website…
Moose Hill Farm
Owned by the Trustees of the Reservations, Moose Hill Farm has two miles of trails leading to summit fields, where grassland birds are again finding a home. The property’s wooded hillsides still shelter some mature specimens of the American chestnut tree, a formerly dominant forest species now sadly reduced by a bark fungus. Visit the Moose Hill Farm website…
Borderland State Park
Borderland is one of the most historically significant tracts of publicly owned land in the Commonwealth. Created in the early 1900s by artist and suffragist Blanche Ames and her botanist husband Oakes, Borderland offers many of the same pleasures that the Ames family enjoyed: walking and horseback riding on woodland trails, fishing and canoeing in the ponds, or, in winter, ice-skating and sledding. Visit the Borderland State Park website…
e-Awakening
e-Awakening’s Mission
…. is to tell green stories and to get the messages out that need to be told.
Our major focuses are on the “Preservation of Nature and Protection of Resources” while building a sustainable, healthy world.
We want to shine the spotlight on the individuals, groups and organizations that are making differences every day. This is a very important part of e-Awakening.
Our aim is to tell these positive stories that inspire us and we hope they will also inspire you our viewers.
Local Resources
Picnic Table locations in Sharon
Click here for the latest list
Bikes Not Bombs
Bikes Not Bombs (BNB) promotes bicycle technology as a concrete alternative to poverty, racial inequities, war and environmental destruction. Since 1984, BNB has been a nexus of bike recycling and community empowerment both in lower income neighborhoods of Boston and in the nations of the Global South. BNB’s programs involve young people and adults in mutually respectful leadership development, employment, and environmental stewardship, while recycling thousands of bicycles each year. Every spring, SFOC teams up with Bikes Not Bombs to collect unwanted bicycles and give them a second life elsewhere. Visit the Bikes Not Bombs website…
Neponset River Watershed Association
Neponset River Watershed Association (NepRWA) works to protect and restore the Neponset River, its tributaries and surrounding watershed lands for the benefit of present and future generations. Visit the NepRWA website…
Bay Circuit Trail Alliance
The Bay Circuit Trail Alliance maintains the Bay Circuit Trail and Greenway, a permanent recreation trail and greenway corridor extending through 34 towns in Eastern Massachusetts and linking the parks and open spaces surrounding metropolitan Boston. Visit the Bay Circuit Trail Alliance website…
Crystal Spring Center for Earth Learning
76 Everett Skinner Rd., Plainville. The Center is committed to a sustainable, bioregionally appropriate way of life. Easy trails. Interesting programs. Drive: I-95 South to I-495 North (Exit 6B) to Rte 1 South (Exit 14B), 1.5 miles, turn right on George St., which becomes Everett Skinner Rd. 508-699-7167. Visit their web site at: http://www.crystalspring.org/
Regional Resources
Commonwealth of Massachusetts Riverways Program
River Instream Flow Stewards (RIFLS) is a program that enables local groups to learn about the importance of healthy streamflow, document streamflow on otherwise ungaged rivers and restore more natural flow regimes in rivers suffering from abnormal flow alterations. Visit the Riverways website…
Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition
The Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition is an informal organization of Massachusetts land trusts and conservation organizations. Subscribe to the very useful e-mail letter, MassLand E-News, by sending an e-mail request to info@massland.org.
Refuse to Use ChemLawn
A project of the Toxics Action Center in Boston, Refuse to Use ChemLawn outlines the possible dangers of the pesticides that the largest U.S. lawn-care company sprays on lawns every day. A highlight of their website is their page of tips on growing a truly organic (and green!) lawn.
Are you bewildered by acronyms such as 40-B, 40-R, CH. 61, MEPA, HAC, and MACC?
The new Audubon book, Shaping the Future of Your Community by Heidi Ricci, Senior Policy Analyst for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, is an excellent compass for navigating through the maze of local boards, committees, State departments and laws when dealing with development or trying to preserve land for conservation. Sharon Friends of Conservation highly recommends this up-to-date, clearly written book for both new and veteran conservation activists. The entire book can be downloaded from: www.massaudubon.org/shapingthefuture.
White Mountain Guidebook
The Appalachian Mountain Club’s White Mountain Guidebook is now available online. The venerable guide contains information on over 500 trails and detailed maps that you can use to plan your next hike. An annual subscription is available for $15 ($12 for AMC members) and a free 14-day trial lets you try the guide before you buy.
National Resources
WaterSense
The mission of WaterSense, a program sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is to protect the future of our nation’s water supply by supporting for water-efficient products and services. Saving water is easy; many products are available for use, and it doesn’t require changing the way most of us live or do business. By choosing products labeled through the WaterSense program, you know you’ll be saving water for future generations.
Local Government Environmental Assistance Network
The Local Government Environmental Assistance Network (LGEAN) is a “first-stop shop” providing environmental management, planning, funding, and regulatory information for local government elected and appointed officials, managers and staff. LGEAN enables local officials to interact with their peers and others online. In an effort to reach all local governments, LGEAN also manages a toll-free telephone service (877/865-4326).
Federal Duck Stamps
Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamps, commonly known as “Duck Stamps,” are pictorial stamps produced by the U.S. Postal Service for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. They are not valid for postage. All wildlife watchers should consider buying one to support the National Wildlife Refuge System. http://www.fws.gov/birds/get-involved/duck-stamp.php
Water Conservation
High Efficiency Toilets (0.8 to 1.28 gallons per flush)**
Tips for purchasing a High Efficiency Toilet:
Niagara Stealth Ultra High-Efficiency Toilet
Washing machines (EnergyStar water factor of 5.0 or less)**
Shower heads (1.5 to 1.75 gpm)
Choosing a satisfactory low-flow showerhead
Faucet aerators (0.5 gpm in the bathroom to 1.5 gpm in the kitchen)
How to change a faucet aerator
Source for faucet aerators of various flow rates
Household leaks
Rain-only lawns
Water bill insert: “Secrets of a Waterless Lawn“
Education
Teaching Kids about Water Conservation
DISCLAIMER – Sharon Friends of Conservation does not endorse or recommend any products mentioned on these web sites, either implicitly or explicitly.
**Call the Sharon Water Department (781-784-1525) to find out about rebates for high-efficiency toilets and washing machines, or read about the rebate program at: https://www.townofsharon.net/water-division/pages/toilet-clothes-washer-irrigation-rebates
Etc…
Osprey Webcam
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute operates an Osprey Cam.
Barred Owl Webcam
Check out the barred owl webcam at All About Birds. This web site also provides a wealth of information about the birds of North America.
Hand-feeding Birds on NPR
Hugh Wiberg liked birds and growing big pumpkins. The author of “Hand-feeding Backyard Birds,” Mr. Wiberg died on October 2, 2009. In tribute, NPR re-broadcast a Living on Earth favorite from the year 2000 where he teaches host Steve Curwood the finer points of feeding wild birds out of the palm of one’s hand.
Information about Gray Squirrels
http://newyorkwild.org/squirrels/graysquirrel.htm
Living on Earth from National Public Radio
Sunday from 7:00-8:00 a.m. on WBUR, 90.9 FM, you can hear Living on Earth, NPR’s environmental news and information program. Check out their website…
Encyclopedia of Life
The Encyclopedia of Life is a global effort by natural history museums, botanical gardens, other research institutions, and dedicated individuals to create the most complete biodiversity database on the web.
Maine Eaglecam1
This live webcam channel is brought to you by Biodiversity Research Institute in collaboration with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and has been maintained by Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) to monitor this eagle nest, located in coastal Maine, since 2006. More about this wildlife webcam and BRI’s wildlife research can be learned at www.briloon.org.
Environmental Action and Learning Center
“e”—The Environmental Action and Learning Center science education paired with community action leads to environmental change in urban communities. Their mission: To educate parents and children, elders, educators, and community leaders about the science that underlies our unique and complex environment and then involve them in the important and exciting actions required to restore and retain our communities’ and our earth’s environmental balance.