PHOTO BY PAULA MULLER
Seventeen-year-old Claire Caplan, a volunteer for the Marblehead Conservancy this summer, sets up a sprinkler to combat drought conditions at the Lead Mills Conservation Area.
By Leah Dearborn
MARBLEHEAD — The Marblehead Conservancy is growing youth interest in nature conservation this summer.
Claire Caplan, 17, works 20 hours a week in good weather, performing tasks that help keep Marblehead’s trails in top shape.
“I really enjoy it,” said Caplan, 17, who first got involved with the environmental group through her Girl Scout troop. “I was psyched when I got offered this job for the summer.”
Caplan is one of four Marblehead High School students who were hired as part of the nonprofit’s summer trail maintenance internship program. Her favorite part is learning about the flora and fauna in Marblehead and finding out about new trails she never knew existed.
The Forest River Conservation Area with its highlands and tidal pools has become her favorite new spot, Caplan said.
Don Morgan, treasurer, said the conservancy has maintained the trails in town for 15 years.
“It’s active work but not too draining,” said Morgan of the new internship program. “It takes some of the strain off us old guys.”
Caplan began on Monday setting up sprinklers at the Lead Mills Conservation Area under Morgan’s supervision.
Lead Mills, the former site of the Chadwick Lead Mills on the Salem-Marblehead border, is in the process of being turned into a wildflower meadow by the group.
Morgan described the watering process as being a bit like baking bread. Sprinklers are set up and left to soak plots of seed.
Hopefully, those plots will bloom into local plants like purple coneflowers and Joe-Pye weed, said Morgan.
After the sprinklers, Caplan headed to her next task of spreading wood chips on the trails at Steer Swamp off Beacon Street.
It’s a regular duty for the interns, said Morgan, because it helps preserve the trail and prevents tree roots in the forest from being damaged by walkers.
Despite the summer heat, Caplan pulled a wagon from the back of her car and used it to carry wood chips down a steep and winding path through the woods.
She said on some of the more level trails in town, the process can be finished in as little as four hours, while the longer trails can take several days.
Still, Caplan said she would definitely choose to do the internship again next summer if given the chance.
“There’s more than one lifetime’s worth of work,” said Morgan about the importance of getting the next generation involved in conservation. “And I’m already two-thirds through my lifetime.”