Wildlife sanctuary operates in conjunction with adjacent waste-to-energy facility

Working in partnership with the Essex County Greenbelt Association, Wheelabrator erected a platform April 22 designed to provide a nesting opportunity for osprey. The osprey nesting platform is located on the far southern end of the sanctuary, near the Pines River.

 

“We’ve added a lot of nesting platforms and repaired others,” says Dave Rimmer, who directs the osprey program for Essex County Greenbelt. “The hope is that instead of flying over the area, the osprey will find a suitable platform in Essex County and stay.”

 

The platform is 3 x 3 feet and sits atop a 6 x 6-inch post that is 10 feet high. It has loose brush on it.

Geoff Wilson of Northeast Wetlands Restoration, who manages the Bear Creek sanctuary for Wheelabrator, said osprey are one of two raptors in this region that feed exclusively on fish (along with the bald eagle). They are typically in the area from April to September, before migrating several thousand miles for the winter, traveling as far as South America.

 

Rimmer said his organization has installed about 15 nesting platforms in the last nine years, with excellent results. “Ten years ago there were a handful of pairs of osprey in Essex County,” he said. “In the last five years the number has tripled.” 

 

According to Essex County Greenbelt, in 2010 there were 11 pairs of breeding osprey between Boston and the New Hampshire border. That number has risen every year, reaching 36 last year. The birds will nest pretty much anywhere—i.e. utility poles—though the majority are observed on breeding platforms.

 

“The goal is to provide well-situated, secure nest sites for osprey,” Rimmer says. “We’d rather see them in a more natural setting, like the sanctuary.”

 

“From a conservation point of view this is a wonderful development,” says Frank McKinnon, conservation officer for the town of Saugus. “The osprey is a majestic bird and they will come if not this year then next year.”

 

The osprey species was negatively impacted in the 1950s and 1960s by the use of pesticides, according to Rimmer. When the use of DDT was restricted in the 1970s and banned in the 1980s, the osprey population began to steadily increase.

 

Osprey can be found on every continent except Antarctica. Though they do not migrate together, they return to the same nest every year and mate for life, Rimmer says.

 

Wilson said installing the osprey nesting platform fits perfectly with Wheelabrator’s ongoing efforts to responsibly manage the sanctuary, which operates seamlessly in concert with the adjacent energy-from-waste facility. 

 

“We take great pride in the work we do to maintain the wildlife sanctuary and provide a home for migratory birds and a variety of other animals,” Wilson says. “We look forward to having osprey nesting there in the near future.”