Field Notes
by Peter B Brace
HARBOR PLAN ALMOST SELECTMEN-WORTHY Attend the Nov. 8 Board of Selectmen meeting and you will get hear what the Harbor Plan Committee and the Urban Harbors Institute (UHI) have been working on for the last year.

UHI plans to present the latest draft of the update of the Nantucket Harbors Action Plan to the board at next week's meeting. The selectmen will then have six weeks to critique the plan and recommend their changes to UHI. The Harbor Plan Committee and UHI want to file the plan with the state by Dec. 31.

BULKHEADS AND RAMPS In mid-January when only the hardcore scallopers are working Nantucket Harbor and boat traffic is reduced to the passing of ferries and Coast Guard vessels, the Marine & Coastal Resources Department's contractor plans to repair the Children's Beach boat ramp.

The project includes: + Widening the boat ramp from 23 to 33 feet. + Changing its pitch from seven to 11 degrees. + Adding 15 feet to its existing 55-foot length. + Re-aligning the ramp with the street. A storm barrier will also be added along the outside of the ramp's loading/tie-up piers with bulkhead heights to three feet.

Although Town Meeting voters approved $250,000 for this project in April, Fronzuto needed more to cover the $573,000 cost. He secured what he needed as part of the override question on the June special election ballot. The Marine Department will also rebuild the bulkhead in Polpis Harbor for $125,000 during the same time period.

This wide, V-shaped freestanding bulkhead currently sits at the apex of the western and eastern lobes of Polpis Harbor. It is designed to prevent sand flowing into the harbor on the incoming tide from filling in the channel leading up in the western half of that harbor. However, the existing bulkhead is halfburied in sand, falling apart and is therefore no longer functioning.

INVASIVE SPECIES OF THE WEEK Tarzan may have swung through the jungle late for his date with Jane on one of these vines - Oriental Bittersweet - and the berries may fade to a beautiful yellow-orange, but island conservation organizations think this invasive species should remain at the Lord of the Jungle's disposal and not on Nantucket.

Oriental bittersweet is vine from Asia that finds a sunny patches of ground from which to grow and entwine themselves around any plant or tree they can find get up to where the light is unlimited. This vine is found in 102 cities and towns in the state including Nantucket. If you spot it and want to help eradicate this noxious climber, contact Cheryl Beaton at the Maria Mitchell Association at 228-9198. To learn more about invasive species on Nantucket, check out the Electronic Field Guide to Invasive Plants on Nantucket at http://efg.cs.umb.edu/nantucket/

NSA MEETS The next meeting of the Nantucket Shellfish Association Meeting will be Nov. 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the Maddequet Admiralty Club on Tennessee Avenue. REIS ZBAAPPEAL RESUMES FRIDAY Priscilla Reis' appeal of the cease and desist orders issued by Zoning Enforcement Officer Marcus Silverstein who alleges that her son, Myles Reis, needs a change of use permit from the ZBAto operate his sand and gravel, and vehicle storage from 80 Miacomet Road was continued to the Zoning Board of Appeals' Nov. 3 meeting.

If he cannot get relief from the ZBA, Reis is asking the board for the permit he needs to keep his business functioning. The ZBA meets at 1 p.m. in the conference room of the Town Annex building at 37 Washington St.

I