My View
By Trisha Murphy
The subject I want to write about is the landfill. Now hold on, I can hear your groans from here. Not another story about the landfill, not Mount Trashmore, for heaven's sake. I think most people

would not find the landfill, also known as the dump, to be a pleasant location. I disagree. Now not being by occupation a biologist, zoologist, ornithologist or any other type of occupation ending in "ologist," I am far from being an expert on the subject. However, I do have a great love of nature.

The Nantucket Landfill and Materials Recovery Facility is one of the island's best kept secrets for natural beauty and wildlife sanctuary. Once you adapt to the at times pungent aroma of decomposing refuse you will notice a wide variety of plant and animal life. Okay, I'm sure you are thinking, "Yeah, right, the only kind of life at a dump are rats and flying rats, also known as seagulls." On the contrary, in the spring the migrating birds arrive.

You'll see Canada geese; they don't just stop by for lunch. The geese actually raise their families there. The chicks all appear normal, cute little yellow balls of fluff learning to swim in the runoff ponds. The geese that arrive early in the spring, the "early birds," so to speak, will have enough time to raise two sets of goslings. There are also ducks who, like the geese, raise perfectly healthy chicks year after year on the shores of Mount Trashmore.

Some of the other animals that make use of the ponds and marshy areas are painted and snapping turtles. There are hundreds of tree frogs; they are the "peepers" you hear chirping, especially in the evening.

Other winged friends include seagulls, barn swallows, sandpipers, various songbirds, hawks, Turkey Vultures, and eagles. Yes, my friends, eagles, big eagles that stand waist high.

There are a multitude of deer; they come in every night to feed on the yard waste. The deer bring their families as well and especially enjoy crab apple season. There are rabbits, squirrels and a few feral cats.

Wild flowers abound in the rich soil, in the compost piles squash plants seem to appear every spring. There are marsh irises and cattails growing in drainage ditches. Every now and then a domestic plant will surprise you with its appearance, such as Butterfly bushes that grow with frequency around the facility; or another common garden plant, a Hosta, that was recently seen growing on top of a pile of wood chips.

All this goes to show that there is indeed beauty everywhere; sometimes it just takes holding your nose and looking a little closer. Everything in Nantucket is nicer, even our landfill.