[SEMCO] Talk and walk by Author and geologist Robert Thorson on kettle ponds

[Melissa Lowe]

For Immediate Release:
Contacts:	
September 9, 2009		   	Melissa Lowe (Wellfleet Bay
Wildlife Sanctuary): 508 349-2615

The History and Importance of Kettle Ponds is subject of a FREE lecture
by "Beyond Walden" author Robert Thorson

Talk is co-sponsored by Cape Cod National Seashore and Mass Audubon. 


South Wellfleet, MA. - While Cape Cod is best known for its saltwater
environments, there is more to the Cape than just ocean, bay, and
beaches. Tucked away among the pine-oak woodlands are deep and clear
freshwater ponds. These quiet hollows with their lenses of still water
reflecting the surrounding landscape are a quintessential feature of the
old coastal sandplains. Many of them can be classified as coastal plain
ponds. No doubt many people have spent the blissful hours along the
shores of these globally rare habitats, completely unaware of their
significance. But these ponds' importance and geologic history will be
the subject of a talk on September 26 by Robert Thorson, author of the
new book Beyond Walden: The Hidden History of America's Kettle Lakes and
Ponds. 

When the Laurentide ice sheet began receding over 15,000 years ago, it
left a string of "kettle" lakes and ponds from Cape Cod to the High
Plains. Unlike the Great Lakes, classic kettles have no inlet or outlet
but are natural wells fed by groundwater. Walden Pond, that icon of
transcendentalism and environmentalism, was one such. The fictitious
Lake Wobegon exemplifies the mythic lake culture created by kettles in
the last century. Thousands of others dot the landscape, with several
hundred on Cape Cod, and though they may be lesser known, still
represent valuable ecological and spiritual oases, each unique in their
own way.

Thorson will be speaking on Saturday, September 26 at 7 p.m. The
program, co-sponsored by Cape Cod National Seashore and Mass Audubon,
will be held at the Salt Pond Visitor Center in Eastham. It is free and
open to the public. During the talk, Thorson will focus on Thoreau's
observations on the kettles of the Outer Cape, compared with the famous
Walden; ponder why there is a high concentration of kettles on the Cape
and why they are so pure; provide insight into the glacial story of Salt
Pond; and discuss the sensitivity of kettle ponds to degradation. As
described in his book Beyond Walden, kettle ponds are fragile ecosystems
that are in constant tension with human overdevelopment. In essence
"fossil icebergs" (the melted remnants of ice blocks) they are also
repositories of ancient flora and fauna beneath the surface. Kettles
reveal an enormous amount about who we are and where we came from.
Preserving them has never been more important. 

And on Sunday, September 27 at 10 a.m., Robert Thorson will lead a
guided walk along the Wellfleet ponds. Cost for the walk is $12 for Mass
Audubon members, $14 for non-members. Group size is limited for this
walk; registration is required. Call 508-349-2615 for details or to
register.

Robert Thorson is a professor of geology at the University of
Connecticut and an environmental columnist for the Hartford Courant. He
is the author of Stone by Stone and Exploring Stone Walls, and lives in
New England. Visit Beyond Walden's Web site: www.kettle.uconn.edu
<http://www.kettle.uconn.edu/> .

For more information about the program please call Mass Audubon's
Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615.

###


**********************************************
Melissa Lowe, Education Coordinator 
Mass Audubon's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary 
PO Box 236, South Wellfleet, MA 02663 
mlowe at massaudubon.org 
508-349-2615, ext 107 
Protecting the Nature of Massachusetts 
www.massaudubon.org/wellfleetbay 


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