This article is adapted from an article by Jody Harris on the website of the Acton Conservation Trust.
A group of Acton Conservation Trust (ACT) board members waited in the parking lot of Acton Town Hall on Sunday, March 17 for Rick Roth, president of Cape Ann Vernal Pond Team (CAVPT). CAVPT’s mission states: “Our focus is vernal ponds. The issue is the preservation of wildlife habitat, which is ultimately about the health of the planet.” Rick was to be the guest speaker at ACT’s Annual Meeting, featuring “Snakes of the World and New England,” and he was bringing twenty-five snakes plus a few volunteers.
Introductions were made to Rick and volunteers Emily, Zachary, Erica, Nula and Megan. As the van’s rear door opened, two clear plastic locked snake boxes fell out. Locked, because they contained the timber rattler and copperhead snakes, two venomous snakes found in Massachusetts. Boxes and snakes were both fine! Board members and volunteers transported three large coolers of snakes and a big hook at the end of a long pole, for “wrestling out of control big snakes.” Hopefully, it wouldn’t be needed.
The event began with a short business meeting to re-elect officers and present the Carol Holley Conservation Award for outstanding contributions to the environment. The Holley Award recipient this year was John Watlington. John is a member of the Land Stewardship Committee and can be found throughout Acton conservation lands, combating invasives and clearing trails of fallen trees. In the past year he has cleared sixty trees from Acton trails! Bruce Rachman, a previous Holley award winner and fellow Land Steward Committee member, introduced John and described his many accomplishments over the years.
Dave Hardt then introduced ACT’s newest land protection project: Preserving Wetherbee Woods, the Agricultural Gateway to Acton. To learn more about Wetherbee Woods, read page 2 of the 2024 ACT Newsletter.
By then, a nice crowd had gathered, about ninety to 100 people, many of whom were children eager to see the animals. Rick introduced himself to the audience as “200 pounds of rompin’, stompin’ dynamite!” He began by pulling snakes out of his self-described “fashionable clothing,” which contained lots of cargo pockets for stowing snakes. Rick modeled each snake as he told us a bit about it. Massachusetts has fourteen native snakes, including the two venomous snakes mentioned earlier. As Rick moved on to each snake in his presentation, he handed off the previous snake to a CAVPT volunteer so people could get a much more personal view if desired. For most of the snakes brought to the meeting, the rule was to not touch their heads, as animals find this aggressive behavior. There were also several small baby snakes, which were in clear plastic deli containers. Of course he asked us not to open the containers!
A few of the snakes we saw included: Evelyn the white-lipped python, which is iridescent in sunlight; Maryann, a long, heavy boa constrictor; a red and black eastern hognose; a dark red and white albino milk snake with colorful rings; a smooth green snake with a yellow belly; a gopher snake; a diamond python; Reggie the albino reticulated python; a ring-necked snake; a timber rattler; and a copperhead.
Eventually, Rick’s volunteers were each engaged with a snake, so Rick asked for volunteers from the audience. Enthusiasm was the main criteria, and there were volunteers from eight to eighty. Soon, all twenty-five snakes were being shared around the room, from the young snakes in containers, to the two venomous snakes in plastic boxes, to 8- or 10-foot long pythons and boa constrictors. At this point the meeting took a delightful turn (if you like touching snakes) and the audience was invited to participate! Children, parents, ACT members and trustees were all holding snakes. While it was a wild and wonderful ending to our Annual Meeting, our hope is that this joyous introduction to snakes will inspire a young generation focused on the role of snakes and all animals in the environment and the health of our planet.
Jody Harris is a Trustee of the Acton Conservation Trust and is the Acton Exchange’s Correspondent from ACT.
