With Island ponds suffering from the effects of development, the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group is looking at an old foe in a new light. The shellfish group has been studying the invasive wetland grass phragmites as a possible means for removing nitrogen from coastal ponds.

Funding will end this year for the Tick-Borne Illness Reduction Initiative, an Islandwide program that began about four years ago with a grant from the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. But Island health agents plan to continue the efforts, which include school programs and a series of educational videos.

About 3,500 tons of soil, boulders and clay have been removed from around the Gay Head Light and its new location 129 feet to the east. Contractors are now working to install steel beams underneath the lighthouse. The move is expected to begin in early June.

The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank has acquired 120 goats, following a two-year pilot program at the Farm Institute, and plans to deploy them as living lawnmowers as early as next week. The goats will take up residency at Waskosim's Rock in Chilmark.

The Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust will host its first ever Meet the Fleet event this summer to showcase the Island’s working waterfront.

In a quick reversal, the West Tisbury selectmen agreed Wednesday to pull an article from the upcoming June 2 special town meeting, asking whether the town should withdraw from the up-Island school district. Two of the three selectmen voted last week to bring the question to voters.