From the Falmouth Enterprise (column) · August 23, 2024 · By Christopher Neill
In his Notes From An Ecologist column, Christopher Neill writes that the Coonamessett River restoration, begun in fall 2017, has turned out to be a valuable place to learn how to restore former cranberry bogs. He highlights a University of Connecticut doctoral study by Sarah Klionsky comparing plants that colonized the former Coonamessett bogs with those on the Falmouth Rod and Gun Club’s restored land on the Childs River and at the Foothills Preserve in Plymouth. At all three, plant species increased sharply, nearly all of them native wetland plants, and many grew from seeds buried in the old bog soil. Because most seedlings came from the overlying sand rather than the deeper peat, Neill argues that expensive digging to expose peat is not necessary, and that moderate pits and mounds are enough for wetland plants, since deeper ones mainly added upland species.
Neill describes a newly restored Buzzards Bay Coalition bog in Mattapoisett, designed with gently sloped ponds grading into sandplain grassland to offer a range of wetter and drier conditions for a changing climate, and argues that designers need not copy the original wetland exactly. He notes trade-offs as well: side channels at the Coonamessett carry cold groundwater that helps brook trout but leave nearby ground drier and less suited to wetland plants, a choice he says he favors for the trout. In his view, projects built in Harwich and on Nantucket, and nearly two dozen more in design, will carry the Coonamessett’s lessons forward.
This is CPWB’s summary of an opinion column. The full column is published by the Falmouth Enterprise.
Drafted with AI assistance from the linked source.
