For over a decade, the Buzzards Bay Coalition, a membership-supported, nonprofit organization with the stated goals of restoring, protecting and securing sustainable uses of Buzzards Bay and its watershed, has begun the long-awaited restoration of The Bogs.
The watershed itself is a vast area encompassing many hundreds of acres whose geological ecology has been able to provide clean, fresh, potable water to the towns of Fairhaven, Westport, Wareham, Marion, Acushnet, Mattapoisett and others for hundreds of years.
Yet the impact of agricultural activities and various forms of land development has found the area in need of new management plans that would help remove bacterial nutrients from groundwater sources that feed the watershed, the BBC has long held.
To that end, the BBC has spent the last 12 years securing and then planning for the wetland restoration of one of its cornerstone projects – The Bogs on Acushnet Road in Mattapoisett.
In partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, after acquiring the property from Decas Cranberry Corporation, the bog was retired several years ago to give the area a much-needed rest from agricultural activities and to allow plants and vegetation an opportunity to establish themselves. This rest period allowed the BBC scientists the time to evaluate what was growing and could grow before any restoration took place.
With that first step nearing completion and with restoration planning having been well underway, the BBC has engaged contractors to begin the heavy lifting of sand and artificial water features to be removed.
Restoration Ecologist for the BBC, Sara da Silva Quintal, led a group of interested residents on a site-specific presentation on November 4. Quintal, a New Bedford native, outlined the history of The Bogs before launching into immediate and long-range planning.
As noted, one of the first steps had to be sand removal. Each year farmers add sand to cranberry bogs, materials not native to the wetlands and uplands at this location. Concurrent with that process is the removal of plastic piping used to infiltrate The Bogs with fertilization and the application of pesticides. Quintal said that the ditch systems associated with the irrigation of the bogs would also eventually be contoured into a more natural berm.
Quintal didn’t shy away from the challenges and the public concerns related to potential flooding of the residential/agricultural area when the artificial water-management systems are finally removed. She said the BBC team listened to the public, were mindful of historic storm events previously managed by farmers opening or closing flume boards. The scientists are confident that both wetlands and uplands will recharge water underground.
Heavy equipment has been on site since early October, and things have gone well to date, Quintal shared. She also painted a future landscape that will include five pedestrian bridges over ponds, walking trails and boardwalks.
Quintal encouraged people to visit other open-space sites while The Bogs area is closed for restoration. She said the current plan has the space reopening in about a year. To learn more, visit savebuzzardsbay.org.
By Marilou Newell