The 13,500 acres off Acushnet Road dubbed The Bogs is a Buzzards Bay Coalition property that has become a favorite place to recreate. It has been the BBC’s plan since obtaining the former cranberry bogs to restore some 64 acres to a more natural state and then let Mother Nature take it from there.
On June 13, members of the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission met with BBC’s Restoration Ecologist Sara Quintal and Natural Resource Specialist Adriene Dunk of GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc., who gave an in-depth, hour-long presentation highlighting the design and water flow planning that will be employed this summer when restoration work begins at The Bogs.
Central to the design are water features that will return naturally, the engineers explained, once the manmade ditches, dikes and flumes are replaced with habitat-friendly islands. Historically, the bogs were watered using regulated water flows from Tubb Mill Brook. The plans presented on Monday illustrated that water reaching the site from Tubb Mill Brook will be absorbed in a naturalized process via recharging into swamps and other woodland features, Quintal and Dunk explained.
The elaborate engineering plans drafted by GZA revealed the removal of barriers so that fish and other wildlife can move freely and that there will be no change to flood-flow hydrology, eliminating downstream impact. The restoration is planned to enable greater habitat for the Eastern Box Turtles and other wildlife, maximizing natural freshwater wetland structures, restoring the natural hydrology, and encouraging native-plant diversity and trail linkage for enhanced visitor recreational experiences, the team stated.
The presentation also showed the vast number of regulatory agencies that will have oversight of the project along with local permits that Quintal hoped to receive during Monday’s meeting. Those agencies include Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, Clean Water Act, U.S. Army Corps, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for stormwater pollution control, and MassDEP Waterways Regulation Program.
Brandon Faneuf, Mattapoisett’s consulting environment agent, pointed out the commission’s oversight would be informed by not only conditions they would impose on the project but also the other agencies’ purviews, and that such controls would aid in protecting public and private water supplies, groundwater protection, storm-damage protection, protection of shellfish and fisheries and wildlife-habitat protection.
“You are checking all the boxes,” Faneuf said. Quintal emphasized the point saying, “…our goals are for a self-sustaining site that can do its thing.”
Both Select Board member Jodi Bauer and abutter Bruce Cobb expressed concerns that Tinkham Pond water levels would be impacted. It was explained by both Quintal and Dunk that water flowing into the 64 acres of former cranberry bogs in question were not watered by Tinkham Pond but by Tubb Mill Brook, a deviated stream. Cobb said several times that it was his hope the natural beauty of the pond area would not be harmed by draining into the BBC property. He was assured that Tinkham Pond is not part of the project and would in no way be negatively impacted.
The restoration project application by the BBC was conditioned by a unanimous vote of the commission.
In other business, a Notice of Intent filed by Emmjay Realty Trust, 13 Industrial Drive, for the construction of concrete pad supports, stormwater drainage features and restoration of eroded slopes was conditioned.
Requests for Determination of Applicability receiving negative determinations were granted to: Andrew O’Shaughnessy, 88 Aucoot Road, for the expansion of a patio; Michael Prestileo, 3 Indian Avenue, for the construction of deck and patio as well as outdoor shower and new stoop with steps; William and Debra Poutsiaka, 4 Maple Road, for the construction of raised timber planting boxes and Randolf Alexander, 7 Wolf Island Road, for the renovation of a single-family home and landscape features.
Commission Chairman Michael King asked for an Enforcement Order be sent to the property owners at 16 Harbor Beach Road with the installation of an unpermitted storage tank. An Enforcement Order was also ordered for unpermitted landscaping at property located at the corner of Harbor Beach and Shore roads.
King also asked Faneuf if he was willing to spend two half-days per week in the Conservation office until such time as a replacement can be hired for retiring employee Maryann DeCosta. Faneuf said he would, adding, “Glad to help the town.”
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission is scheduled for Monday, June 27, at 6:30 pm.
Mattapoisett Conservation Commission
By Marilou Newell