3 Nov, 2010 Author: Glorianna Davenport

Today we are hosting two people from Trustees of the Reservation. We walk to the main spillway site and show themthe hulking structure that until recently impounded the 30 acre reservoir. I am still struck by the historic irony. This structure was built to create a reservoir for 130 acres of cranberry production for almost a century. Now that USDA NRCS has purchased a conservation/restoration easement on 192 acres of former cranberry bogs and wetlands, there is no call for such a structure and we are raising money to remove it. 100 years or more before this dam was constructed, the beavers must have made a more natural water hole. Why else the name, Beaver Dam Pond? The conversation with our visitors keeps returning to how we might redesign this area to support quiet enjoyment of the site by the public and scientific monitoring and experimentation.