7 Nov, 2015 Author: administrator

Hard to imagine that humans can change a landscape so quickly, when it takes father time years and years. However that is the point really. After years of planning, engineering designs and fundraising, SumCo is finally on site and are they ever. After a few days of having an excavator with too short a reach slip and slide in the red maple swamp, SumCo brought in a long armed excavator that was able to remove sediment on the far side of the stream bed without falling in!

Dredging revealed some beautiful islands in the stream bed, but getting into the far reaches of the swam required some ingenuity.

In a matter of days, SumCo built 3 largely earthen bridges across the industrial canal to allow machines passage into the swamp.

But on the partner's weekly tour of the site, we were warned to watch our step! Of course, I managed to find a soft spot and mud topped my hunter boots.

Travis Sumner, a SumCo partner sets 150 feet of channel a day as a goal, so the site evolves rapidly. I spot that lovely peat coming out of channel in cell 2 and plan to harvest a bucket to test on my AWC transplants.

Keeping areas dry enough to work is a constant challenge and means altering the flow path of the water flowing through the site. Last week an action taken to dry out cell 2, caused water to rise on cells 3 and 4. After some debate, we decided it was time to move some of the MIT Media Lab sensors.

Next up, large wood placement, new sensors, streaming time-lapse and if all goes well an historic a fly over documenting the next phase of making of this channel ... stay tuned