Thanks to the participating photographers

23 Aug, 2013        Author: gid

in time, they emerge Credit: Joe Murphy

If you choose to build a wildlife sanctuary, you should be prepared to be displaced – at least to occasionally - by wild things you are working to protect.     In May, a redpoll chose to nest in a clematis vine that articulates the walkway between the carport and our house.  Every time we went out or in, we displaced the nervous MaMa who otherwise did what MaMa birds do: sat on her nest, kept her eggs warm and waited.  Displacing her made us feel terrible and over time we trained ourselves to enter and exit the house via other doors. At last, on June 5, while we were away, the young birds hatched.  Thanks to Joe Murphy for this spectacular shot.

Last week, Alex Hackman, who directs our restoration effort, was walking the property and captured this photo.  In an email thread, Mark Faherty wrote "Awesome! Its a Sora! (Porzana carolina), a small, elusive freshwater marsh bird that I have been hoping to find at Tidmarsh. We never heard them during any playback attempts or passive surveys, only Virginia Rails. Here’s some info from Mass Audubon's website on their breeding distribution in MA." Way to go Alex!

Its a Soro Credit: A. Hackman

The Summer Interns

12 Aug, 2013 Author: B. Green

Hello, my name is Ben Green, one of the interns here at Tidmarsh Farms. I am a rising senior at Belmont Hill School in Belmont MA and have worked at Tidmarsh for about six weeks. I have spent most of my time here researching the soil moisture which can be used to figure out where to plant trees and where groundwater is concentrated. Unlike the other interns, I have not done much field work because I sprained my foot; instead, I do research for various projects around the farm and help many of the researchers and scientists who come to the sight set up their equipment. (B11)

Hi, I’m Eric Van Dam. I like to hobby in film, and I’m entering UNH this fall as a Wildlife and Conservation Biology major. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on a video describing the need for restoration here at Tidmarsh. Most of my days have been spent pulling invasive plants, trimming roads, learning new conservation research skills, meeting new people, and shooting video. While this internship can be fairly strenuous at times, I can’t think of a better way to spend my summer.

I'm Henry, a junior at Sacred Heart (recently transferred from Rising Tide) who enjoys video games and textbooks. I like to say that I write code, but you can't really call what I write "code" (or "functional," for that matter). Like Eric, I also spend much of my time clearing invasive species and doing other various odd jobs around the farm. I differ in that instead of making movies, I'm developing the Most Unprofessional Soil Moisture Probe Ever (tm), as well as submitting minor contributions to the firmware of a sensor being developed at MIT, which will be deployed en masse in the fall.

Getting the word out

2 Apr, 2013        Author: administrator

“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." -- Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

This blog has been languishing for too long – my apologies.  In January, feeling a little edgy about the lack of rain and snow, I picked up my recently acquired copy of, A Sand County Almanac hoping that it would ease my concerns related to our restoration project.  The challenge in front of us is to take a 250 acre site that has supported cranberry production over the past 100 years, and to “comprehensively” transform it into a self-sustaining coastal freshwater wetland with a high quality stream network allowing its soils, water, plants and animals to collectively thrive. Our challenge, as Alex Hackman who leads the restoration effort is fond of saying, is to give nature a “kick start”, thus vastly reducing the time it will take for the site to achieve “integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.”  My nervousness is just that: can we help nature achieve stasis without over-doing it? Quickly, that nervousness finds practical tasks: find the 1500+ stumps and logs required for the restoration; grow the 17,000+ Atlantic White Cedars specified in the planting plan; shape an appropriate strategy for public input on the plans prior to permitting.

Low water in January 2013

The lack of rain and snow in January combined with the record breaking average temperatures of 2012 created low water conditions in the man-made channel as it abuts the relic channel at the edge of our red maple swamp (IF1). While humans have certainly impacted the hydrology of the cranberry bogs, the jury is still out on whether human activity impacts the weather itself.  Not-with-standing, I was greatly relieved when February brought two dramatic winter snow-storms in rapid succession.  The snow from these late winter storms melted quickly in South Eastern Massachusetts. Almost overnight, the lack of sound due to stagnant water was transformed into the sound of urgent flow. The stream poured over the water control infrastructure still in place, and without fanfare, swampy land became wet again.  Relieved that our effort to liberate the hydrology of this expanse was, in all probability, not to blame for the unusually low water levels of January, I jump to the ready, prepare to pull on my waders and traipse into the wild.

High water after February storms

Between storms, we hold a partner meeting to review the 60% design plan submitted by Interfluve, Inc..  The goal is to quickly move a 60% plan to 90% in readiness for public input and permitting. Discussion at this meeting is very focused:  How will the goal of liberating springs be accomplished? Will the residual sand on the bog surface warm the resulting pools of water? If they are likely to become warm, they should not be linked to the main stream stem, as we would like to maintain this as a cold water stream.  Turning from this discussion, the group dissects the restoration of the Fresh Pond Connector channel.  The goal here is to allow fish passage up to Fresh Pond.

As the meeting winds down, I discover that several new tasks are now on my plate: How to reach out to the community for comment?  Where to grow the 17,000+ Atlantic White Cedars that are needed for the restoration? How to find the 1000s of large tree trunks and stumps that are required for the restoration? Add to these the critical focus of growing the Living Observatory so that we can monitor change across the property.  Ongoing issues include realizing a wireless network across the property, rules and procedures for data archiving, and expanding our educational and stewardship initiatives.  These challenges are once again in the spotlight. Time to expand our volunteer efforts.

In terms of design, we have passed a turning point: the time is now right for public comment/input. As dates are set for public presentations, times and locations will be listed under “This Week on the Farm”.  We hope you - our neighbors, residents of Plymouth and others who have a particular interest in the future of this waterway - will join these meetings.

Scheduled events already posted include:

• April 18, Alex Hackman and others will present plans in the Mayflower II room at Town Hall; this meeting will be televised on PacTV and slides will be posted following the meeting on this blog.
• May 22, Alex Hackman (DER) and Glorianna Davenport will be guests of Karen Buechs on her show “Talk of the Towne”.
• TBA, Pine Hills

If you would like to organize an informational meeting for your community, or if you have comments/questions regarding this project, you can email us attidmarshRestoration@gmail.com . Or, if you prefer, call me directly; Glorianna Davenport, Tidmarsh Farms, 617 642 7934

Alex Hackman asks Rising Tide science students to think about how to measure the health of the land

Stumps begin to pile up