[SEMCO] Field Trip: Salt Marsh Restoration on Cape Cod

[Melissa Lowe]

Program Announcment from the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary

Contact:  Melissa Lowe, Wellfleet Bay  508-349-2615
(mlowe@wellfleetbay.org)

SALT MARSH RESTORATION TOPIC OF FIELD TRIP

The Hatches Harbor salt marsh restoration project in Provincetown and
the proposed Herring River restoration in Wellfleet will be the subjects
of a field trip on Thursday, October 25th.  This program is FREE and
open to the public and is sponsored by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay
Wildlife Sanctuary and the Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod
(APCC).  Cape Cod National Seashore biologists Norm Farris and John
Portnoy will join participants in the field to provide an overview of
the projects and their anticipated goals.

Salt marshes are vitally important to the health of our coastal
ecosystems.  However, between the end of World War II and the
mid-seventies, Massachusetts lost approximately 20,000 acres of salt
marsh—a third of its original total acerage.  Many of these salt marshes
were filled in for housing and commercial development, some were dredged
for harbors and marinas, and some were diked, drained, and ditched for
mosquito control.  Now we know these types of activities have long term,
unintended consequences that can ultimately harm the environment and the
goal is to restore these ecologically-important habitats.

Hatches Harbor in Provincetown is currently undergoing restoration by
re-introducing salt water through controlled tidal flooding.  About half
of this 200-acre salt marsh was cut off from the natural tidal flow by a
dike built in the early 1930’s resulting in a serious deterioration of
this habitat, including loss of fish and native vegetation.  Significant
improvements are already evident after only two years of tidal
flooding—fish have returned and salt water is stressing the invasive
salt-intolerant plants making room for salt marsh grasses.  If approved,
the aim is to restore the Herring River in Wellfleet as well.

This informative program will meet at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife
Sanctuary at 9 a.m. on October 25 for a brief introduction and slide
presentation on the value of salt marshes and an introduction to the
Herring River by Kathy Eller, staff scientist with the APCC.  Site
visits to both Hatches Harbor and the Herring River will leave from the
Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary and last until    1 p.m.   Registration is
required.  Transportation is not provided.

To register, or for additional information, please call the Wellfleet
Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or e-mail Melissa Lowe at
mlowe@wellfleetbay.org.


The Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary is located on the west side of
Route 6, immediately north of the Eastham/Wellfleet town line.  Trails
are open daily 8 am to dusk.  Sanctuary admission is free for members;
$3 adults, $2 children for non-members. Call (508) 349-2615 for
information


--
Melissa Lowe
Education Coordinator
Massachusetts Audubon Society
Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
P.O. Box 236, South Wellfleet, MA 02663
508-349-2615 (phone)   508-349-2632 (fax)
mlowe@wellfleetbay.org