Hellcat Boardwalk Trail Replacement Gets the Greenlight! by Matt Poole, Visitor Services Manager
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United States Fish & Wildlife Service Summer/Fall, 2019 Hellcat Boardwalk Trail Replacement Gets the Greenlight! by Matt Poole, Visitor Services Manager I always describe the Hellcat Trail Boardwalk as the most valuable and most loved “piece of visitor ser- vices infrastructure” at Parker River National Wild- life Refuge. Hellcat is where LOTS of refuge visitors, from across a broad range of user groups, have been going to observe wildlife in natural habitats for al- most 50 years! The venerable foot path is also a place where one can go simply to enjoy and connect with the rhythms of the natural world. The current boardwalk was built by high school-age, Youth Conservation Corps workers over the course of a handful of summers, beginning in the early 1970s. In its nearly half century of public service, Hellcat has never experienced a major facelift or Photo: Matt Poole/FWS overhaul. I always marvel that the original pressure The new Hellcat Boardwalk Trail will be completely wheel- treated lumber out there continues to support ref- chair accessible. uge visitors’ wildlife and nature experiences all these years later. As I always say, that old lumber “doesn’t owe anyone anything!” Just imagine this: In This Issue... It’s literally possible, if not probable, that someone Hellcat Boardwalk Replacement Gets Greenlight .......... 1 who, as a child, scrambled along the Hellcat board- walk back in 1972 has, in 2019, chased their own Restoring the Lower Peverly Pond Dam ......................... 3 grandchild down that very same stretch of board- Making Watershed Connections Personal ..................... 5 walk! But, nothing lasts forever… Exploring Wapack National Wildlife Refuge ................... 8 The Child's Paradise ..................................................... 10 Refuge staff have certainly been well aware for a Reflections on Parker River .......................................... 11 number of years that Hellcat has been getting “a lit- Climate Change Impact on the Salt Marsh Sparrow .... 12 tle long in the tooth.” However, realizing that a val- ued resource needs replacement and being able to Friends of Parker River NWR Update ........................... 15 do something about it are two different things. Just A Dune Micro Habitat That Will Bog-gle Your Mind ..... 17 imagine the price tag for removing and replacing a A Great Day at Great Bay ............................................. 18 1+ mile boardwalk structure. Instead, for years our A Found Poem .............................................................. 19 course of treatment for the aging boardwalk has consisted of replacing (many) broken planks and Former Managers Gather to Share Memories ............ 20 Thoughts from the Gatehouse ..................................... 21 (Continued on page 2) Meet Refuge Volunteer Victor Tine ............................. 22 The Wrack Line Page 1 Hellcat Boardwalk Trail Replacement Gets the Greenlight! (Continued from page 1) pounding nail heads back into their holes. Finally, made from recycled plastic. The boardwalk will be earlier this year, GREAT news arrived regarding the held above the ground by steel “helical piles” future of Hellcat. The refuge received funding from screwed into the ground. the Federal Highway Administration’s Federal Lands Transportation Program to replace the entire Construction will begin soon and is expected to take boardwalk system. The staff’s collective response? a year to complete. The entire Hellcat Trail will be Woohoo! closed during construction; however, there are many other great places to walk and enjoy the ref- The new Hellcat Trail boardwalk will be both new uge, such as the recently opened Stage Island Trail. AND improved. For the first time, folks in wheel- chairs and/or with other mobility impairments will Refuge staff are grateful to the Friends of Parker be able to access and experience the entire board- River NWR, who have raised more than $40,000 to walk. Gone will be all those steep stairs on the exist- support the Hellcat replacement project. Their ad- ing dune loop. The new boardwalk deck will expand vocacy and actions to support the refuge certainly to a width of six feet. The new design incorporates go a long way to enhance the visitor experience at “green” building materials including deck boards Parker River National Wildlife Refuge! Graphic: FWS Photo: Matt Poole/FWS Stairs will be nothing but a memory on the new and im- This graphic shows both the old and new alignment for the proved Hellcat Boardwalk Trail. Hellcat Trail Boardwalk. (Click on graphic for expanded view.) The Wrack Line Page 2 A New Twist on an Old Idea: Removing the Lower Peverly Pond Dam by Lauren Healey, Biological Technician We tromp slowly through the forest, carefully step- ping around the marshy ground, when we hear the crash of water. We’ve reached the Lower Peverly Pond Dam. In front of us stands a huge concrete wall with an assortment of boulders at the bottom. A small brook, remnant of the past, carves its way to Stubb’s Pond below the dam. The Lower Peverly Pond Dam and the one on Upper Peverly Pond were originally created when the town of Portsmouth needed a new water supply. They eyed a brook running through what is now the Photo: Lauren Healey Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge. By building two dams on the brook, the upper and lower ponds were Upper Peverly Pond today created, and for many years the public enjoyed them. In fact, around 1957 Lower Peverly pond was dredged and a new water control structure was added to provide a public swimming area. While the public used the Lower Pond, the military used the Upper Pond. They enjoyed angling and boating. In 1963 another dam was added to create Stubbs pond, named after General Stubbs who was fond of Photo: Lauren Healey Lower Peverly Pond today fishing. All 3 ponds were stocked with fish like bass, trout and alewife. The ponds have long since been abandoned as a water source by Portsmouth and as a swimming location. Many years later, the dams are showing their age, and the Lower Peverly Dam is slated for removal. How to do it is the question. The main problem is that after many years of use by the military, the ponds have become contaminated with metals and pesticides. It was determined that it is safer to leave the contaminants in place than to try to dredge them out. To make the removal process easier our head maintenance worker, Bob Springfield, suggest- ed that we could dewater the ponds. There are Map of area many benefits to dewatering; most significantly, it (Continued on page 4) The Wrack Line Page 3 A New Twist on an Old Idea: Removing the Lower Peverly Pond Dam (Continued from page 3) will allow for revegetation along the sides which, in turn, will hold the contaminants in place. Now the question became, how do we go about dewatering? We began poking around the area for clues. The first clue was found at the Upper Peverly Pond water control structure. Like many impoundments in the refuge system, this one uses a series of boards with pegs to help control water flow. They are low- ered down using prong poles. Poking out of the mud were a few of these boards. They could be removed to help dewater the pond. Next, we looked around the forest. We stumbled across a big, rusty, hunk of metal. It appeared to us like an old valve for the public water supply hookup. Maybe it could help us with the dewatering? Without definitive knowledge of where the water would go when the valve was opened, the idea was abandoned and the valve was admired as a cool piece of history. Finally, we began Photo: Lauren Healey talking about various types of pumps. After deliber- ation we settled on using a large gator pump. Old impoundment equipment It seems like our idea may not be a new one to the Great Bay Refuge. When digging through our old refuge annual reports, a note about dewatering was found in the report from 1999. We plan to dewater in the spring and then begin the removal and resto- ration. The final design is still being developed but so far seems to be a series of pools that step down in elevation. Side culverts will also be restored. Check Out the Peverly Pond Loop Trail This .4 mile loop trail, located near Portsmouth, NH, is good for all skill levels. It’s primarily used for hiking, walking, nature trips, and bird watch- ing and is accessible year-round. This boardwalk trail, which is fully wheelchair accessible, passes through a beautiful forested area, then continues to a wildlife observation blind at Upper Peverly Pond. From there, the trail loops back to the starting point after meandering by several (seasonally wet) vernal pools. — AllTrails.com Photo: Lauren Healey An old water valve The Wrack Line Page 4 Making Watershed Connections Personal by Matt Poole, Visitor Services Manager In late June I was contacted by the GroundWork Lawrence Education Manager to brainstorm about how refuge staff might continue to support their “green team” youth workers over the summer months. We quickly settled on a simple, two- pronged plan. First, refuge staff would plan and lead a handful of on-the-ground learning experiences for the green team based at the City’s Den Rock Park. Second, we would involve all three green teams in some type of natural resourced-based field trip. The second prong of the plan is what I will describe here. Setting aside three days on the calendar for the field trip was the easy part. The basic plan was to lead the same field trip three times – once for each of the Photo: Matt Poole/FWS three green teams. We would provide the bus trans- Nashua Wastewater Treatment Plant: Green teamer’s portation and the bus driver (yours truly!).