“It takes many partners to restore our wetlands...” reads the newsletter of the Massachusetts W etlands Restoration Program. Since 1994, the U.S. Fish and W ildlife Service and it s Partners for Fish and W ildlife Program has worked with this S tate agency and many other organizations and individuals to restore wetlands and other important fish and wildlife habitats in Massachusetts. But there’ s more work to be done.
Introduction and General of cover vital to grassland- to restore instream anadromous fish Description dependent migratory birds. Non- habitat. native invasive plant species have Massachusetts has lost 20 percent spread rapidly into coastal and The Partners Program has partnered of its wetlands that were in freshwater wetland habitats as well with The Trustees of Reservations existence at the time of European as upland habitats, replacing native since 1995 to restore globally rare settlement. Of the approximately species. coastal habitats such as sandplain 48,000 acres of coastal saltmarsh grasslands, maritime heathlands, and remaining, about 8,000 acres are With a Little Help From Our frost-bottoms on Martha’s Vineyard considered degraded by human Friends (in geological terms a terminal activity. Riparian buffer zones moraine formed by retreat of conti- along streams, wetlands and rivers Since the early 1990’s, the Partners nental glaciers). have been eliminated due to for Fish and Wildlife Program in “farming to the edge,” and Massachusetts has worked with Some 30 rare animals and 11 plants hedgerow habitat has been lost many agencies, organizations, and have been recorded on Trustees because of consolidation of small individual landowners to restore property, including the federally fields into larger ones. fish and wildlife habitat, including threatened piping plover, coastal wetlands, riparian habitats, Northeastern beach tiger beetle and Early in the last century, nearly grasslands and endangered species the endangered sandplain gerardia. 80 percent of land cover was in habitats. A recent multi-agency Habitat restoration is accomplished non-wooded herbaceous habitat. effort to remove unnecessary dams by activities such as mowing, cutting, Now Massachusetts is almost has given the program an additional clearing and prescribed burning. 75 percent forested, resulting in loss opportunity to partner with others On Cape Cod and southeastern Massachusetts, the Partners Program has partnered with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Cape Cod Conservation District to restore native anadromous fish habitat by rehabilitating fishways and removing dams, benefiting populations of river herring.
Along with the Massachusetts Wetlands Restoration Program, the first such State wetlands restoration program in the country, the Partners Program is helping to restore Restored grassland, Yarmouth, Massachusetts. USFWS photo. hundreds of acres of coastal saltmarsh adversely impacted by grid ditching, filling, diking, road construction and other human activity.
Conservation Strategies
Coastal Saltmarsh
Projects have been completed along all portions of the Massachusetts coastline, including the North Shore, South Shore, Buzzards Bay, and Cape Cod areas. Typical Partners Program costs run about $1,000 to $1,500 per acre of saltmarsh restored. material, controlling invasive plants many grasslands. Other specialized In 1994, Massachusetts was the and returning original hydrology to habitats such as sandplain grasslands first State to formally initiate a the saltmarsh. Other types of located on Martha’s Vineyard have wetlands restoration program. Part restoration include removing been lost due to development and of the strategy was to form the undersized or plugged culverts and habitat succession. Partnership to Restore installing adequately sized culverts Massachusetts Wetlands, a to allow full tidal flushing to Anadromous Fish coalition of State and Federal saltmarshes impaired by road agencies, non-profits, individuals and construction. The Partners Program has helped businesses interested in restoring restore and rehabilitate a number of wetlands. At that time a State- Grasslands fishways on coastal streams on Cape Federal agreement under the Cod. In Plymouth, home of Coastal America Partnership was The Partners Program has Plymouth Rock, the Partners created. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife partnered with county conservation Program is partnering with the town Service is a signatory to that districts and private conservation and many other agencies to agreement. groups such as The Nature rehabilitate a fishway and remove a Conservancy and The Trustees of dam. Costs associated with The purpose of the Partnership is to Reservations to help restore vital anadromous fish restoration can form a strong constituency for grassland habitats through various range anywhere from $10,000 to wetland restoration and to techniques such as mowing, $40,000 per site, depending on the encourage communication and cutting, and controlled burning. structure and repair work involved. collaboration among those engaged The cost of grassland restoration in wetland restoration. The ranges from $100 to $500 per When European colonists came to Partners Program has been a part acre. Massachusetts, they found Native of this effort from the beginning, and Americans using fish as fertilizer. continues to help fund and promote Although Massachusetts was once Most likely these were river herring, coastal saltmarsh restoration mostly covered with non-woody anadromous fish that make their way projects. herbaceous plants due to farming up most coastal streams to spawn in activity, these areas have now freshwater ponds. After several Some of these coastal restoration become mostly forested, resulting hundred years of development, projects include Integrated Marsh in a dramatic loss of grassland including construction of Management, which consists of nesting migratory birds such as the hydroelectric power facilities, many restoring saltmarsh, grid-ditched for bobolink and eastern meadowlark. of these streams need fish passage mosquito control in the 1930’s, by Invasive plant species such as facilities to overcome the obstacles plugging ditches, removing fill mutiflora rose have taken over posed by dams and diversions. Partners Town of Ipswich Future Needs City of Northampton Natural Resources Conservation City of Gloucester Hundreds of tidal restrictions and Service City of Winthrop wetlands in need of restoration have Farm Service Agency Town of Arlington been identified through inventories of The Nature Conservancy National Fish and Wildlife Foundation coastal wetlands on the The Trustees of Reservations Environmental Protection Agency Massachusetts North Shore, South National Marine Fisheries Service Ducks Unlimited Shore, Buzzards Bay, and Cape Cod. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Essex County Sportsmens’ Coastal America Association Restoration opportunites throughout Massachusetts Wetlands Restoration Easton Natural Resources Trust the State include: Program Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust Massachusetts Coastal Zone • 3,000 acres of restorable wetlands Management Accomplishments in coastal areas of Massachusetts Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries • 400 acres of wetlands habitat • 500 miles of restorable streams Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and buffers and Wildlife restored or improved. University of Massachusetts • 1,000 acres of sandplain grassland/ Massachusetts Bays Program • 100 acres of upland habitat Buzzards Bay Program restored savannah habitat Northeast Massachusetts Mosquito Control and Wetlands Management • 1,500 acres of beaver-created • 2,500 acres of native grassland District wetlands conserved/protected. Norfolk County Mosquito Control • 3,000 dams in Massachusetts, Project many of which no longer serve a Plymouth County Mosquito Control • Fishway facilities on 6 streams restored/rehabilitated. useful purpose, could be removed Project to restore native fish habitat. Franklin Conservation District Cape Cod Conservation District • More than 7 miles of riparian • More than 100 existing fish Town of Marion buffers restored. Town of Tisbury passage facilities on Town of Yarmouth Massachusetts coastal streams Town of Bourne need repair or rehabilitation. Town of Essex
CONTACT
Robert Scheirer New England Field Office 70 Commercial St. Suite 300 Concord, N.H. 03301 603 223-2541 (Fax) 603 223-0104
July 2001
This fishway on the Mashpee River restored alewife and blue-backed herring access to spawning sites in Mashpee Pond, upstream of a barrier dam. USFWS photo.