Herring River restoration project gets a hefty $22.67M boost from state
Heather McCarron
Cape Cod Times
WELLFLEET — More than a century ago, a dike was built across the mouth of the Herring River at Chequessett Neck, blocking it from freely emptying out into Wellfleet Harbor and hampering the inward flow of salt water with the rising and falling of the tides.
Little did they know then, as they sought to control mosquitoes and create more arable and developable land, the damage that would be done to the estuarine ecology over time.
Fast forward 113 years. A project to restore the Herring River Estuary is in the works, and this week the $70 million plan got a hefty financial boost from the state.
On Sept. 19, state and local officials gathered at Chequessett Neck Road Dike to celebrate the award of a $22.6 million state grant to help fund the project — appropriately as Climate Week got under way.
In recognition of Climate Week, state officials visited Wellfleet Monday to celebrate a grant awarded to the town to support the Herring River Estuary Restoration Project. From left to right: Cape Cod National Seashore Chief of Natural Resource Management and Science Geoff Sanders, Friends of Herring River Chairman Dale Rheault, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Beth Card, stat Rep. Sarah Peake, Fish and Game Commissioner Ron Amidon, and Wellfleet Town Administrator Richard Waldo.
Herring River project aims to restore salt marsh, shellfish harvesting
The funding, awarded to Wellfleet through the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Ecological Restoration’s Priority Projects Program, joins a $27.2 million grant awarded in April from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.
On hand on Monday were Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Beth Card, Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Ron Amidon, Wellfleet Town Administrator Richard Waldo, state Rep. Sarah Peake, Cape Cod National Seashore Chief of Natural Resource Management and Science Geoff Sanders, and Friends of Herring River Chairman Dale Rheault.
The Herring River Estuary Restoration Project is touted as the largest estuary restoration ever undertaken in the state, or even the northeast.
“This project will dramatically increase our community’s climate resilience, providing new infrastructure, restoring salt marsh and its potential to reduce carbon emissions, and safeguarding the health of shellfish resources so vital to our local economy,” said Waldo. “We are grateful to the Commonwealth for this significant investment in Wellfleet’s future.”
The project aims to restore 890 acres of degraded salt marsh and other estuarine habitats, improving water quality, enhancing climate resiliency, restoring native vegetation and shellfish harvesting, according to state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
Specifically, the project will replace the dike with a new bridge and tide gates, allowing the river and tides once again to interact as nature intended. Plans also call for installation of new water control structures to manage tides in two of the estuary’s sub-basins, in addition to mitigation measures to protect low-lying roads and structures from increased water levels.
Restoring estuary will bring back marine birds, animals
Expected to increase the salt marsh acreage of Wellfleet Harbor by around 60 percent, the restoration will be undertaken in small increments spanning several several years. Besides restoring the estuary and reintroducing marine birds and animals that have been absent from the habitat for more than a century, Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Card said the restoration project is an important part of addressing the impacts of climate change on Cape Cod.
“As Massachusetts continues to feel the impacts of climate change from stronger and more frequent storms, the resiliency of coastal communities is a key priority, and we are proud to support the town of Wellfleet and this incredible project team as they work to restore the health of the Herring River Estuary,” she said.
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The work will also enhance “opportunities for canoeing, kayaking, and wildlife viewing over a diversity of wetland and open-water habitats, so residents and visitors alike can enjoy first-hand the natural areas we’re working to restore,” said Fish and Game’s Amidon.
At one time, the Herring River estuary was one of the most important coastal wetlands in the state, according to the Friends of Herring River, with the Herring River — which spans about four miles between its headwaters at Herring Pond and Wellfleet Harbor — at its heart. The estuary supported one of the largest nurseries for commercial and recreational fish and shellfish on the Cape.
Dike eventually killed fish, closed shellfish beds
In 1909, according to the Friends, “the natural condition was changed dramatically when the mouth of the river was diked at Chequessett Neck … Subsequent ditching and stream channelization was intended to drain the system’s wetlands even further.”
The 900-foot dike blocked tidal flow, resulting in “large-scale environmental degradation.” Over time, the landscape was transformed from a robust estuary into one dominated by disturbed freshwater wetlands and dry, deciduous woodlands. The water is highly acidic, with low levels of dissolved oxygen, and high fecal coliform bacteria.
“The first two of these have caused fish kills; the third has led to closure of shellfish beds both upstream and downstream of the dike,” according to the restoration project conceptual plan document. Moreover, “with poor tidal flushing and degraded water quality for predatory fish, nuisance mosquito production remains high.”
Herring River dike rebuild in the 1970s.
The dike was rebuilt in the 1970s, but by the 1980s scientists began to recognize the adverse ecological impacts the dike was having on the environment. Researchers with the Cape Cod National Seashore, which manages much of the floodplain, began studies that would eventually lead to formulation of the current restoration plan.
The plan has been in the works for at least 20 years, created through a collaboration of numerous local, state, federal, nonprofit and scientific participants under the leadership of the town and the National Park Service. Among organizations supporting the efforts are the USDA Natural Resources Conversation Service, NOAA Restoration Center, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration, and the Friends of Herring River.
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