Living Observatory
A Learning Community
The Arc of Change
From Wetland to Cranberry Farm to Wetland
MISSION To tell the long-term story of the Tidmarsh Farms Wetland Restoration and to advance scientific knowledge and public understanding of wetland ecology.
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housands of years ago along what is now the coast of Massachusetts, receding glaciers created bogs, kettle hole ponds, springs, and cold-water streams that flowed into the sea. These perpetually water-soaked lands evolved into biologically complex and dynamic ecosystems, functioning not only as a rich habitat for diverse plants and wildlife but also as water-quality filters and natural buffers against flooding. When Europeans settled in New England, the Native Americans introduced them to a small, red, very tart berry that grew abundantly on the beaches and at the edges of wetlands nearby. By the late 19th century, cranberries became popular enough that large expanses of wetlands were cleared, drained, and leveled to farm the fruit commercially. In the 1980s, Evan Schulman acquired three cranberry farms in Manomet Village (Plymouth), Massachusetts, to run as a single enterprise. When a more productive cranberry variety made it possible to produce the fruit in upland fields, berries grown in wetlands became less competitive. At this point, Evan and his wife, Glorianna Davenport, decided to place the cranberry bogs under a permanent conservation easement, restoring the cultivated land to its original purpose — as a wetland. To accomplish this Tidmarsh partnered with the Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS), the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration (DER), and several others to complete the largest freshwater restoration to date in New England. The restoration work also attracted Mass Audubon to purchase most of the Tidmarsh land east of Beaver Dam Road as a nature sanctuary, and Plymouth’s Conservation Committee to acquire the land west of Beaver Dam Road.
The Restoration
From Wetland to Cranberry Farm to Wetland
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idmarsh Farms is only the second completed ecological restoration project on retired cranberry farmland. What will happen to the other thousands of acres of former coastal cranberry farms? Our hope is to offer an example of what is possible for those landowners wishing to pursue a similar route of land conservation and wetland restoration. During the restoration research phase, environmental engineers, botanists, wildlife scientists, hydrologists and others worked together. They extracted cores to capture a record of past climate back to the ice age. They used ground-penetrating radar to map the underground peat deposits, and measured temperature along the streams to estimate the location of cold, underground springs. All of this research informed the restoration plan. Excavators and heavy-earth moving equipment removed a total of eight dams and large earthen berms, filled a host of drainage ditches, broke up over 100 acres of cranberry mat, and constructed over 3.5 miles of new stream channel. More than 3,000 stumps and large logs were added to enhance the stream channel and add habitat complexity to the restored bog surface. The result is land that is returning to its natural state — as a functional, coastal wetland that connects headwaters with the ocean and creates habitat for river herring and other aquatic and terrestrial wildlife. The work also activated a legacy seed bank long dormant under the sands of the cranberry mat. A selection of native plants, including 7,000 Atlantic white cedars, primarily grown on site, were used to jumpstart the restoration. As the natural healing progresses, careful monitoring will help control invasive plant species.
The restoration is only beginning.
Living Observatory
A Rare Learning Opportunity
“The field of restoration has long been criticized for not doing enough to learn from our work and not attaching enough monitoring or research to our projects. Tidmarsh provides us with a very rare opportunity to marry on-the-ground restoration with a well-organized learning agenda. It is special to have this kind of collaboration of multiple institutions organized under this type of entity that share the same vision of what we’re trying to do.”
— Alex Hackman (Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration)
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he idea of a “living observatory” recognizes the Tidmarsh conservation project as a rare opportunity to observe the trajectory of ecological restoration and add to our knowledge about one of nature’s most valuable, multi-purpose ecosystems. Today Living Observatory’s interdisciplinary learning community of technologists, scientists, artists, educators, and students develops projects that measure changes in the ecosystem, studies changing populations of wildlife and plants, and offers artistic insights into the evolving natural landscape. As part of their public outreach, researchers are collaborating with the MIT Media Lab to use digital technologies that provide opportunities for people to experience the long-term environmental and economic value of wetlands both on the site and remotely over the internet. Sharing what is learned at Living Observatory is central to our mission. The collection of baseline data and the results of long-term studies that focus on soil, water quality, atmospheric impact, and wildlife will add valuable knowledge about the ecological restoration of disturbed or degraded areas and the future of wetlands. All of the work by participating scientists and artists is carefully archived and made accessible to other researchers.
“Tidmarsh is a unique opportunity for Mass Audubon in that we can integrate the research of Living Observatory into our educational programming. We will be managing the site when it becomes a sanctuary, which will provide an educational opportunity for a variety of audiences. It serves as a resource that allows us to connect people with the science.”
—Kris Scopinich, Mass Audubon
LIVING OBSERVATORY AT WORK
Biodiversity provides an important measure of ecosystem health in wetlands. Students in Professor Alan Christian’s Freshwater Ecosystem Laboratory (FEL) at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, collect invertebrate and fish samples to quantify differences in population size and diversity.
How do the biogeochemical interactions of soil, water, and air develop in a restored wetland? Professor Kate Ballantine and her students at Mount Holyoke College explore the composition, biodiversity, the rate at which microorganisms re-populate the soils across the restored land surface over time in order to understand the role they play in vital wetland functions.
By streaming real-time data, the MIT Media Lab’s Responsive Environments group offers a way to experience changing ecological processes across the landscape. Data is collected through 32 microphones, 4 cameras, and hundreds of environmental sensors. This virtual Tidmarsh provides the digital explorer with a sense of being present as nature restores itself.
LIVING OBSERVATORY AT WORK
Composition tools provide musicians with the opportunity to compose works using the environmental and sound data streams. Please visit the website (http://tidmarsh.media.mit.edu)
River herring are tagged as they begin their journey upriver to spawn and then return to the ocean; as they pass through antennas, their presence is recorded in the virtual world. Rob Vincent, MIT Sea Grant, with the help of volunteers, gather data that will allow them to characterize the effect of habitat restoration on river herring.
Connecting with Living Observatory Living Observatory is a field research center serving a consortium of university faculty and research scientists, artists, educators, and volunteers. Together we seek to document and reveal the restoration and recovery of a former cranberry bog for the benefit of the academic community, restoration practitioners, and public. We invite you to become involved to further this collaborative opportunity in environmental research. Please get in touch with us about donating, conducting research, creating art, or shaping a learning experience at Living Observatory. We welcome volunteers! Email: info@livingobservatory.org Phone: 617.642.7934 Mailing Address: 139 Bartlett Road, Plymouth, MA 02360
Websites: http://LivingObservatory.org and http://tidmarsh.media.mit.edu
LANDOWNERS Tidmarsh Farms, Inc. Mass Audubon Town of Plymouth
OUR PARTNERS
RESEARCH PARTNERS Boston College Bridgewater State University Emerson College Inter-Fluve, Inc. Mass Audubon Massachusetts Bays Program Massachusetts Department of Fish & Game Division of Ecological Restoration Division of Fisheries and Wildlife MIT Media Lab MIT Sea Grant Program Mount Holyoke College
Public Laboratory Salicicola.com Smith College Tufts University University of Massachusetts-Amherst University of Massachusetts-Boston USDA Agricultural Research Service USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Environmental Protection Agency AND American Rivers The Gulf of Maine, Council on the Marine Environment SumCo Eco-Contracting Massachusetts Environmental Trust National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration Manomet, Inc., Climate Services Program Wildlands Trust
Visit our website at http://LivingObservatory.org for an updated list of our partners.
LIVING OBSERVATORY