Excavators have churned up soil, ripped out pine trees and broken up buried plastic piping. In their place are wide moats of thick, sloppy mud, so dark they’re nearly black.
The Industrial Legacy of Massachusetts Cranberry Farming
Century Bog operated as a commercial cranberry farm for more than 150 years. Over 150 years, an average of two feet of sand was added.
That addition of sand primarily dries out the landscape, moving the surface farther away from the groundwater. According to Alex Hackman, director of ecological restoration at MassAudubon, that is why pine trees grow there now, rather than cattails. All that sand would have been too expensive to remove completely. Instead, the construction crews are mixing the sand into the soil as they dig up the buried wetland peat.
A State-Level Push for Ecological Restoration
Brian Wick, executive director of Massachusetts Cranberries, a nonprofit supporting the local industry, said cranberry farming generates about $1.7 billion in annual economic activity. But farmers face challenges including rising costs, competition from out of state, and droughts. Many of the state’s cranberry farmers are aging, and may not currently have an exit strategy. Retiring the land for restoration provides a retirement.
Reviving Native Biodiversity and Flood Resilience
The regeneration of the site will be driven by native seeds dormant in the wetland soil. Chris Neill, a scientist at the Woodwell Center for Climate Research, noted that at the Coonamessett restoration site, before restoration there were maybe 15 species in one of their plots, and after restoration, the average was 35 species.
Wetlands absorb nitrogen that gets into waterways from agriculture runoff and septic systems. Linda Deegan, a scientist at the Woodwell Center for Climate Research, explains that wetlands are also a tool for flood management, acting as natural sponges so that if there’s a really heavy rainstorm, the water can flood out into the wetlands instead of being confined to a narrow channel.
