Restoration of Plymouth wetlands takes shape at Foothills Preserve, Tidmarsh - Wicked Local Plymouth

In the distance, heavy construction equipment rips through the thick undergrowth to create a new stream bed across the wetlands.

Heat waves shimmer and rise above the overgrown cranberry bog. Large dragonflies buzz to and fro over the field of cattails, saplings and large green weeds. A red-winged blackbird lands in a leafless tree and begins to sing. In the distance, heavy construction equipment rips through the thick undergrowth to create a new stream bed across the wetlands.

Work is progressing on the Foothills Preserve and Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary. Located across from each other on Beaver Dam Road, the conservation parcels are getting a combined makeover so they can be returned to the way they looked more than a century ago.

"It’s an ongoing wetlands stream restoration project," says Dave Gould, Plymouth’s director of Marine and Environmental Affairs. "We’re working on some of the smaller ponds for duck habitat, as well as the stream channels where we are creating habitat for fish and amphibians."

The town partnered with the Massachusetts Audubon Society to rehabilitate the two properties at the same time. Old cranberry bogs at both sites are being plowed under and reshaped to appear more natural, irrigation ditches filled, ponds added and a new stream bed carved into the landscape to recreate a wetland area as it once looked when Plymouth was less developed.

The nearly $1.7 million project is funded entirely by grants, including $1 million from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and $369,000 from the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Other funding was provided by Ducks Unlimited and the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration.

Diggers and bulldozers are actively gouging the terrain at the 42-acre Foothills Preserve. Most of that area will be restored to wetlands over the next few months. Across the street, only a small portion of the 481-acre Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary required rehabilitation. Most of that work has been completed with the old cranberry bogs torn up and a stream channel added.

Right now, Tidmarsh looks like a war zone that came under artillery siege. There is no greenery; just dried mounds of dirt and shattered old trees scattered along a fresh-cut stream. The wood will serve as habitat for fish, frogs and fauna as the area returns to a wild setting.

"Look there!" says an excited Gould while hiking through the renovated Tidmarsh site. "Little fish are already in the creek! They weren’t here two weeks ago."

Indeed, wildlife is returning. Green bullfrogs have already moved in to claim their territory along the stream, loudly croaking to let others know they are here and splashing quickly into the water when trespassing humans get too close.

The new creeks connect with Beaver Dam Brook, which gently empties into Bartlett Pond, which empties into Cape Cod Bay at White Horse Beach. They are fed by ground water and springs, much like they were more than 100 years ago. The project seeks to bring back the stream beds and wetlands as they were in that simpler time.

"We’re trying to restore the creeks like they were before the cranberry bogs were built here," Gould says. When asked the names of the old streams, he simply shrugs his shoulders. The old maps don’t provide that detail. "We call it West Beaver Dam Brook now, but no one knows if they ever had names at one time."

As the name suggests, the brook once had beavers on it. They are long gone now as time, civilization and development have all taken their toll. Gould is hopeful, however, that they might return.

"They could come back," he says. "If we do this right, it would be a great habitat for beavers."

Soon, Foothills Preserve will take on a similar appearance to the Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary. The green will be gone and the ground will be scarred with the upturned earth. That will change too in the fall. Work crews will soon hydroseed with a special wetlands mixture that will start to grew as the autumnal rains return and flood portions of the restored area. By next spring, it will more closely resemble the wetlands that covered this area a century ago.

Eventually, boardwalks will be built, viewing areas added and trails cut so visitors can enjoy the restored region. People will be able to hike through the area and appreciate nature in a pristine state. It may be man-made now, but it will be close again to what it once had been.

"We’ll do some planting here in the fall," Gould says. "Next spring, it will look completely different."

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