News & Announcements
Download media package for this story including text in Word format plus high-resolution image (145K self-extracting Zip file)
January 3, 2006
Project Coordinator: Sandra Lary (Sandra_lary@fws.gov; 207-781-8364 x19)
Mill Brook Salt Marsh Restoration
.jpg)
After several years of assessment, planning and coordination by local volunteers, and multiple state and federal natural resource managers, Mill Brook, a 381-acre section of Scarborough Marsh Wildlife Management Area was restored in 2005. Mill Brook salt marsh had been degraded by man-made ditches and upland land uses. Ditches were first constructed in the 1600s to facilitate the growth of salt hay by farmers, and additional ditches were dug in the 1960s, in a misguided attempt to reduce mosquito populations. Drainage ditches reduced the biological vitality of the salt marsh by limiting the frequency and duration of salt water wettings by the tides. Land-use activities on nearby uplands, including housing developments and golf courses, also negatively impacted Mill Brook by concentrating polluted freshwater run-off on the marsh surface. In recent years, Phragmites, a highly invasive plant, also appeared in Mill Brook.
The Scarborough Marsh Restoration Team (Friends of Scarborough Marsh, Maine Department Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Gulf of Maine Coastal Program, Ducks Unlimited, Environmental Protection Agency, and Natural Resources Conservation Service) implemented the Mill Brook restoration project by plugging selected ditches to improve hydrology, and removing multiple stands of Phragmites to minimize the threat of broad-scale invasion. Mill Brook now sees the regular tidal wettings needed for vigorous and diverse salt marsh vegetation communities to grow and for the saltwater pools on the surface of the marsh to be refreshed. Saltwater pools provide important habitat for small native fish, which eat mosquito larvae, and which provide food for larger fish and wading birds, shorebirds and waterfowl that depend on the marsh to feed and roost.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Gulf of Maine Coastal Program provided biological, technical and financial support that helped move this project towards successful completion. Initially Lois Winter, and later, Sandra Lary, Senior Fish and Wildlife Biologist, worked with partners to complete the biological site evaluation required for the restoration design. Sandra also initiated an intensive water quality assessment of the freshwater runoff onto the marsh. The data, collected by environmental consultants documented that the runoff was contaminated with high levels of fecal coliform and zinc. The data was essential to the subsequent design of the project, and care was taken by the Restoration Team to maintain the filtration capacity of the salt marsh. Additionally, a local interest group initiated an independent program to monitor and address water quality issues in the Mill Brook area. Sandra also coordinated with partners to assist with cultural resource and state permitting requirements, to develop a pre- and post-restoration monitoring plan, and to locate needed funds. Other Restoration Team partners also provided technical, biological, engineering, outreach and financial support. Natural Resources Conservation Service contributed $120,000 through its Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Gulf of Maine Coastal Program provided $22,000, and Ducks Unlimited, Inc. will be providing an estimated $26,000 for post-restoration monitoring in FY06 and FY09.
Since 2002, Gulf of Maine Coastal Program has been an active player in
the Scarborough Marsh Restoration Team, which has completed a comprehensive
inventory of restoration priorities and implemented and monitored three
restoration projects totaling more than 500 acres. In addition, the Team
has completed significant planning and design work for two more pending
salt marsh restoration projects. Together, these five projects will restore
biological vitality at highest priority restoration sites covering nearly
one-third of Scarborough Marsh. “We are very pleased to be a key
member of this large partnership effort to restore Maine’s largest
and most biologically diverse salt marsh. Important progress has been made,
and more remains to be done to restore the Marsh and protect its upland
buffer. We hope to continue providing important technical and financial
support for this vital effort,” commented Gulf of Maine Coastal Program
Project Leader Stewart Fefer.