Cascade Brook salt marsh restoration in Scarborough Marsh

Scarborough Marsh Wildlife Management Area, Maine's largest salt marsh (3,100 acres), has the greatest diversity of water-dependent birds statewide. However, barriers to tidal flow, undersized culverts, upland development, invasive plants, fill material and drainage ditches limit the Marsh's full biological potential.

Al 100-acre section of Scarborough Marsh became the focus of an ambitious restoration effort coordinated amongst federal, state and local conservation partners. In 1996, a 500-year flood destroyed the road crossing at the Old Blue Point Road, dumping large quantities of spoil material on two acres of downstream marsh, smothering native salt marsh vegetation and filling a tidal creek. In addition, 45 large piles of peat (ranging in size from one to 100 cubic yards) were ripped out of the marsh during the flood, floated downstream and came to rest on the surface of the marsh. Non-native Phragmites began aggressively invading the newly disturbed areas, threatening the natural resource values of the Cascade Brook salt marsh.

The Cascade Brook restoration porject, completed in early 2004, involved:

lowering the water control structure to increase tidal flow,
partially removing the underwater berm,
removing 5,000 cubic yards of spoil material on the surface of the marsh and in the intertidal creek,
removing all of the peat piles,
controlling the spread of Phragmites, and
pre-restoration monitoring and five years of post-restoration monitoring

Our Gulf of Maine Coastal Program office, along with partners at Natural Resources Conservation Service, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Friends of Scarborough Marsh and several environmental consulting firms -- provided uncounted hours of technical support needed to design the restoration work, plan the monitoring protocols, obtain permits, fundraise, conduct community outreach and coordinate partner activities.

Projects

Grants

Salt Marsh Restoration Slideshow