Featured Projects
Coastal ecosystems and communities are under direct threat from climate
change and sea level rise. Meanwhile, low-lying cranberry farmland with no viable economic future
presents an opportunity to create more resilient and adaptable coastlines. Massachusetts has the means to leverage this opportunity, with rich expertise and experience in ecological restoration for these unique
sites, and a thriving network of partners to protect and manage public open space. The first goal of this project is to protect and restore coastal wetland habitats within the grant period - and invite future inland marsh migration on retired low-lying cranberry farmland. This project also will provide valuable co-benefits less common in habitat restoration projects.
This work aims to understand the relationship between the acoustic diversity of restored cranberry bog sites and habitat conditions measured through remote sensing.
River herring are an important part of our coastal streams, acting as a bridge between the ecology of the ocean and freshwater environments. Volunteers have helped monitor river herring each spring in Beaver Dam Brook since 2018 and Manomet Brook since 2021. Each volunteer spends ten minutes observing any herring moving upstream and also documents any that might be schooling below the count locations, as well as water temperature, air temperature, and weather conditions. This raw count allows the Mass. Division of Marine Fisheries to extrapolate a population estimate, provided there are enough counts and enough fish have been documented.
Ecological restoration of approximately 20-acres of abandoned cranberry farmland, adjacent uplands, and downstream tidal creek and salt marsh. The project is a pilot for low-lying cranberry bogs, marsh migration, and community engagement for the 2023 NOAA award to Mass Audubon and partners entitled “Making Space: The Southeastern Massachusetts Marsh Migration Initiative.”