Long-Term Development and Ecosystem Functions of Restored Cranberry Bogs

Throughout May and June of 2024 the Ballantine and Andras research groups from Mount Holyoke College collected and analyzed soil samples as part of an ongoing monitoring project. The project, funded by DER, aims to describe the long-term ecological development of soil physicochemical characteristics and to evaluate whether wetland functions are being successfully restored within a reasonable time frame. This year we sampled the restored sites of Garner Bog, Farley Bog, and Foothills Preserve, as these sites were all restored in 2021 and fell within our longitudinal monitoring plan of 0, 1, 3, 7, and 10 years post-restoration. Our results showed that none of the key physicochemical wetland soil indicators had changed significantly between years one and three, which is consistent with the slow initial post-restoration development of wetland soils that has been observed in numerous previous studies. Nonetheless, we did see plenty of evidence that these sites are beginning to develop as wetlands. For example, we observed lots of standing water, robust patches of sphagnum and other wetland obligate plants, and numerous places where sphagnum had begun to spread across bare patches of sand and gravel (photo below). We will continue to monitor these and other restored cranberry bogs to see if the pace of soil development accelerates in future years.