Living Observatory Summits
Goals
-- Glorianna Davenport
The goal of this summit is to set the stage for the next wave of wetland restoration in Southeast Massachusetts and suggest how it will differ from Restoration 1.0. To frame this, lets revisit the definition offered by SER in their handbook: Restoration is "the process of assisting in the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed" (SER).
Restoration 1.0 encompasses a number of wetland restoration projects on cranberry farmland. In these projects we trialed an approach, worked to make projects visible, sought to evaluate whether the playbook of actions worked, and began to define success. All these projects are notable for innovations and insights. 17,000 Atlantic white cedars were planted on Eel River. Living Observatory (LO) was founded in the early days of the Tidmarsh project; our goal was bring together scientists, engineers, artists, and funders with diverse knowledge and a commitment to document the "arc of change", learn, and share knowledge. Coonamessett celebrated fish passage; young children learned about the life cycle of river herring and participated in raising local awareness of the opportunity. The Division of Ecological Restoration identified 20 priority projects and founded the Cranberry Bog Restoration Project. In 2016, the Cranberry Task Force identified restoration as a green exit strategy for farmers who wish to retire their farmland. Despite differences in restoration goals, these projects used a similar playbook of techniques to reset hydrologic and topographic connectivity on these sites.
From 2022-2025 Living Observatory and Woodwell Climate Sciences worked with DER to develop a suite of standard monitoring protocols to measure project success. This challenged the team to articulate what questions frame "success". The team developed protocols for hydrology, soils and vegetation. Initial monitoring data shows that the restorations have been effective in increasing the residence time of water on the site, by year 5 post restoration soils are beginning to show signs of wetland function, and that immediately post the vegetation no longer demonstrates a cranberry monoculture but rather an impressive species richness.
What distinguishes restoration 2.0? Restoration 2.0 will resurrect the idea that restoration is a process that embraces reciprocity. As these sites develop,we need to continue to monitor them, but also to steward them and learn how to adjust the trajectory if warranted. Projects need to engage the broader community including the indigenous groups so that they can take ownership in ways that maintain habitat and augment value. During this phase we need to continue to innovate and learn. Thanks to Mass Audubon we are learning how to identify more of the bogs that once supported cranberry agriculture. We are augmenting restoration techniques to include space and time for marsh migration. We need to increase studies that quantify the impact of these projects on denitrification, greenhouse gas release, and habitat development and the impacts of watershed level development on these projects. As we enter Restoration 2.0, we also need to lower the cost of restoration and involve more farmers in the process.
In short, this work to restore a wetland trajectory to retired cranberry farms in the years ahead will be exciting, hopefull, and freplete with innovation. We are grateful to all the pioneers in this room who have paved the way and who will share some of their stories with us today.
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