Windswept Bog, Nantucket Island MA: Watershed-scale Wetland Restoration and Research

On June 17th the Nantucket Conservation Foundation hosted a celebratory tour for partners and funders of their recently completed Windswept Cranberry Bog wetland restoration. A walk through the property led by Karen Beattie of NCF, Michael Soares and Julie Busa of Fuss & O'Neill, and Travis Sumner of SumCo Eco-Contracting focused on the results of the work and collaboration of the many people and organizations who have worked tirelessly over the past few years to ensure this project’s success. Project partners joined from Mass DER, USFWS, EPA, SNEP, The Living Observatory, SumCo Eco-Contracting, Mass Audubon, and Restore America's Estuaries. The newly restored wetland was already greening up and the work completed the year prior was in full bloom. The Windswept Bog restoration is an exciting example of cranberry bog restoration and joins many successful projects completed across New England that are contributing to our collective knowledge of wetland restoration practices.

The Nantucket Conservation Foundation (NCF) is very excited to report that the contractor for the Windswept Bog Wetland Restoration Project, SumCo Eco-Engineering, is finished with all earth-moving construction work. We plan to re-open the property at the end of March, once the trails have had a chance to dry out after a long, icy winter. This milestone completes two phases of construction which were preceded by four years of planning, permitting and fundraising. Construction activities for this project took place only during the winter dormant seasons (from November to mid-March) to avoid impacting rare plants, nesting birds and breeding wildlife on the property. Phase 1 construction began in January 2024 and was completed in March 2024, with ~14.0 acres of former cranberry bog cells restored to hydrologically connected wetlands. Restoration of the remaining bog cells (~26.2 acres) began in November 2024 and was completed in mid-March 2025.

The Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game's Division of Ecological Restoration (DER), in partnership with the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, has been awarded $1 million from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for the Windswept Bog Wetland Restoration Project, which will restore and enhance a 231-acre property containing 39 acres of former cranberry bog and 111 acres of natural wetlands.

The Nantucket Conservation Foundation is excited to announce that we have broken ground on a multiyear, watershed-level restoration of our Windswept Bog property this was retired from active cranberry farming in 2017. Initial work on the site started just last week an dis progressing quickly! This significant milestone is the culmination of over four years of research, monitoring, engineering plan development, permitting, and grant writing undertaken by NCF, the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration’s Cranberry Bog Program (DER) and Fuss & O’Neill, Inc. engineers.