Wellfleet's Herring River: The Case for Habitat Restoration

Portnoy, John; Reynolds, Michael

Among all of the Cape's historically altered estuaries, the Herring River system in Wellfleet is an outstanding example of not only the impacts from extensive human alteration, but also the potential for habitat restoration after many decades of hydrologic and ecologic disturbance. This largest estuary on the outer Cape has a long history of repeated ditch drainage and stream channelization. Roads and a railway have dissected the flood plain; dikes have cut off seawater flow; and residences and a golf course have been built in and around what was once a natural tidal salt marsh. Even before wetland preservation was popular, actions like these that altered the coastal marshes were controversial because of the differing values and conflicting uses associated with the lands and waters by farmers, fishermen and developers. Despite greater environmental awareness since the 1970's, especially regarding the value of natural salt marshes, little recent progress has been made in managing or restoring these natural systems. There are many reasons for this: 1. reliance of opinion in the absence of scientific information at critical decision points; 2. a reluctance to disturb the environmental status quo, albeit altered from natural conditions; 3. lack of public recognition of inconspicuous, but substantial, adverse effects of the hydrologic alterations; 4. lack of public understanding of the social and environmental benefits of tidal restoration; and 5. legitimate property rights and land use concerns that have developed over time in and adjacent to these systems. Estuaries comprise some of the world's most productive biological systems. They are nursery areas for many commercial species or their prey. Salt marsh systems produce more biomass per acre than most terrestrial or aquatic systems. Over thirty percent of Massachusetts salt marshes occur on Cape Cod, yet few are truly natural or unaltered. As the outer Cape's largest system, we have a unique opportunity to bring back and influence a significant resource for not only the Cape, but for the Commonwealth and the New England region as a whole. Recent research into the environmental consequences of diking and alternatives for seawater re-introduction has great potential for resolving long-standing controversy and promoting an active program of habitat restoration. In this report, we summarize management history, both past and present diking effects on salt marsh ecology, and describe the components and likely consequences of planned salt marsh restoration in the Herring River ecosystem.

Wellfleet's Herring River: The Case for Habitat Restoration

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