Gates Will Open To Cold Brook Preserve

 HARWICH – The public will be able to access the 66-acre Robert F. Smith Cold Brook Preserve in the next week. 

The conservation area has been closed for the past year while an ecological restoration project has been underway on the Harwich Conservation Trust property. 

After more than a dozen years of planning, the former cranberry bogs along the edge of Bank Street have been restored to their natural habitat. Approximately 44 acres of wetland was “rewilded” to improve wildlife habitat diversity, wetland health, water quality and ecological resilience to climate change, according to Harwich Conservation Trust President Tom Evans. 

The restoration will also help to remove nitrogen from groundwater it passes through the preserve, reducing contamination in the Saquatucket Harbor watershed.

“It’s not a big restoration, it’s an environmental habitat restoration,” Evans said last Friday as he escorted 15 people on a tour of the preserve.

HJCT is sponsoring a series of tours of the preserve for people interested in the rewilding of the former bogs. Tours began on Friday and were booked immediately, according to Evans. Three more are scheduled for this Friday, Saturday and Monday, but they are also booked solid, he said. If interest in observing the preserve remains high, three more tours will be scheduled for the following weekend, he said.

But the gates to the restored preserve will be open to the public within the week. People will be able to access the new parking facilities adjacent to the accessible trail made of stabilized stone dust, which provides a hard surface path a half-mile long that accommodates wheelchairs, access for folks with physical disabilities, and families with youngsters in strollers. The trails within the preserve extend for about a mile and a half.

“I like this trail because it’s relatively flat. It’s the only one like it on Cape Cod,” Chatham resident Phyllis Koppel said during last Friday’s tour.

Evans cautioned people using the parking facilities to look out for construction vehicles related to the restoration project in the town’s former fire station, which is being converted into three affordable housing units, a fire museum and public meeting facilities.

The bog property was purchased in 2001 with the hope that a cranberry grower could be found to take it over. The cranberry market was starting a downward spiral, however, and there was no interest. Instead, HCT turned to the restoration project, which was in the planning stages for a dozen years. 

The preserve was named in 2015 after HCT’s late founding president Robert F. Smith, who served the trust in that capacity for 27 years. Evans praised Smith’s commitment to community, noting that Smith, who had muscular dystrophy, pursued the project knowing he would not be able to enjoy it. The Americans with Disabilities Act compliance is a tribute to Smith and assures that  people with disabilities can enjoy the preserve.

“Bob was just thrilled with it. He would just be beside himself,” said Patti Smith, Robert Smith’s wife, at the end of Friday’s tour. “I think people will come from everywhere. People might come to have lunch. It could have a good economic impact on the town.”

She said that she is glad they are using the word “rewilding”and not calling it a park. She also said she is excited to see what the preserve will look like when it starts greening out in the spring.

HCT has been working with the town, the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to return the fallow cranberry bogs to a natural marshland. The inclusion of four ponds on the property is expected to remove nitrogen flowing through groundwater and improve the health of the nutrient-impaired watershed.

 The town has contributed $2 million to the initiative since it could prevent  the need to install sewers for 800 homes in the watershed. 

The largest pond on the property is connected to Saquatucket Harbor and marine life is evident in it. Three river otters have been observed in one of the ponds, said Evans. 

There are four wooden bridges that span sections of Cold Brook and natural loop trails for those seeking a longer walk through the wildlife habitat. Evans said the wildlife has adjusted to the transition quickly. Workers were seeing deer and coyotes early in the morning. 

The grounds have changed to address the needs of varied species of wildlife. Slash piles of tree stumps and branches create burrowing habitats, and the edges of Cold Brook have also been stabilized using tree roots.

“For the first time in 150 years, Cold Brook is running free,” Evans said.

He said the town has money to make improvements to the fish ladder that has impeded the herring run into Grassy Pond. 

Dragonflies and damselflies have returned quickly and will serve to keep the mosquito population down, added Evans.

Two hills, said to have been there 150 years ago before the property was altered to accommodate cranberry bogs, have been restored. The invasive plant life that took hold in the bogs over the years has been buried 12 feet under in the hills.

Evans said environmental and planning organizations such as the Association to Preserve Cape Cod and the Cape Cod Commission and delegations from many of the Cape towns have a keen interest in the habitat restoration project.

“A lot of people are interested because it’s a great way to protect water,” said Evans.

 “I’m very impressed. It’s a good asset right in the center of town,” said Harwich Center resident Paul Doane at the end of the tour.

 The project was engineered by Inter-fluve, Inc. of Cambridge and the construction work was done by Sumco Eco Contracting of Peabody. Evans said the project has gotten a lot of attention. Inter-fluve is a finalist for an Engineering Excellence Award to be presented by the American Council of Engineering/Massachusetts, to be presented in April, Evans said.