Major Eco-Restoration Planned For Herring River Watershed

 HARWICH – The Harwich Conservation Trust is about to embark on a major design study for an eco-restoration project in the heart of the Herring River Watershed that could lead to a nitrogen reduction initiative similar to the one with the town at Cold Brook. 
 Harwich Conservation Trust Executive Director Michael Lach informed the select board on June 2 that his organization received a $150,000 grant from the Massachusetts Division of  Ecological Restoration to develop designs for ecological restoration of hydraulically connected cranberry bog properties within the Herring River watershed.
 Lach was before the select board to define the purpose of the project and seek the board’s approval to include the easterly portion of the town’s 33-acre conservation area at 374 Main St. in North Harwich, adjacent to Flax Pond, in the study area.
The study would encompass three areas containing cranberry bogs: approximately 50 acres the trust purchased from Ray Thacher Jr., located at 379 Main St. south to Great Western Road; the 11-acre site owned by the trust just north of Sand Pond, off Deacon Folly Road; and a portion of the conservation lands owned by the town and presently under lease to the Cape Cod Regional Technical High School.
 Lach said he has consulted with Cape Tech Superintendent Robert Sanborn, who is in favor of the easterly portion of the site being included in the study. The Tech school has plans to develop an agricultural and environmental campus on a portion of the property, and Sanborn wants the west cranberry bog on the property excluded from the study area, according to Lach.
The study, Lach said, could lead to a collaboration between the trust and the town in reducing nitrogen in a similar fashion to the eco-restoration project conducted at the Robert F. Smith Cold Brook Preserve off Bank Street. 
The town provided $2 million for the Cold Brook Preserve project, which incorporated  nitrogen reduction designs which, according to the town’s environmental engineers CDM Smith, will save the town $6 million in sewer infrastructure in the Saquatucket Harbor watershed.
The study would be a steppingstone for the town in making a decision to incorporate nitrogen reduction into the restoration design in the Herring River watershed. The town would be responsible for a nitrogen management study at the 374 and 379 Main St. properties to determine whether attenuation — natural filtration of water to reduce nitrogen —  would reduce the need and expense of sewer infrastructure in the area, explained Lach.
 “We don’t want the sewer everywhere,” said Select Board Chair Donald Howell. “We’re looking for alternative approaches as they make themselves available.” 
Lach referred to a circa 1900 geological map showing two streams in the area, one from Sand Pond and the other from Flax Pond, that flowed south through the Thacher bogs, under Great Western Road and flowing into the greater Herring River estuary. 
The study would collect baseline data, hydrology, topography and sand depth and use it to start the process of designing ways to create more natural water flow conditions, according to Lach.  
 HCT President Tom Evans said the trust’s study will identify nitrogen impairment and the attenuation potential, providing better scientific information about the properties.
“We are trying to be a greater part of the solution,” Evans said. 
    Lach said this will be a three-phase project, including design, permitting and construction. The design phase will be done in two segments, a 50 percent and 100 percent design. He said the initial design will be completed by June 2026.
 The select board voted unanimously to include the easterly portion of the town conservation land in the study. The study will be managed by Inter Fluve, the same firm that provided the design for the Cold Brook Reserve.