Ask and ye shall... sometimes get really lucky

By Beth Sullivan

If you have followed this blog, or read through the website or newsletters, you will know that I have spent a lot of time and energy working at Dodge Paddock and Beal Preserve. These two preserves, together, create a gem of a space in Stonington Borough that many people don’t even realize is there.

Tucked at the end of Wall Street, it is the last significant open green space in the borough featuring waving grasses and spectacular water views. It is also probably the most studied, most time consuming, most beloved, and most frustrating piece of property Avalonia owns. It is a compact example of a huge problem: the effects of climate change such as sea level rise and ever more powerful storms. In just the last five years we have seen several hurricanes, winter storms, historic rainfalls, and summer droughts challenge this already fragile spot.

The small area has quite a diverse set of habitats and ecosystems. It has immediate direct ocean front exposure and small sandy pockets, as well as rocky shore and tide pools. There are areas of renewed and regenerating salt marsh, as well as areas that are often flooded by fresh water, rain runoff from storms and Borough streets. A large portion is more upland meadow-a small, but unique grassland with some shrubs growing in. It also has a greater share of invasive plants than any small parcel should host. All in all though, it is an amazing, beautiful spot, a great place to observe so many natural changes. All of which are being impacted severely by the changing climate.

Dodge Paddock and Beal Preserve make up the last open green space in Stonington Borough. Photograph by D. Boyle.

As recently as 2006, the Preserve was dry enough to mow and Phragmites were contained to the most wet areas. Photograph by J. Callahan.

By 2012 the Phragmites had filled the area.

We could never accomplish such tasks without DEEP assistance.

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy changed the landscape and the drainage forever.  You can read more here, here, and here about Dodge and Beal. Since that time I have been writing about the research and work we are doing there to try and preserve the preserve. As a volunteer with no professional background in the complex issues at hand, I am gaining experience rapidly. I am truly lucky to have some great resources who have helped, mentored, educated and worked alongside me there and have made a huge difference.

We have received major assistance from CT DEEP in their continued efforts to keep drainage open, to help create an environment where a healthy salt marsh could re-establish and diminish the mosquito population. They also wage the battle on the invasive plants that threaten to overtake everything!

Several years ago, with the Mystic Aquarium leading the charge, we were the beneficiaries of a big grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF). This got the community involved in studying the conditions there and planting native vegetation to give Mother Nature a boost at restoring the landscape once the Phragmites were removed and water flow established. We have had student groups, from elementary age to college, working to help plant, clear, clean and study. We have had graduate students and their mentors from New England Wildflower society studying the vegetation and providing seeds to help us restore natives as well.

New grant award

Now, once again, we have been supported and rewarded with another big grant. I am thrilled to be able to let everyone know that because of the efforts and energies of CT Sea Grant Program, and extension educator Dr. Juliana Barrett, we will be the beneficiaries of another Long Island Sound Futures Fund grant from the NFWF. We made so much progress with their previous support, that when this new application crossed their desks, they were willing to give again, to support the work we have accomplished.

With this grant, and with the oversight and guidance of Dr. Barrett who will administer the grant, we will have the funds to finally get a professional engineering study done to assess what is the best way to protect the south shore from the ravages of storms and surges. Decades ago, no one recognized or truly anticipated the changes we are experiencing now. The hope is that this will give us a guide to follow for the next decades to come. She will help me revise the management plan for the preserve, to reflect these changes since the plan was first written 5 years ago. With new plans in hand, hopefully we will find support and funding to execute them.

We will also get assistance with planning and restoring the area that was formerly Mrs. Beal’s garden. We have to somehow reclaim the land and have decided that a bigger area of native plantings would be beneficial for the area and wildlife, can help filter water run-off , and also serve as an educational opportunity for people who visit. There will be growing numbers of residents along the coast who will be affected by rising waters and their homes’ garden landscapes will be impacted.

I honestly believe that asking for help is the only way to make big things happen. But just as important is following through and showing your donors and benefactors that you will make the best use of their support.

Ask, and you may receive. Just be sure to be thankful and follow through.

Previous grants provided funds for plantings and educational signage.

Juliana Barrett will administer the new grant but will also be by my side working in the field.

The restored Paddock will be healthy and even more beautiful.

Photographs by Beth Sullivan unless otherwise noted.

You can find out more about the Avalonia Land Conservancy here.

Weather, Water and Changes

By Beth Sullivan

I am a weather geek.I watch the Weather Channel even when there is nothing exciting going on. But I would imagine with everything that has been happening in the last several weeks, even the most un-interested, non-weather watcher would be engaged and impressed. I am somewhat depressed.

In addition to sending thoughts and prayers to all the people in harm’s way and suffering as a result of such devastating storms, I can’t help but hope it opens the eyes of those who do not believe that things are changing. Even if there is disbelief about the cause of the change, it is impossible to deny that more and more people are being affected by the increased severity of storms, the rising surging water, and the after-effects of disease and displacement. There are too many people living in places that are seriously threatened.

I also tend to think about the effects on wildlife and natural resources. We are so caught up in the trauma to human populations, but what about those species that have lived along the coast forever? Certainly some of them are devastated, but some adapt. For millions of years the sea-land interface has been buffeted by hurricanes and the native wildlife has managed to survive. They hunker down, dig in, swim deep, fly away, but somehow they managed. With hardscapes and highways covering so much coastal territory now, how do many of them survive in this era?

When tons of debris-plastic, metal and chemical-float down and off the land and end up in the ocean, how will the creatures understand how to avoid the dangers? My guess is they won’t. They have a hard enough time with balloons and plastic bags already. What about the petroleum products , household chemicals, and industrial chemicals that are leaching into the waters and may settle in marshes and mud or keep being suspended in the water. In a situation like this, human life will come first, and attention to clean up in wild places will certainly take a back seat.

I walked a few preserves today in the lovely sun of September, feeling almost guilty for enjoying it so much. I enjoyed the Monarchs and birds that will be migrating south in the next weeks. But I began to think about elevations and relationship to storm surge like they are predicting in so many places. In Knox Preserve, there are already places that get flooded when the seasonal storm and full moon tides occur. Much of the preserve is only a few feet above the water. A surge of 5 feet would bring water up and over the walls and across the paths and out to the fields. Ten feet would bring it over the railroad tracks. This is a surge, like a tidal wave, not just a rogue tall wave. It would not retreat quickly.

Most of Knox Preserve is only a few feet above sea level and all the land beyond is of similar elevation. Photograph by Roger Wolfe.

During Sandy, this water was only a few feet higher than a usual high tide.

Imagine a storm surge fifteen feet above the height of the dry land- that's close to the top of these trees.

Even fro the safety of ten feet above sea level, it's easy to see how the railroad will be affected.

Superstorm Sandy

We had a taste of the power of water during Super storm Sandy in 2012. Not even close to a category 4 or 5 hurricane. But at Dodge Paddock, the water surged over the rocks , broke down solid sea walls, deposited debris over the entire area and changed the water dynamics and plant life forever. We are still dealing with the effects.

Natural, expansive salt marshes, like Woolworth Porter and Cottrell Marshes and those at Barn Island, are nature’s shock absorbers. When the waters pile in high and deep, the plants adapt. They buffer the surge and in that way protect those homes and structures that are higher and beyond them. When waters recede, there will be debris, clean-up will be needed, but the natural marshes absorb, detoxify, and gradually revive without too much intervention.

The power of water cannot be underestimated.  Photograph by Binti Ackley. 

When the water recedes and the sun comes out, there is the aftermath to deal with. Photograph by Binti Ackley.

This aerial photo of Woolworth Porter Marsh illustrates where the water can flow and how the marsh can be a buffer for the water. Photograph by David Young.

The landscape in places like Florida has been altered so much already, and the water levels have risen under the ground, that flooding water has no place to go.

I pray these storms make a lot of people think. Things are truly getting worse. The storms are more intense, the sea levels are higher, ocean temperatures are warmer, the populations along the shore are more dense. More people are at risk, and they are displacing the very habitats and ecosystems that are best able to withstand the changes. The long-term effects will be wide reaching.

Go outside today and think about what 10 or 15 feet of water would look like against your home, or against some trees and shrubs in your favorite coastal preserve. Think of the wildlife that calls these places home. Maybe give some thought to how we as communities and as individuals can think to the future to protect what we have and plan for the future.

This is just my opinion. Beth

Photographs by Beth Sullivan, unless otherwise indicated.

Dodge Paddock: A year later

A year ago this week, we were still shaking our heads over the enormity of the impact of Super Storm Sandy. The hurricane force winds combined with extreme high tides, and a huge storm surge hurled water and debris throughout the Dodge Paddock at the end of Wall Street in Stonington Borough.

Water surging into the parking lot.

No one ever remembers the water being so high and so forceful. Boulders were tossed like pebbles, and logs burst through the old seawall like battering rams. The breach allowed more debris to flow in. The higher marsh and meadow were covered with all manner of litter: logs, boards, docks ropes, glass and plastic, as well as about a foot of seaweed and other vegetation. The small brackish pond was completely flooded and the drainage outflow, a clamshell covered culvert, was broken, filled and slammed shut with rocks too big to move. Water flowed all the way back toward the houses on Main Street, and Wall Street was under several feet of water. It was almost too unbearable to witness and impossible to try to figure out what to do first.

The breach in the seawall.

Debris on the Meadow.

The obstructed clamshell drain pipe.

The water did recede some on its own. It flowed out the same way it flowed in, leaving behind a terrible mess. Avalonia volunteers and a contractor with a small tractor were able to move rocks and create a trench to uncover the clamshell and dig it out enough to let some of the flood to flow out. This reduced the level of water throughout the preserve. Again volunteers banded together to clear a huge fallen tree and collected bags of litter and trash and made piles of wooden material. Another contractor with a larger machine came in and did a day’s work moving the vast mat of vegetation and organic debris off the meadow and piled it along the undermined seawall . He moved the boulders and large logs and in some areas was able to move sand and gravel in ways to recreate some dune structure that had been destroyed.

The drain pipe dug out and working.

The CT DEEP stepped in to give more help and support and was able to grant emergency permission to accomplish much of the work. This kind of effort in a coastal zone often requires extensive permitting, but due to the emergency nature of the situation after Sandy, they helped us expedite matters.

Things seemed to stay on an even keel for a while, but spring storms reclosed the clamshell. In June we had massive rainstorms that refilled and flooded the Paddock. With summer and mosquito season imminent, the DEEP agreed to step in once again to create an emergency “swale”: a ditch out to the south side of the preserve to drain the flood waters. What a difference! Within hours the flood waters receded. Within a few days the meadow and marsh began to dry out.

After June rains, more flooding.

Creating the swale to release the flood waters.

Throughout the season the area began to recover. DEEP has begun a program to eradicate the invasive phragmities.  The pond will remain a small, shallow, brackish pond that will serve to hold run off from the town streets, but now it will not flood to the height it had. Native plants will begin to establish themselves along the perimeter and will also contribute to the health of the area and create a better habitat for wildlife. As the meadow grass grew back, it covered the scars left behind by Sandy, and the area took on a look of health and beauty.

Cutting Phragmites.

Looking at it a year later, some scars are visible. The seawall remains broken and cannot be efficiently repaired. Storms will continue to batter the shoreline. Water may flow in with a big storm, but now it can flow out. A healthy marsh and meadow can help buffer the impacts of storms and surge. Wildlife will return to the Paddock.

There is still work to be done and we are grateful to the CT DEEP for their help and generosity in restoring the area. It will take a while, but there are already lovely paths to walk again and the water views cannot be beat! Enjoy!

The entry way to Dodge Paddock.

Written by Beth Sullivan.   Photos by Beth Sullivan and Binti Ackley.