June 1
At tomorrow''s meeting, agenda items include: this year's banner migration numbers in Brewster, a discussion with DMF on potential restoration plan for Slough Pond passage, Mosquito Control's needs for treatment at the runs, a review of this year's management of Slough Pond run with NRD, and more... (LINK here)
At tomorrow''s meeting, agenda items include: this year's banner migration numbers in Brewster, a discussion with DMF on potential restoration plan for Slough Pond passage, Mosquito Control's needs for treatment at the runs, a review of this year's management of Slough Pond run with NRD, and more... (LINK here)
June 2
The sandbag weir at Slough was opened yesterday and, with enough water in the passage, the herring are making their way back in. They are not done yet!
The sandbag weir at Slough was opened yesterday and, with enough water in the passage, the herring are making their way back in. They are not done yet!
June 3
Here is a link to last night's meeting. It was an exceptionally good meeting and it covered many important topics. Thank you to Division of Marine Fisheries' biologist Brad Chase and Mosquito Control Project's entomologist Gabi Sakolsky-Hoopes for their presentations and to Committee Chair Abigail Archer for inviting them.
Meanwhile, the NRD closed off the passage again today in two places and rearranged the sandbags along the stream. There is a good amount of water throughout except for the last several feet where sand has shoaled which could and should be dug out. There were no fish today regardless. The gauge at Slough is barely registering, but, at this point, there is little direct reference to the level in the passage. Although we can expect lowering ground water levels reflected at the gauge and in the passage from June on.
One critical point to keep in mind on the topic of water, the passage runs through a wetland, or as some call it a swampland, which more often than not dries out in the summer months, drought year or not. The cranberry bog once inhabiting this system decades ago employed this wetland for its purposes, as they do. They did not create a resource that wasn't there to begin with. There are surrounding woodlands. There is a connecting passage from the wetland and woods to a source of freshwater, the pond, at a higher elevation. Managing the passage now to support the herring migration that has established itself over more than a century is the work at hand.
And thinking historically, I have long maintained that the 40-year archive of notebooks on Stony Brook Watershed's herring management by veteran warden Dana Condit (d.2020) should properly be digitized for posterity and research records. Link here.
Here is a link to last night's meeting. It was an exceptionally good meeting and it covered many important topics. Thank you to Division of Marine Fisheries' biologist Brad Chase and Mosquito Control Project's entomologist Gabi Sakolsky-Hoopes for their presentations and to Committee Chair Abigail Archer for inviting them.
Meanwhile, the NRD closed off the passage again today in two places and rearranged the sandbags along the stream. There is a good amount of water throughout except for the last several feet where sand has shoaled which could and should be dug out. There were no fish today regardless. The gauge at Slough is barely registering, but, at this point, there is little direct reference to the level in the passage. Although we can expect lowering ground water levels reflected at the gauge and in the passage from June on.
One critical point to keep in mind on the topic of water, the passage runs through a wetland, or as some call it a swampland, which more often than not dries out in the summer months, drought year or not. The cranberry bog once inhabiting this system decades ago employed this wetland for its purposes, as they do. They did not create a resource that wasn't there to begin with. There are surrounding woodlands. There is a connecting passage from the wetland and woods to a source of freshwater, the pond, at a higher elevation. Managing the passage now to support the herring migration that has established itself over more than a century is the work at hand.
And thinking historically, I have long maintained that the 40-year archive of notebooks on Stony Brook Watershed's herring management by veteran warden Dana Condit (d.2020) should properly be digitized for posterity and research records. Link here.
June 16
It has been a while but little has changed since I last posted any observations. There are a few things to mention however. First of all how lovely the passage was to walk this morning- the scent of pines warming in the almost summer sun, shy frogs leaping into the still waters to hide under a puff of sand, the call of gulls and herons, chipmunks scurrying through leaf litter, the ebullient chorus of the resident Catbirds. It was peaceful now that the run is over and there is just the quiet of the woody path again, for now.
It has been a while but little has changed since I last posted any observations. There are a few things to mention however. First of all how lovely the passage was to walk this morning- the scent of pines warming in the almost summer sun, shy frogs leaping into the still waters to hide under a puff of sand, the call of gulls and herons, chipmunks scurrying through leaf litter, the ebullient chorus of the resident Catbirds. It was peaceful now that the run is over and there is just the quiet of the woody path again, for now.
There were other things observed. The erosion at the culvert is much worse. The Town cannot repair this as it is on private property although the foot traffic by Town staff certainly has contributed to its fragile state. Hopefully, if the DMF's restoration plan is accepted this will be resolved.
There is bank erosion elsewhere as well. This was addressed by the NRD by the use of sandbags but one wonders if the weight and drag of the sandbags themselves is contributing to the problem it is trying to fix.
Sandbags are still in place along the passage and perhaps an excessive amount at the mouth of Slough. The bags were placed to shore up water levels in case adults tried to enter or depart and found the shallows too shallow. It is not yet time for the juveniles to depart. There is a surprising amount of water along the entire passage with only the persistently shallow area by the mouth with its usual sandbars.
The survey flags tied along the passage by the engineering firm, hired by the DMF for their proposed restoration plan, are still present and rather festive, even hopeful in appearance, like prayer flags hung by Native tribes and Tibetans. The deadline for filing the plan approaches at the end of the month and a decision will have to be made by the Town- to keep up the arduous work of the past year with all its permutations, to close the herring run entirely (its first position and one favored by two wardens), or to embrace a conservation ethic here for present and future generations, not only of alewives...
