Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
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56 SEPTEMBER 2020 I N - D E P T H The assessment pointed to salt marshes as some of the most vulnerable coastal habitats in Massachusetts. The solution the organization found was a deceptively simple technique: Salt marsh hay will be mowed on-site, then loosely braided, layered into the ditches, and staked into place. The work is being done by hand, using nothing more technologically advanced than a walk-behind mower. Over time—and many tides—sediment will collect in the hay, filling the ditches in a way that closely approximates the natural processes of the marsh. The marsh, is already trying to restore its natural waterflow, says Geoff Wilson, principal of Northeast Wetlands Restoration, the environmental restoration company that is completing the work for the Trustees. This ditch-filling process will just give it a helping hand. "The secret to this is that the salt hay is the same material that the peat is made of, roughly," Wilson explains. "It becomes the same peat. It becomes healed." Russell Hoppings is the lead ecologist for the Trustees. PHOTOGRAPH BY ELISE SINAGRA