Imperiled Ecosystems in a Shifting Climate
2016 Atlantic White Cedar Symposium
May 24-26, 2016

Hotel 1620, 180 Water St., Plymouth, MA

Sharon Great Cedar Swamp Restoration Project

Sharon Great Cedar Swamp Technical Team (Team):  Peter Fletcher, Soil Scientist, pfdigsoil@gmail.com;  Aimlee Laderman, Atlantic white cedar Specialist aladerman@gmail.com; Pamela Polloni, Botanist, ptpolloni@gmail.com
Neal Price, Hydrologist, Horsley Witten Group nprice@horsleywitten.com

Abstract
The Sharon Great Cedar Swamp (GCS) Restoration Project was undertaken to examine existing conditions and make recommendations for restoration of the GCS, an Atlantic white cedar [Chamaecyparis thyoides (L.) B.S.P.] wetland, a priority natural community and important groundwater recharge area that contributes clean groundwater to the municipal water supply.  The GCS has been degraded for more than 50 years by numerous anthropogenic activities around its perimeter.  The characteristic assemblage of wetland species is being replaced by upland species, some of which are exotic and dangerously invasive. Extensive areas of formerly thick black organic soils are now dry resulting in accelerated decomposition and volatilization of organic matter.  The ground surface has subsided in much of the western portion of the Swamp, indicating that release rates for carbon are much greater than the rate of sequestration.

Factors contributing to lowered GCS water levels, altered hydrology, and associated impacts to ecological function include:  1) a drainage ditch (constructed in the 1960s along the western border and subsequently deepened through the GCS peat layer) that receives significant groundwater inflow through the underlying sand and gravel deposits; 2) the Sharon Heights stormwater drainage system, which consists of catch basins directly piped to outfalls to the drainage ditch; 3) railroad tracks crossing the GCS in two directions, hydrologically isolating sections of the GCS from the whole.

With the support and guidance of the Sharon Conservation Commission and the Lake Management Study Committee, the Team has been collecting soil, vegetation, ecological and hydrological data and exploring corrective measures since 2007 with two major objectives: 1) restoring the ecological integrity of the swamp and 2) preventing any negative impact on the adjacent residential area.

Keywords: Sharon Great Swamp, Atlantic white cedar, GCS, hydrology

Peter Fletcher is a Certified Professional Soil Scientist with 45 years of field experience.  Peter currently owns his own consulting business and provides soils expertise to town, state, and federal agencies.  He also teaches a soils course through the University of Massachusetts. Peter has 25 plus years of field mapping experience as a soil scientist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, where he authored and/or coauthored three published soil survey reports.  

Neal Price has been assisting the restoration team by providing hydrologic and hydrogeologic support for the Team’s restoration assessment studies for the past 5 years.  Neal is Senior Hydrogeologist for the Horsley Witten Group, a private environmental consulting firm headquartered in Sandwich, MA.  Neal has over 20 years of practical experience conducting Hydrogeologic and Hydrologic investigations, primarily in southern New England.