In October 2015, comprehensive ecological restoration began on Tidmarsh Farms, a 577-acre commercial cranberry operation in southeastern Massachusetts. Since that time, completed restoration actions (~$2.7 million total cost) have included removal of seven dams/dikes, re-construction of 3.5 miles of stream channel, creation of deep and shallow ponds, installation of thousands of pieces of large wood, ditch plugging, surface roughening, extensive earthwork, and native seed bank reactivation, and selective planting. As a result and within <1 year, much of site has transitioned from retired cranberry farm, to heavily disturbed and bare soil, to wet and heavily re-vegetated wetlands.

We present an overview of wetland and stream restoration work performed, observations from the field, and initial lessons learned. We will discuss the work of Living Observatory and partners - the learning collaborative developed in concert with the restoration project -- and initial findings from 'time zero' on site. We will also discuss future related work within the watershed, and how efforts at Tidmarsh may provide a template for conservation and restoration for future retiring cranberry farms (over 12,000 acres in MA). This talk is a follow-up to a presentation at the 2014 SER NE meeting, which focused on the use of a practical, process-based approach for linking theory to practice, and succinctly conveying project design and intentions.

Project partners: Tidmarsh Farms, Inc. (landowner), Living Observatory (and partnering institutions), USDA NRCS, USFWS, NOAA, Mass Audubon, Town of Plymouth, Salicicola, Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration (project manager), Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, and Division of Marine Fisheries, American Rivers, Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, Massachusetts Environmental Trust, Inter-Fluve, Inc. (project engineer), and SumCo Eco-Contracting (construction contractor).

Alex Hackman is a Restoration Specialist and Project Manager for the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game's Division of Ecological Restoration. He holds a Master's Degree in Aquatic Ecology and Watershed Science from the University of Vermont, where his research focused on whole-stream metabolism and nutrient spiraling in impaired urban streams. Over the past 20 years, he has held a variety of environmental protection and research positions in private, public, and academic settings. Alex is currently managing numerous dam removals and wetland restoration projects (including Tidmarsh Farms) in Massachusetts. He lives happily with his sweetheart in Medford, bikes to work in Boston, and considers himself the most fortunate public servant in the world.