Questions about Mill Pond? View the Updated Q&A
Join the Select Board Meeting - 2 p.m. Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Posted on: March 21, 2023 - 12:22pm
The community has asked some great questions regarding the Mill Pond Salt Marsh Restoration Project. Town staff has compiled and condensed these questions into a "living" Q&A style document with answers from staff, safety officials, project consultants, environmentalists, and more. Click here to view the full Mill Pond Q&A.
What are the environmental benefits the larger breach offers?
Based on the modeling results, all four alternatives will provide a similar level of tide and salinity restoration to Mill Pond. This will promote tidal flushing that will improve the overall water quality and enhance salt marsh habitat for associated flora (e.g. S. alterniflorus) and fauna (e.g. fish, shellfish, wading birds, crustaceans, etc.).
However, the two (2) open channel (breach) alternatives provide additional environmental benefits over the box culvert alternatives including:
- Existing anthropogenic hard structures (concrete, asphalt, etc.) and features (guardrails, etc.) will be removed and replaced with natural materials such as stone, compatible sediment, and vegetation plantings that will provide additional habitat for salt marsh organisms.
- The use of Mill Pond Road will eliminate vehicular traffic and associated pollution and be limited to bikers and walkers.
- Removing the asphalt and associated drainage structures would result in a net reduction in pollutant loading from stormwater runoff into the salt marsh and estuary (great for shellfish)
Furthermore, Alternative 4, the large open channel breach, has the added benefit of removing additional anthropogenic features and converting the existing roadway directly into a salt marsh by creating salt marsh benches. These would be constructed by excavating the roadway berm elevation to the elevation of the existing salt marsh platforms in Pamet Harbor and Mill Pond, which would then be planted with salt marsh vegetation. The toe of the salt marsh bench would be reinforced using natural stone to retain the material. Alternative 4 would provide increased habitat connectivity by extending the existing salt marsh platform from Pamet Harbor through the open channel and into Mill Pond.
Excerpt from opinion letter by Water Resource Consultant, Scott Horsley -
“I concur with the recommended alternative (breach channel with a 95-foot top). In my opinion,
this is the best long-term solution and will provide the best water quality and ecological restoration results. With climate change and sea level rise in mind, this solution will also
provide the most resilience to these changing conditions. The removal of the road and its
associated stormwater drainage will be a net reduction in pollutant loading to the salt marsh and estuary.”
To view the newest additions to the Q&A, please scroll toward the bottom of the Mill Pond Q&A.
For more information, please visit the Public Works Department page on the town's website: Mill Pond Salt Marsh Restoration Project
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