GEORGETOWN

The Kennebec Estuary Land Trust recently completed a restoration project that may help restore the health of the Little River salt marsh in Georgetown.

A causeway for an old, abandoned logging road that crossed the marsh, blocking water from freely flowing, was removed on Feb. 7.

The Little River wetland sits between Indian Point Road and Reid State Park in Georgetown.

The project took place on KELT’s Lundstrom Marsh Preserve, which was donated to the land trust by the Lundstrom family in 2016.

The rough causeway on the surface of the marsh was used for logging more than 50 years ago. By blocking the flow of water, the marsh upstream flooded for extended periods and the water became fresher and warmer. On a sunny summer days, water would sit, pool and warm when it was trapped behind the causeway.

In restoring tidal flow to the upper Little River wetland, water will be able to easily drain from the upper marsh, and the conditions will become saltier and cooler.

Warm temps a problem

Warmer temperatures are a problem for wetlands because they are important places for small fish and juvenile fish to grow and develop, according to KELT. Juvenile fish only grow well in a certain temperature range, so the causeway was preventing the wetland from being a healthy place for fish development.

Freshwater and flooding cause problems for plants and the marsh surface. Salt marsh plants are adapted to live in high salt conditions. The excess fresh water and the extended flooding above the causeway caused some of the saltwater-loving plants in the Little River wetland to die. Without these plants, the surface of the salt marsh became mushy and muddy as the salt marsh peat started to break down and decay. As it decayed, the rotting marsh released greenhouse gases.

The freshwater also created prime conditions for invasive plants to take over. An invasive plant called Phragmites australis (the common reed) likes areas that have fresh water or only slightly salty water, and it was starting to spread across the surface of the wetland. This reed grows quickly in dense patches that crowd out native plants and change wetland habitats.

Monitor marsh

KELT will be monitoring the Little River salt marsh for the next five years to document how it changes over time. They will be measuring the water level, water temperature, plant types, and plant growth.

This project was many years in the making and was supported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Stantec, which developed the engineering designs, and Linkel Construction, which carried out the construction work at the site to remove the causeway. The project was funded by the Maine Natural Resource Conservation Program.