Eco-Restoration Journey Week 12: A bike trail runs through it

The popular Cape Cod Rail Trail provides a spectacular vantage point to view progress at Harwich Conservation Trust’s (HCT) Hinckleys Pond – Herring River Headwaters Eco-Restoration Project. The scenic bike path passes between the pond on the west and the rewilding underway on the east.

Barnstable County’s planning agency, the Cape Cod Commission, estimates that more than 200,000 bikers and pedestrians use the 27-mile trail each year, based on data from a counter installed in Brewster in 2019. That means thousands of folks will enjoy seeing the native plants flourish to create a thriving habitat for a wide variety of birds and other wildife.

Meanwhile, a mile-long wheelchair accessible All Persons Trail is now under construction at the restoration site. Nearby, a new viewing area will overlook Hinckleys Pond as part of the HCT project.

The interface area at the rail trail takes careful planning. To link the bike path with the pond overlook and the All Persons Trail, the earth on either side of the bike path is being contoured into gently sloped ramps. The ramps and All Persons Trail aren’t intended for bicycles, so folks will park their bikes at a handy bike rack and then make their way down the ramps. People of all physical abilities and families that have youngsters in strollers will be able to easily navigate the new ramps to enjoy the rewilded scenic vistas.

Along with the bike rack, a painted crosswalk will span the rail trail, and there will be signage nearby to inform bike trail users that a crosswalk is ahead.

A recent field visit to Harwich Conservation Trust’s (HCT) Hinckleys Pond – Herring River Headwaters Eco-Restoration Project centered on the project’s interface with the Cape Cod Rail Trail. From left to right: Michael Lundsted (Project Manager, SumCo Eco-Contracting), Nick Nelson (Senior Geomorphologist and Northeast Regional Director for Inter-Fluve), Mike Lach (HCT Executive Director), Rene Morin (Field Operations Team Leader, MA Department of Conservation and Recreation), Tom Evans (President, Board of Trustees, HCT), Susie Johnston (Forest and Park Supervisor, MA Department of Conservation and Recreation).

Welcome advice from the state

Cooperation and idea sharing between groups and agencies has been a hallmark of the eco-restoration project. And since the Cape Cod Rail Trail is state property, managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), their input and approval are essential to creating the new interface.

HCT was grateful for the insight and expertise provided by DCR’s Field Operations Team Leader Rene Morin and Forest and Park Supervisor, Susie Johnston at a recent get-together along the rail trail at the project site.

It was a hands-on affair, complete with measuring tape, bike rack tips and line-of-sight talk. Both Morin and Johnston bring decades of experience to the table, and they generously shared ideas and were excited about the ongoing eco-restoration project.

“It’s awesome,” said Morin. “It’s habitat rehab, it’s planting, it’s reclaiming a cranberry bog with a walking path. When I was waiting for you here, people on the rail trail were stopping and looking at the project and everyone was excited.”

Johnston pointed out that the rail trail connects users with lots of natural beauty as it wends from Yarmouth to Wellfleet. “You can see just about every Cape Cod habitat along the rail trail,” she said. “You see the marshes, Cape Cod Bay, the woods, cranberry bogs, the ponds. It’s a little bit of everything.”

Once completed, the Hinckleys Pond Herring River Headwaters Eco-Restoration Project will add another star attraction for bikers and walkers on the rail trail. There will also be an easy way for bike trail users to access the mile-long All Persons Trail and drink in exceptional views of Hinckleys Pond.

Johnston is looking forward to the results of the eco-restoration project. “”I’m glad it’s going to be a more natural habitat, and it will help educate people about how Cape Cod started out,” she said. “It will be a natural vista with a spot for people to jump off their bikes and see what Cape Cod really is.”

Project refresher

The Hinckleys Pond – Herring River Headwaters Eco-Restoration Project includes the restoration of two retired cranberry bogs that bookend 174-acre Hinckleys Pond in Harwich, located at the headwaters of the Herring River estuary. Hinckleys Pond is also connected by streams to river herring spawning habitat in Long Pond and Seymour Pond.

By the late 1990s, much larger off-Cape bogs were producing an extra supply of cranberries that caused the price to fall. This shift in the industry makes it more difficult for local growers to continue farming. Some are looking to exit the industry.

Farmers have a choice. They can either sell their properties for conversion of the upland to subdivisions which can cause water quality changes and end up closing off public access to the land. Or they can seek a conservation future by selling to local land trusts and towns. In 2021 at Hinckleys Pond, the Jenkins family finished their farming chapter and chose to sell their 31 acres to HCT for the next chapters of conservation and eco-restoration.

The Brown family, who owns a retired bog on the other side of the pond, is also partnering with HCT on the project. The collaborative eco-effort will increase biodiversity and restore freshwater wetland habitat as well as enhance opportunities for everyone to enjoy the trails, views and wildlife watching.

The eco-restoration project was funded by HCT donors, the Brown family, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Southeast New England Program (SNEP) Watershed grant, EPA National Estuary Program Coastal Watershed grant under cooperative agreement with Restore America’s Estuaries, Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation MassTrails grant, foundation funds through the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, and a Transformational Habitat Restoration & Coastal Resilience grant through the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.

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