Eco-Restoration Journey Week 16: Meet the Project Manager

There are a lot of moving parts at an eco-restoration project. And you need a highly-talented project manager to keep track of it all. They act as sort of an air traffic controller, coordinating work at the site, keeping the project schedule on track and nimbly changing course as challenges and new ideas arise.

For Harwich Conservation Trust’s (HCT) Hinckleys Pond — Herring River Headwaters Eco-Restoration Project, Mike Lundsted is that go-to person.

Mike Lundsted, Project Manager for SumCo Eco-Contracting, stands on the All Persons Trail at Harwich Conservation Trust’s Hinckleys Pond — Herring River Headwaters Eco-Restoration Project. Finishing touches for the nearly on-mile trail are now underway.

As Project Manager for SumCo Eco-Contracting, Lundsted brings experience, good humor and impressive preparation to work every day. And his calm, unflappable demeanor helps to quickly smooth over any bump in the road that might arise.

While Lundsted has significant construction management experience, he also studied environmental science and biology in college. This gave him a keen appreciation for eco-restoration work. “Once I got in the door with SumCo nine years ago, the first couple of projects were so interesting, I could see myself doing this kind of work for a long time,” said Lundsted.

Over the years, Lundsted has worked on projects all over New England, sometimes working on more than one project at a time. He estimates that he drives up to 40,000 miles each year as part of his job.

But his travels often take him to beautiful natural settings, a fine reward for all the miles. “I would much rather be out working in the woods on a river bank, or working on a retired cranberry bog than working in a city street,” he said.

Lundsted also played a key role in HCT’s Cold Brook Eco-Restoration Project, which transformed a retired cranberry bog into a wildlife oasis, and allowed Cold Brook to flow freely through the property for the first time in over a century.

This composite photo shows the rapid green-up of native wetland plants at the Hinckleys Pond — Herring River Headwaters Eco-Restoration Project over a period of two months. The photo at left was taken in early May 2025, the photo at right was taken in early July 2025. Route 124 (Pleasant Lake Ave.) is on the right in both photos. Aerials by Steve & Eileen Furlong

Eco-restoration projects have become more popular in recent years and Lundsted thinks he knows why. “People see how effective this work is,” he said. Pointing to the flourishing native plants at the rewilded areas of the Hinckleys Pond — Herring River Headwaters Preserve, Lundsted observed, “we did this in the spring and it’s already starting to look like a fully functioning wetland.”

He has enjoyed working with HCT on the Cold Brook and Hinckleys Pond sites. “They are renowned not only in the state of Massachusetts, but around New England,” said Lundsted. “We work with land trusts all over the place, and people say Harwich Conservation Trust is awesome and (HCT Executive Director) Mike Lach is a pioneer.”

Lundsted takes pride in his important work and so does his family. “I build a lot of boardwalks and trail systems, so if I’m going somewhere with my family, and we’re driving past a project I worked on, we often stop in,” he said. “And my daughter will tell everyone ‘my dad built this boardwalk.'”

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.

Harwich Conservation Trust’s Hinckleys Pond — Herring River Headwaters Eco-Restoration Project includes the rewilding of two retired cranberry bogs that bracket Hinckleys Pond, indicated with red circles. The blue arrows pointing into the three ponds show upstream migration of river herring each spring.

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 is 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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