One Group’s Effort to Keep Nature from Getting Bogged Down

The site of Tidmarsh Farms was a commercial cranberry bog until 2010. It produced 1% of Ocean Spray’s harvest. New, more efficient ways of farming have made farms like Tidmarsh inessential, and so the owners decided to ‘rewild’ the bog by slowly turning it back into the coastal wetland it once was. Through careful planning and construction, the site now has a stream that connects to the ocean. Herring can now swim through this stream in order to spawn. As well, previously scarce white cedars are now growing once again in their native habitat.

Tidmarsh Farms is taking advantage of the potential for new research that is unfolding in real time, by collecting climate and environmental data through sensors on the land. With Tidmarsh as a successful pilot project, more cranberry farmers in Massachusetts are looking into funding and incentives to return the bogs to their natural state.  

Read the full story on The New York Times.

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