AmeriCorps Removes Truckloads of Invasive Plants at Herring Run

BREWSTER – AmeriCorps Cape Cod volunteers spent Monday in the pouring rain cleaning out the Stony Brook Herring Run of debris and invasive plants, an annual project coordinated by the Department of Natural Resources under the direction of the Herring Warden. DNR staff member Dylan Marat said this clearing project happens rain or shine; only lightning could postpone the day-long project.

The AmeriCorps crew working at Brewster’s Herring Run included the Chatham House supervisor Robert Zielinski and 13 volunteers from all four AmeriCorps Cape Cod houses. The work spanned both the north and south side of the herring run, and by 4 p.m., they had removed six one-ton dump truck loads of vegetation.

“This is a hardy crew, and they were amazing,” Senior Shellfish and Natural Resource Officer Ryan Burch said. Stony Brook and the Mill ponds are thriving fish spawning routes, and this large-scale cleanup at the run is essential each year.

The AmeriCorps Cape Cod volunteers were very enthusiastic about the project, stopping the physical work of vine removal occasionally to observe the fry (baby fish) making their way downstream through the rocks.

Burch said the help from AmeriCorps has been crucial. “In projects like this that require a large amount of people-power, we rely on these All-Corps Days” – full-group service projects – as well as the “Cod Days” projects completed by smaller groups of the AmeriCorps Cape Cod volunteers.

On Monday, the goal was to expose the stone walls and remove unwanted vegetation. “It grows in and can choke out sections of the run — especially certain vegetation that grows in the stream,” the senior natural resource officer said. “As it grows, it re-roots itself and clogs the run and makes it difficult for the fish to pass through.”

A lot of the growth is invasive, non-native vegetation that spreads throughout the storm wall rocks. The desired outcome is to promote more native plants and vegetation and remove the invasives, and ensure the entire run is clear for the fish.

The annual work along the run is in collaboration with Doug Erickson, the Herring Warden. Burch said they call it the “Herring Run Haircut.” This was the second visit to the project site this year; the volunteers previously cleared the entire bank along the south side, near the wheel. “It just grows back year after year; we have to make sure none of the vegetation is clogging up the dams.”

This time of year, they are constantly making sure there is good water flow throughout all the passages and connectors because the fish are trying to get out. “The fry are coming down out of the spawning grounds, returning tail-first,” Burch explained. They spread out their time returning back; the early ones return in late June and throughout the summer, then there is a fall group, and in certain places, some return during the winter.

Burch said he was very impressed by the group’s work on Monday in less-than-ideal conditions. Savannah Gray was the member leader, and she did a great job keeping the morale and spirits up, he added.

Participants in the project included AmeriCorps volunteers living at the Chatham House: Sydney Hy (Melrose, Mass.), Margaret Sargent (Leominster, Mass.), Daniel Ecsedy (Woodbury, Conn.), and Korie Doster (Newnan, Ga.); the Wellfleet House: Savannah Gray (Bel Air, Md.), Jennifer Clifford (Kittery Point, Maine), Sara Abbitt (Mathews, Va.), and Emily Gilot (Mystic, Conn.); the Barnstable House: Hannah VanDivier (Boerne, Texas), Stephen Rice (Woburn, Mass.), and Grace Vachon (Somersworth, N.H.); and the Pocasset House: Bridget Gill (Melrose, Mass.) and Leeza Barstein (Princeton, N.J.).

AmeriCorps Cape Cod volunteers work at their individual placements mid-week, but every Monday and Friday, they come together for “All-Corps Days” – full days of group service projects. Burch said upcoming projects they hope to work on with AmeriCorps include restoration work at Mother’s Bog to maintain that field habitat; performing wildfire mitigation in the Punkhorn by removing vegetation along the roadside; and hauling in the sub-legal size oysters to protect them from the threat of ice in the bay during the winter months.