Hepburn Family Preserve Living Shoreline Project - May Update

Dear Fenwick Neighbors and Friends: 

The restoration work at the Hepburn Family Preserve is complete! The in-surf rock sills are mitigating wave energy; the staked-in marsh mats just inside the sills are beginning to collect sand to support the planted marsh grass; and the dune plantings on both the front and back are complete.

On the inside of the dune, a new channel provides Crab Creek better tidal flow between the river and Hepburn Pond. The old channel has been filled in and the invasive plants brought under control. While the dune is expected to move, the space between its inner edge and the new creek bed will better accommodate that natural process.

The work to relocate the culvert required patience by the residents on Mohegan Drive, but these properties will benefit from the larger culvert and the fact that the relocated water lines no longer required frost protection.

There will be one more visit later this summer to check on the invasives control.  From here out the project will be monitored for how it performs.

We want to congratulate the Lynde Point Land Trust, the Borough, Fenwick Improvement Fund, and the many Fenwick contributors whose time and generosity made this restoration possible. It takes a village.

Have a great summer!

Thank you,

Brett Morrison
Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC)
Sound to Source and Source to Sound
Protecting and Restoring New England’s Great River
bmorrison@ctriver.org