$30,000 State MET Grant Going to Tidmarsh for Streamside Habitat Restoration

LINCOLN, MA.--The Massachusetts Environmental Trust (MET) has awarded Mass Audubon a $30,000 grant to restore wetland and floodplain forest vegetation along near a half-mile of West Beaver Dam Brook at its Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary in Plymouth.

The waterway, which flows east from the Pine Hills across the wildlife sanctuary and Rt. 3A before emptying into Plymouth Bay at White Horse Beach, is a cold-water stream that once supported Eastern Brook Trout, and Mass Audubon is working with partners to restore to its property the state’s only native trout, among other wildlife.

The award from MET, a grant program of the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs whose mission is to support projects that enable innovative approaches to protect and restore natural resources, represents crucial funding for the project.

In addition to the multi-year ecological restoration, the money will help allow Tidmarsh staff and other Mass Audubon experts to share the knowledge gained from this project with professional and public audiences and engage and educate the community through media outlets and advocacy, outreach, and volunteer programs.

“We’re really grateful for this support which will allow us to re-vegetate the recently restored wetland, which will continue to restore cold-water stream habitat in Plymouth and build coastal resiliency,” Mass Audubon South East Director Lauren Kras said.

“We’re very excited to continue to work alongside numerous partners including the Town of Plymouth and the state Division of Ecological Restoration,” Kras added, “and look forward to sharing this project with the public.”

Learn more at www.whaleplate.org.