enlarge photo Mill Pond Site at low tide.

Related Links NERO Habitat Conservation Division Mill Pond Fact Sheet NOAA Restoration Center

“We are pleased to partner with the City of Gloucester for this Earth Day event,” said Pat Kurkul, regional administrator, NOAA Fisheries Service Northeast Regional Office. “Cleaning up the site is the first step in a long-term effort to help restore a healthy, functioning wetland ecosystem.”

Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk is expected to join Kurkul and Deputy Regional Administrator Chris Mantazaris for the clean up.

"This project will result in a cleaner, healthier salt marsh that may even be able to support a commercial shellfishery someday,” said Mayor Kirk.  “This is a great opportunity for Gloucester residents to get involved in this much broader effort to restore a valuable local resource.”

Volunteers are to gather at O’Maley School parking lot on Osman-Babson Road at 8:45 a.m.  The City of Gloucester’s Health Department will be on hand to provide volunteers with gloves and trash bags, and to organize clean-up teams. The Department of Public Works and the City Recycling Coordinator will assist with garbage disposal and collection of recyclable items.

The Mill Pond restoration is a collaborative effort among NOAA’s Restoration Program, the City of Gloucester, the Conservation Law Foundation, the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Program, Metcalf and Eddy, Clipper City Surveying and Engineering, the Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership, and the Anderson Foundation. Plans are to modify a concrete dam that now regulates water flow in Mill Pond. This is expected to improve tidal influence and increase salinity thus reducing algal growth and invasive species like phragmites so that native salt marsh plants can recolonize the area. The restored marsh system will also provide habitat for a variety of fish and bird species and serve as a natural buffer against flooding.  This is a major concern to nearby residents who suffered an estimated $1 million in flood damage in 2006.

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NOAA Fisheries Service is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation’s living marine resources and their habitat through scientific research, management and enforcement. NOAA Fisheries Service provides effective stewardship of these resources for the benefit of the nation, supporting coastal communities that depend upon them, and helping to provide safe and healthy seafood to consumers and recreational opportunities for the American public.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.