This week, careful observers may have noticed the removal of 1,600 square feet of phragmites along Hook Pond in East Hampton Village, only feet from the Main Beach parking lot, as well as 300 feet of hedgerow that ran along Ocean Avenue and blocked the view of the pond. Another 8,500 square feet of nonnative vegetation, including privet, autumn olive, porcelain berry, and bush honeysuckle were removed from the property, closer to the shoreline.
The project is part of an effort to restore the wetland buffer and create a meadow at 81 Ocean Avenue, a property that East Hampton Town acquired three years ago with $4.8 million from the community preservation fund. Owned by the Ayer family since the 1960s, it included a residence that was demolished when the town bought the property. Even though it’s town owned, the village is tasked with managing the lot.
After a general concept was discussed by the last East Hampton Village Board, the village’s Department of Public Works, the village planner, Billy Hajek, and Town Councilman David Lys, L.K. McLean Associates put together a plan for a passive use of the property. Mr. Hajek said it took some time to acquire the D.E.C. permits and bid out the project, but progress has been made.
The hedgerow will not be replaced, allowing for a view to the pond from Ocean Avenue. The pond front has been divided into three zones, with appropriate native plants set in each. Closest to the water, soft rush, freshwater cordgrass, blueflag iris, and marshmallow will replace the phragmites. Moving landward, northern spicebush, high bush blueberry, and swamp azalea will take root. Farther up the shore still, northern bayberry, switchgrass, and broomsedge will act as a wetland buffer. Three specimen trees, including a native red maple, have been preserved and will be protected.
The whole shoreline of the pond is a wetland, said Mr. Hajek. “The buffer is an area of no disturbance containing native vegetation. The idea is to replicate what would have occurred in a natural setting,” he said.
“The public location of the property makes the wetland buffer restoration project the perfect site for community outreach and exposure to what can be done to benefit our fragile waterways, in attractive and effective designs and implementation,” Mr. Lys said in a text.
In the late autumn, sometimes thousands of geese descend on Hook Pond to overwinter. Mr. Hajek said that amidst the buffer, a temporary waterfowl fence will be placed to give the plants an opportunity to get established. “They can pull plants right out of the ground if they’re not firmly rooted,” he said, of the geese.
The rest of the 42,000-square-foot property will be maintained as a wildflower meadow. Native milkweed, goldenrod, golden asters, black-eyed Susans, wild indigo, and other species will bloom there. For the first two years, the meadow will be mowed twice a year. By year three, it will be mowed only once. In addition to the mowing, invasive species would be removed by the village as they appear.
“This is a huge benefit for the pond,” said Mayor Jerry Larsen. “The house was in the wetlands, and they also removed the septic system. It’ll be a parkland now,” he said. “Though maybe not very welcoming for people to walk through, because of ticks.”
There are no plans for benches, but “ultimately maybe a path” will wind through the meadow, said Mr. Hajek.
Aside from the ecological benefits of removing invasives and replacing them with natives, and the water quality benefits that come from removing an aging septic system, there’s another advantage as well. Simply allowing a meadow to remain, as a testament to itself, an example that not all land needs to be over-landscaped, could be a silent but powerful message.
“I hope more shoreside property owners might learn from this project and want to do the same at their properties in the future,” said Mr. Lys.
