Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary, Mass Audubon, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

Once a cranberry farm, this 450-acre property underwent the largest freshwater ecological restoration ever completed in the Northeast United States. It is now the Mass Audubon Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary off Beaver Dam Road south of Gellar's Corner in Manomet Village in Plymouth. (The display board above is at the entrance to the property). Note: The facility will be open to the general public in late November.



On a perfect fall afternoon, hundreds gathered to officially celebrate the opening of this latest jewel in the Mass Audubon crown. Mass Audubon is the largest nature conservation nonprofit in the State of Massachusetts with more than 36,000 acres under their stewardship.



Many of the 650 donors who helped secure the property rights and fund restoration work came out for the event.



There was a little bit of speechifying under the big tent........



.....led by Mass Audubon Board Chair, Jared Chase........and others......



.......and finishing up with Lauren Kras, the Director of this new sanctuary..........



..... and then it was time to set off on foot to explore some of this natural wonderland.



This overlook location will soon have a viewing platform deck that will be accessible for all-persons to enjoy.

Every great conservation effort begins with a vision - a dream - a seed of an idea - and the willingness to stick to it through thick and thin to achieve the end goal. Glorianna Davenport and Evan Schulman, above, are the two people with that vision - the former principal property owners who wanted to restore and protect this special landscape into perpetuity.  And they did it!

They, along with many others both private and government, "re-created more than three and half miles of meandering stream channel, sculpted the land's surface, and removed nine dams to reconnect the headwaters of Beaver Dam Brook to the ocean for the first time in more than a century." (Source:  Mass Audubon).

Never underestimate the power of a dream and the perseverance to see it through to fruition!