00:00
Madelyn Lewis: The Fresh Brook Restoration Project aims to improve the natural flow of Fresh Brook, a spring-fed stream that runs through the town of Wellfleet. In the next 50 minutes, you'll hear the voices behind the project, answering questions like, what is the history of Fresh Brook? What is the role of partners in a restoration project? How has this project been meaningful to different people? While taking a deeper dive into archaeology, the passion behind the project, and the perhaps lesser-known side of the work done by the National Park Service.
00:29
I'm joined by Geoff Sanders, the Chief of Natural Resource Management and Science at Cape Cod National Seashore. Geoff has been working at the National Seashore since 2019 and has worked with the Park Service since 2004. Geoff, what is the need for this restoration project?
Geoff Sanders: The purpose of the restoration project at Fresh Brook is to restore a native sea run brook trout population to the stream. Over the years, the stream has been impacted by construction of culverts and in this case, a small weir just upstream of the rail trail that prevents brook trout from migrating upstream where they would typically breed. Fresh Brook is historically the only stream on the outer Cape to support a sea run brook trout population, but it hasn't been able to do that for quite some time due to these culverts and weirs that have been installed.
Madelyn Lewis: Why is this restoration important for the national seashore?
Geoff Sanders: Well, I think national parks in general want to have resources that are in as natural a condition as you can have them. It's hard to find in lot of places these days, especially in areas of the country that areas more populated like the East and Northeast. I think the goal is to maintain our resources unimpaired. But when you have structures like culverts and weirs, obviously that alters the structure. So from that standpoint, I think we always want to see these systems return to a more natural state. But we also want to see species like brook trout, which are not nearly as common as they used to be. We want to make sure that we have resources to support species like that. And knowing that we can support species like brook trout means that we have healthier ecosystems.
Madelyn Lewis: Could you talk more about the ecosystem of fresh brook?
Geoff Sanders: Fresh Brook is a spring fed cold water stream that runs through Wellfleet, which means that all the, headwaters of the stream where it starts is fed by groundwater through seeps and springs. And this water is typically much colder than the surface water in the stream, which is important for brook trout because they require a cold-water habitat. The drainage for Fresh Brook starts in the Marconi area closer to Marconi Beach. It runs down through the park and out into Cape Cod Bay. On its way, it runs underneath the Cape Cod rail trail and then through a culvert underneath Route 6. But as you get down closer to Cape Cod Bay, it becomes tidal. It's not tidal in the upper reaches now because the tide can't get over the weir. Once we remove the weir, there will be some, on certain high tides, that's when fish passage will be more possible because the water will get high enough, create a hydrologic connection with the upper reaches of Fresh Brook and allow fish to pass from the lower section to the upper section. Yeah, so right now it has a large, impounded sort of ponded area, which once we remove the weir, will drain by roughly two feet, two plus feet. But it'll still, there'll still be a little, impounded area there where it flows down before it goes through the culvert. And, uh, and yeah, hopefully, hopefully once we reestablish this passage, fish like brook trout will use it because it will still be, as long as it’s being groundwater fed, it'll still have those cold-water attributes.
Madelyn Lewis: How has the park been facilitating this restoration?
Geoff Sanders: Well, I guess um if you go back to the very beginning, um which was long before I started here, my understanding is that the Massachusetts Division for Marine Fisheries actually approached the park about this, identifying Fresh Brook as a stream that historically supported brook trout. And that's what kind of kicked this off. And the park got involved and engaged some partners to help do some modeling to understand the best approach to take as far as the restoration goes. For instance, do you remove the culverts under the rail trail on Route 6? Do you just remove the weir? And all of these have different cost implications. And then if you did any of these things, what are the hydrologic impacts? Where's the water going to go? How's that going to change? And this was... the funding for all that was not supported by the park. That was that came from partners because this is a project that's very important to other entities outside the park. But the park has been very engaged over the years as far as supporting and getting this thing done.
Madelyn Lewis: It seems like there are many various factors to consider when talking about restoration. Can you tell me more about your experience in working with partners and other people at the seashore to get this going?
Geoff Sanders: Yeah. So with this project in particular, there were some key partners identified early on. The Division for Marine Fisheries is one. The Sea Run Brook Trout Initiative and then also Trout Unlimited are all, both nonprofit partners who were very interested in seeing this get done. Also, we have some contracting groups that have been involved for a long time who have a lot of experience working on fish passage projects in the Northeast. So they came with a lot of, a lot of interest. Another key partner we're working with on this project is the Center for Coastal Studies. They're helping us assess the ecological condition of fresh brook right now. They're conducting pre-restoration monitoring. They're trying to identify not only what's currently living in the system but also looking for those cold-water seeps in the stream that are going to be key to the brook trout habitat. The center is also going to continue their monitoring post-restoration, so after the weir is removed, when they will continue to evaluate basically the effectiveness of the restoration, not only from the standpoint of how the fish are doing, but also the habitat. Their monitoring is extending not only above the weir, but also down below the weir and out through the habitat that leads to Cape Cod Bay. But it's important to have partners on projects like these, otherwise, it's very hard to get them done.
Madelyn Lewis: How does the park decide which restoration projects to take on, and what is the difference between Fresh Brook and other projects going on?
Geoff Sanders: The decision process varies from project to project. For Fresh Brook, think it was- again this started long before I arrived in my position here at the park- but I think it started out as a project that was really achievable. It's a completely manageable construction project that you could, you know, it's not going to take much time at all. It takes time to prepare for it properly, design it properly, go through the permitting process, but all that stuff leading up to it is going to take 10 times longer than it's actually going to take to just remove the piece of concrete. So, oftentimes we work with much larger projects that take decades to finish. This is a project that within a, you know, just a small portion of someone's career, you can actually see, go from start to finish and see it through. Whereas I know people who have worked their entire careers on a restoration project and it hasn't even started yet. So, it's exciting to be involved in that type of thing.
Madelyn Lewis: What else do you see coming out of this restoration project? For example, papers, publications, maybe could this inspire future restoration projects?
Geoff Sanders: So I think we do have people doing some monitoring and some science that will look at the before and after. Whether they can turn that into some sort of publication, I mean, we have to wait and see on that. I hope it does inspire more restoration efforts like this. Ideally, I would hope that it would inspire increased restoration of this system. We're only removing a small structure, a small portion of it. There's still going to be culverts that go under Route 6. There's still going to be a culvert that goes under the Cape Cod Rail Trail. Ideally, we would get rid of those. If this project can help inspire further work like that, that would be great.
Madelyn Lewis: It seems like right now there's a lot of forward motion regarding this restoration project. Would you agree with that? And...
Geoff Sanders: Yeah, I would! I think it's... like I said earlier, we have great partners...but things are moving along where, you know, we hopefully will we have our permitting and compliance completed by the summer. They'll have, hopefully have final design plans by the summer and it's quite possible that we could start looking to contract for construction and removal next fall.
Madelyn Lewis: So, fall of 2027?
Geoff Sanders: We could start the contracting process probably as early as fall of 2026. We do. are subject to time of year restrictions, so we can't we can't remove the culvert during certain times of year when certain species might be using it. So, for instance, fresh brook is habitat for American eel and river herring. Not that River Herring can navigate past the weir right now, but eels potentially can. Eels can kind of scale these surfaces. uh we have to just account for the fact that we can't disturb those species during these certain times of year when they're active in these streams. But hopefully, yeah, within the next year, we might at least have a contract in place for construction.
Madelyn Lewis: I understand there's the potential for tribal involvement on this project. Could you tell me about that?
Geoff Sanders: Yeah, think one of the things we're trying to do more and more with a variety, not just with this project, but with a lot of our projects is engage with local tribes and inform them about what we're doing and see what type of involvement they would like to have. And we have, we consult with tribes on all these projects, the larger projects, especially. I mean, this is all tribal land that we're on. Historically, the Wampanoag all lived in this area. So I think more and more, we're trying to not only engage with them, but have them engage in the projects. And one of the ways we can do that is identifying certain plant species that they might like to see in certain areas, especially if we have projects that are going to have a vegetation plan. So it turns out that with Fresh Brook, once the water is drained from, well, they're partially drained, once the weir's removed and the water level drops, ideally we'll want to vegetate the stream bank. So if we're going to do that anyway, I think it's... that's one of the ways that we can involve the tribe. So talking to them about what are some of the plant species that are important to you? Medicinally or just culturally in their society. Like what are the plant species that they that they would use? And involve them in developing that plan.
Madelyn Lewis: That's wonderful. What do you hope to see at Fresh Brook in 20 years' time?
Geoff Sanders: Wow. I would like to see a self-sustaining brook trout population. I would also like to see a variety of other species using that stream regularly, like American eel, um like river herring. I think those are all an indication of... if that's where we are in 20 years, I think we have a good indication that we've created a sustainable, healthy stream. There are so many things that could happen that are beyond our control, but I would love to see that stream, supporting those species, as well as a variety of other um plant and animal life. I think that's, if I’m lucky enough to look back and come down and see it in 20 years, I would love to see that.
Madelyn Lewis: How has this project been meaningful to you?
Geoff Sanders: You know, I think I get joy in seeing the joy this brings to other people. You know, I would love to see this project get done. It's important to the community. The town of Wellfleet is very supportive of it. It's obviously important to Trout Unlimited. I think it's important to the park to see this habitat restored. You know, I don't necessarily see this as like a huge accomplishment for me. I mean, it's, it's all of this takes a lot of other people. I just, I just like to see that, that these things are, are valued. It's, I think sometimes you don't... sometimes these days, I don't think people value these types of things enough. They don't look at these types of resources and say, this would be absolutely fantastic if we could restore this stream. And here's all these people that'll support it. And it'll be great to see brook trout in here again. And don't worry. You don't have to worry about finding the brook trout. We're going to find him we're going to bring him to you. And by the way, it's not going to cost you anything because we love this project. And it's just like, that, that's just really refreshing. This project is one that's going to make people pretty happy, I think. So, it's fun to be involved in that.
13:26
Madelyn Lewis: Now I'm here with Dan Zoto, the park archaeologist at Cape Cod National Seashore. Dan has been working at the National Seashore since fall of 2024 but has been working as a professional archaeologist in New England since 2010. Dan, can you tell me a little bit about your involvement in the Fresh Brook Restoration Project?
Dan Zoto: I'm leading the cultural resources compliance review for the Fresh Brook Restoration Project. And what that means is that the National Park Service has a legal obligation under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act to consider the effects of any actions that we take on historic properties. So I'm going to be reviewing, or I'm actively reviewing this project to make sure that it is not going to adversely affect any cultural resources. And that's meaning that we don't want any of our undertakings to negatively impact important archaeological sites, historic structures, historic landscapes, things of that nature. The National Park Service is in the forever business, and we strive to maintain the status quo with our historic properties. We don't want to alter their context or character or anything like that. We want to keep things the same.
Madelyn Lewis: So, do you have to go through and do the archaeological assessment before you realize that it's a historical site? Or how does that work?
Dan Zoto: Sometimes, sometimes. We do know... we have an inventory of all of our known historical resources, but sometimes we are working in an area that has not been professionally surveyed or looked at for historical resources or something that has been maybe looked at 50 years ago. And 50 years ago, something that was not a historic resource, in 2026 might become a historic resource. So, we have to analyze any effects that a project may have on those resources. And for the Fresh Brook Restoration project, I'm conducting an archaeological reconnaissance survey to do that assessment.
Madelyn Lewis: Okay, can you tell me a bit about the process and the timeline regarding that survey?
Dan Zoto: Before we get into the details, I want to take a moment to acknowledge that we are able to take a real in-depth look at the Fresh Brook project because we have Community Preservation Act funds from the town of Wellfleet that was secured by Trout Unlimited. And this is allowing us to conduct a more comprehensive study than we would have without this additional funding. The first step is to determine what historic resources are known to exist in vicinity of the project or that may potentially exist there and how close they are to the actual changes in water level that will be caused by removing the weir. You know, the park knows that we have this historic village along the brook. It existed from about 1700 to 1910. And I am assessing whether the restoration of Fresh Brook, really meaning the reduction of the water level in the pond and the return of tidal flow, will have any impact on archeological sites associated with this historic village. To do this archeological reconnaissance survey, the first thing that I've already done is conduct the initial field work and that occurred in late winter and early spring after the snow melt, before the leaves, before the underbrush leafed out. And it consisted of a walkover of the bank of the impoundment, all of the adjacent uplands. And I'm looking for potential archeological sites, cellar holes that are associated with this historic village, landforms with the potential to contain archaeological resources, and to see if there are any artifacts exposed in the trails, along the bank, or other areas of ground disturbance like in tree frost.
Madelyn Lewis: So, did you first take a look at the site, boots on the ground, in 2025, or what year was that?
Dan Zoto: I did it in the spring, late winter and spring of 2026. I did some preliminary research to assess what I'm looking at. And typically, I would do a lot more of the archival research ahead of going into the field, but because I wanted to get the survey done before leaf out, I did the field work first. And during that field work, I documented 18 different cellar holes associated with this historic village and those comprise 12 different house sites. So, some of these properties have more than one cellar hole. People have outbuildings. There are double cellars as houses expand, things like that. I documented all of these through scaled photographs, detailed measurements, and I recorded high-quality GPS points. In the next phase, I'm going to do detailed archival research into each one of these sites, determine their ages, family association, really anything that I can learn about them. And that's going to be done over the summer. And at the end, I will produce a comprehensive report of my findings that's going to be on file with the National Park Service and the Massachusetts Historical Commission.
Madelyn Lewis: That's great. Is there a way people can access this report? Now, because of that report contains the location of archaeological sites, it is not going to be publicly available. Archaeological resources are exempt from public record laws, and that's to protect the sites. We can't have maps out there that show people where all these things are. Unfortunately, you run the risk of people going out and poking around.
Madelyn Lewis: Is there going to be any sort of public document available?
Dan Zoto: Well, given that the study is funded by Community Preservation Act funds, there is going to be some type of public document at the end that talks about the results without giving away the sensitive information. And that really fits with the ethics of archaeology where when we can talk about our results publicly, it's our job to do that and to get this information out there and to educate the public or other professionals.
Madelyn Lewis: So, the artifacts that you've gathered, what happens to them?
Dan Zoto: Well, so far, I haven't gathered a single artifact, but all of the documentation, my field notes, all that documentation, all the photographs, all the stuff that might not make the final cut to get into the final report that will all be curated here at the Cape Cod National Seashore. So, someone in my position in, you know, 50 or 100 years from now, that's not going to be able to ask any questions- ask me any questions about what I did- they're going to have all that stuff. And I really try to, to take field notes with that mentality and write down little things that I'm thinking, even if on the next page, I say, ah, that idea, nah, this doesn't pan out because I just stumbled across this next thing. But I, I like to keep track of the, the road to figuring it all out and how I got to my conclusion. Because I know that, that archeology and science in general is always a work in progress. And we always build on what we know based on new data. And there might be new data that comes about Fresh Brook Village. There might be someone in well sleep that has a whole bunch of photographs of it from the 19th century that is going to get donated to the historical society next year, but I don't have access to that yet. You know? So I think it's, I think it's cool. So I'm going to do the best that I can with the survey, with the data that's available. And I intend to look at every piece of information that is out there and put it together, um, knowing that someone in the future may have access to better data, more data, or come up with a different interpretation. And that's okay. That's science.
Madelyn Lewis: Well said. Could you talk a bit about the significance of Fresh Brook Village?
Dan Zoto: Sure. So, the significance of Fresh Brook Village has yet to be formally determined. That's part of the study and it's still in its early phases. This was clearly a section of Wellfleet that is no longer there, which I find interesting. I have a few hunches about why the village was abandoned in the late 19th century, early 20th century. And I'm hoping that these can be confirmed or denied with more research.
Madelyn Lewis: Oh... why do you think it was abandoned?
Dan Zoto: I think the abandonment of Fresh Brook Village is related to a larger trend of population loss that's seen across Cape Cod in the late 1800s. And this is really related to declines in the fishing industry and that is due to use of larger fishing vessels at that time and these were too big for Cape Cod's harbors. So the fishing industry in New England really shifted to larger ports like Boston and New Bedford that could accommodate these larger vessels. Now, related to Fresh Brook in particular, I think the railroad berm that was constructed in 1872 when the railroad came through Wellfleet and this berm was constructed across the Fresh Brook, it cut off small boat access from the village to Wellfleet Harbor. And this makes it difficult for the people living there to access the outside world. And it just isolates Fresh Brook from other parts of Wellfleet. And the railroad also put the local packet industry out of business, which was an industry of semi-local coastal trade that was using small vessels coming in and out of harbors in Cape Cod. People were trading between Boston and New York, and the railroad really takes that away. So, you have, you have this overall population decline and then you have Fresh Brook becoming more isolated from the other parts of Wellfleet. For example, in the whole town of Wellfleet in 1870, you have like 2100 people living there. By 1915, there's only 900 people left. And if we look at Fresh Brook specifically, the 1858 map shows 12 different residents or families and a store. In 1880, there's only nine, the store's gone. And by 1910, there's only three houses in that village. And then it really sorts of peters out after that.
Madelyn Lewis: Okay. So, we're really seeing kind of a change in society that comes along with these ecological and geographical changes with the construction of the railroad.
Dan Zoto: Yeah. Absolutely. And I think it had a direct effect on this part of Wellfleet. And it'll be interesting when I conduct more research to see how Fresh Brook fits into the overall story of Wellfleet history and the history of Outer Cape Cod. Yeah, I'm looking forward to that.
Madelyn Lewis: Has there been anything in your research thus far that has surprised you?
Dan Zoto: That's a good question. In the research, it's very preliminary at the moment. There's been some inconsistencies, especially related to the store. I've heard it referenced as a standalone structure. I've heard it referenced as part of someone's house. I've heard that it contained a post office. It contained a tavern, all these different things. And all of that might be true. That's something that I'd like to work out. One thing that, that surprised me with the field work was there's evidence of unauthorized metal detecting at some of these sites. And, you know, this... I find this disappointing because metal detecting, it removes artifacts and objects from these sites that might help tell the story. Archaeology is, is focused on objects and we use that to tell stories of everyday life that don't always get written down otherwise. And when, when people are out there metal detecting and removing these objects, we lose that part of the history. And I would argue that the artifacts that may or may not be out there at Fresh Brook, you know, being federal property, they're owned in common by all Americans. And when someone goes out and takes these objects and puts them in private collections, it really does a disservice to the history.
Madelyn Lewis: Yeah, that's a really important insight to take away the Park Service’s mission to preserve these cultural resources. From a historical lens, why would it be important to do this survey prior to the Fresh Brook Restoration Project taking place?
Dan Zoto: Well, for one, that impoundment that's created by the railroad berm and this culvert and weir has only been there since 1872. So, by removing it, we are going to bring back the historic character of Fresh Brook village to when it was thriving in the mid 19th century. And no living person has seen that area without the impoundment. And as far as the research I've done so far, we have no photographs of it. Nobody really knows what that looks like. And I'm, I'm interested to see that. Another thing that I think is really important from a historical lens is that this is hopefully going to restore sea brook trout to the stream. And we know from the history that in the early 20th century, from around like 1900 to 1925 or so, there was a private fishing camp that existed there. So, trout fishing is a historic activity that occurred along Fresh Brook. And hopefully that's going to happen again. Now, the other historic activities like farming and building a house and all that, you can't do that in a national park, but you can go fishing. So, I think it's going to be cool to have that reestablished as well.
Madelyn Lewis: What's next for your involvement in the project?
Dan Zoto: This survey is a little bit untraditional in the fact that I'm doing the initial assessment before the weir in the culvert is removed and removing that weir is going to reduce the water level. I'm not going to be able to assess any effects of the reduced water level prior to the undertaking actually happening and that weir coming out and that water going down. So I am looking forward to the second phase of the field work where I go back out and walk over the exposed bank and see if there are any exposed archaeological resources there. I don't anticipate anything, but I don't know.
Madelyn Lewis: I'm interested to know on a personal level, what's the importance of this project to you? Well, one of my favorite parts about doing cultural resource management archaeology is that my project area is- or my research topic is- wherever there is some type of development or project. And I never know what I'm going to be working on. And I've been very fortunate to work on things as you know, some of the oldest sites in New England dating back 12,000 or more years,and stuff all the way up to the 1930s. And this is the first time that I have documented sort of a complete historic village. Now the park has been aware of Fresh Brook village, since the inception of the national seashore in the 1960s. And through the years, different rangers here have conducted a lot of research into Fresh Brook and done programs out there and put together pieces of the history. But so far there's not been a comprehensive archaeological survey of the whole village. So it'll be great to be able to do that and to document all of these house sites that are there, get them on file both for us and with the Massachusetts Historical Commission and just put Fresh Brook into the official archaeological record. Like the park here has one site number for this whole area when it really comprises somewhere between 12 and 18 separate smaller sites. So I'm very much looking forward to, uh, to shining some light on that and taking a fresh look at Fresh Brook.
Madelyn Lewis: Lastly, I'm joined by Peter Schilling, the Treasurer and Environmental Conservation Chair of Cape Cod's Trout Unlimited. Peter has been an active member of Trout Unlimited for over 30 years. Peter, can you tell me a little bit about Trout Unlimited as an organization?
Peter Schilling: So, Trout Unlimited is a national conservation organization that has 300,000 members nationwide. There are chapters all over the country. The organization is dedicated to preservation or protection of habitat for cold water species, predominantly trout and salmon. And it got its start in, I believe the late 50s in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and it's spread there. And there... in Massachusetts, there are 10 chapters and the Cape Cod chapter is one of those chapters, all volunteers. And we have about 300 people involved in the chapter right now.
Madelyn Lewis: What is Trout Unlimited's role in the Fresh Brook Restoration Project?
Peter Schilling: We consider ourselves to be partners with the National Park Service in efforts to bring back Sea Run Brook Trout, which is the native trout to Cape Cod, to Fresh Brook. And this project has been going on for, I think, the first time that TU formally got involved was in 2005. And the person who put it on was a member of Trout Unlimited named Mike Hopper who has since passed away and Mike grew up in Wellfleet and was connected to the community and used to- he had a- at 17 he had an oyster grant and he used to hear the old oyster fishermen talk about catching these big brook trout in this place called Fresh Brook. It was also known as Trout Brook. It had different names but Fresh Brook is now kind of the dominant name but in some of the older maps it was Trout Brook. And he perked up his ears because he loved to fish. I mean, he was an oyster man, but he, you know, he could have been happy as a professional fisherman because he was just such a fishy person. And so he said, ought to, you know, we ought to check this out. So they began poking around. I think they got a grant. They did some explorations of the river in like 2007, 2008, and he went and he did some research in the Wellfleet Historical Society to see what he could find out about this because he knew that there was a settlement here, there used to be a fishing lodge at one point. He did some research and he found a log from I think the artist's name was Benson, Frank Benson, who was a famous sporting artist. And they found a log of his where- from like 1903 or the late 1800s- where he talked about “went to Fresh Brook” and brought home a basket of you know, 17 trout weighing, you know, two pounds.
Madelyn Lewis: Wow.
Peter Schilling: So when he found that he showed it to the biologist, the Southeast regional biologist, Steve Hurley. And Steve got all excited because he realized that this was this was a serious resource at one point. In the late 1800s and early 1900s you had people coming from New York because this was a fishing destination. Sea run brook trout fishing on Cape Cod was a destination fishery. So they started going around looking for the cold-water source, like at the head of Fresh Brook, doing electroshocking to see whether there still were any trout in the system. And sadly they found that there were no trout, but clearly the historical record showed that there were. And between the historical record and the anecdotal stories that he heard- like the best information you're going to find on Cape Cod is the recollections of the old fishermen. So we hung on this and then there was another survey. There was a survey done in 2011 that trout unlimited helped fund. It, you know, stem to stern it did a study of Fresh Brook, and it was very inclusive with the idea of, you know, what do we have to do to potentially restore this? And then some time went by, Michael sadly passed in 2015, way too young. And I think the, some of the people, some of the other people who were his friends and who were kind of engaged with this just backed off a little bit because they were sad by his passing. And then it picked up again and there were some funding gaps and, you know, it was fits and starts. They said that inside the park, they considered this the little project that could. It's like after that, the child's book, it's like they make progress and they knew it was a good... everybody who saw this from Steve Hurley to Michael Hopper to Geoff and his team and the people before this and the biologists that preceded him who had been around for 30 and 40 years knew this was something that was a really worthy project, but it needed like a critical mass to move.
Madelyn Lewis: Can you tell me a little bit more about the involvement of Child Unlimited in the timeline?
Peter Schilling: So our timeline started in 2005 and was in intermittent bursts between then and today. But it really picked up in I would say 2022. I had shifted into this role. I've been around Trout Unimited for a long time, and I have been the council chair in Massachusetts. I've held a lot of different roles, knew the landscape, had a lot of experience and I felt like I had a good feel for what was happening on the Cape. And I saw this project and I said that we ought to focus on this. This is a good project. This is something we can make happen. And if we do, there's a potential to bring back trout that haven't been there for a hundred years. with the quality of the habitat here, not only bring back Sea Run Brook trout, but bring back very big sea run brook trout, which aren't anywhere else on the Cape. We've, in some of the streams that we've worked on, particularly the Quashnet, which we've worked on for close to 50 years, we've had fish that were pushing three pounds, but the Quashnet flows into Nantucket Sound and Laquoit Bay. And the habitat in that part of the Cape is more degraded because of the pollution. So that impacts the nursery habitat for all the fish that the trout would feed on. And it also eliminates places for the trout to hide when they go into salt water, making them exposed to predators like osprey, great blue heron, and the stripers when they come in. You know, what happens with the trout in the Quashnet and in Redbrook and Wareham, which we've also worked on for now 30 years, at this time of year, when the stripers come in and the water temperatures in the Bay start to increase, the stripers go up to the brook to the cold-water sources. So that's what we would figure would happen here. So in 2022, I reached out to the to the park and said, you know, we're interested in in helping with the with the stream. And they said, you know, we've got a grant application and we're pretty sure we're to get it. I circled back like February, January, February of 2023, I think. And they said we lost the grant.
Madelyn Lewis: Oh, no.
Peter Schilling: Which happens. It just happens. So, you know, I came and I said, listen, we want to help and I'll I'll figure out a way to help raise money. And then we had a meeting. We came out and met with Geoff Sanders and his team and heard about what they had done on this already. And then we went and did a tour and I said that this is this is awesome. This is like like just the physical... when I saw the physical location, I got... and I can feel myself getting excited now.
Madelyn Lewis: When did you take that tour?
Peter Schilling: I think we took that tour, I think in May of ‘23. And we went, and we went in the back way. So we started at the, you know, at the head of the stream. And then we walked down to the rail trail where the where the impoundment is that we're working to remove. And as we walked downstream, we saw the ponding, which is the problem right now, because that pond gets to 80 degrees in the summertime. No trout can live in 80-degree water, especially brook trout. So, but what I saw was a distinct river valley in a pine forest that was surrounded by hardwood trees that haven't been cut in 75 years. Like those trees are some of the oldest hardwood trees, especially on this end of the Cape. And it's all-around Fresh Brook and you wouldn't see it without physically walking through that valley. So I looked at it and I said that this is incredible habitat. This has to be done.
Madelyn Lewis: So was it after May of 23, your tour with Geoff that you started raising money?
Peter Schilling: And that's when I said, all right, I'm going to go out and I'm going to start looking for grants. And then for the next year and a half, I chased grant money. And I had been around long enough to know the people that would be able to help with going out and fundraising. And I talked to people at the national level. So, Chris Wood, the CEO of Trout Unlimited, came and looked at the Quashnet three years ago and he was blown away by the work that we had done. We had planted, like for instance, in the last 25 years, we planted 4,000 trees on that river because the Quashnet when we got it 50 years ago was a cranberry bog. And it was, there were no trees. And now if we took a walk to the Quashnet, you have a river, a defined river valley with trees that we planted 20 years ago that are now 30 feet. So Fran Smith was the, was a point person for Cape Cod TU on the Quashnet. And he nominated Fran Smith for the highest conservation award that TU can offer. And he won it based on that visit. And he said, I told him about Fresh Brook and he just, you could see his face light up and he said, call me if you need anything.
Madelyn Lewis: That's amazing.
Peter Schilling: I mean, from the head of a 300,000 national organization, he got it. And I haven't picked up the phone because we've been able to, you know, we have everything we need to fund this.
Madelyn Lewis: That is amazing. Moving forward, what do you think are the next steps and where that funding is going to go next?
Peter Schilling: So the most important thing right now is we are going to cut that box culvert out and cutting the box culvert out will restore the contours of the stream. It'll drop the water temperature, because now the cold water at the head of it has a place to go and it'll have a direct connection between the upstream portion of the river and the downstream portion of the river, which the box culvert is preventing.So for the first time, fish can have access to the saltwater. The access isn't the best. It has to go through undersized pipes, galvanized pipes that are like 24 inches wide. But the connection will exist. Once the construction happens, there's going to be a waiting period because the banks have been underwater for a long time. You can't physically go because it may be too mucky. So we have to let things settle out. After the cut is made, we do another study. Once we've taken a look at that, the goal is to reintroduce wild Sea Run Brook trout from the Quashnet and Red Brook and Mash Peak, which Mass Wildlife has agreed to do. And that's the goal. And once the fish are introduced, there'll be another waiting period to see that they are able to successfully stay there. And when that happens, that really is the completion of the project with the Park Service. TU is going to take it a step further because the park service property ends at that rail trail and they own what's above. And the other incredible thing about Fresh Brook is it flows through 1800 undeveloped acres. What TU is gonna do is, and we'll still be working with the park service, but they're not gonna be driving the next phase of the project, is put eight-foot box culverts under the rail trail and route six. And TU this fall went out and got a grant of $250,000 to do that study. Right now, getting those box culverts in is maybe two or three years out. It's not an immediate thing. And the money that would be needed is now we're talking the big money. But all indications are the money is available and we know how to go after it. Erin Rogers, who's the program manager for TU in New England, is confident that she could get that money. And there is the amount of energy and enthusiasm within TU. And also in the community and Wellfleet is really exceptional.
Madelyn Lewis: Yeah, I understand that you've been communicating with the town of Wellfleet about the project. What can you tell me about what you've heard from community members?
Peter Schilling: Last fall, I think, or last spring, the Park Service did a presentation to the town on this project. was, know, the house was packed and there was a lot of enthusiasm for what the Park Service showed. We went to the town community preservation act committee and asked for grant money for the archaeological work. And it sailed through town meeting without opposition. And I remember sitting in the Zoom meeting when we made the presentation for the grant and I had their complete attention or we had their complete attention as we were talking to this. And at the end, basically they indicated that they were supportive of this. They wanted to move it forward and they gave us 20,000. And I think that they would, if we needed more, but the thing is, I'm not going to go back to them and ask for money that we don't need at this point, which is a luxury in restoration. Like, like I tell people we're fully funded and they're looking at me like I have three heads, you know, but.
Madelyn Lewis: But it just goes to show how much people care about this project.
Peter Schilling: People love the people who are here on Cape Cod love the Cape and they love the fact that there's so much interest in keeping what's unique here and special alive. And, you know, the park service has done just a masterful job of managing one of the most challenging, dynamic environmental situations. And I think the people who live adjacent to it really understand that and appreciate how special this place is.
Madelyn Lewis: How has working on this project and being involved in it impacted you?
Peter Schilling: I've been I've been fishing since I was five years old, and I've always loved to read. One of the things that uh my parents did every Saturday, we take a trip to the library and it was like wander around the library and pick the books that you want to read. There was never like, you have to read this. You have to read that. You go read kid. So I would, I remember once I wandered and I found this section in the library on trap fishing and I was like, what's that? Right. I absolutely loved it. And I've been doing it my whole adult life. And I've, you know, I was the kid that you know, went to private school, had a uniform that I had to wear, came home from school and within five minutes of getting home, I had my dungarees on, my flannel shirt and I was out in the woods.
Madelyn Lewis: That's amazing.
Peter Schilling: And it was like, I had to figure out this life that I had to leave. It's like, am I going to wear a suit or am I going to be out in the woods? And I figured out a way to navigate that and never lost the passion and always felt at home in the outdoors, loved the water. There was always a sense of environmental mission in my life and how was I going to make that work? And I didn't understand it. And as I got older, I kind of landed at Trout Unlimited because I wanted to learn how to fly fish better. And I did. And I met, you know, the network on the ground that TU- that's the best thing about TU. But it was as I got more involved with the work, it's like I found my home. I found a place where I could take my love of the outdoors and translate it into protecting the things that are most precious environmentally from having time on the water, a lot of time on the water and seeing how things work. I had a base of knowledge that helped inform the advocacy that I was doing because I understood what was going on on rivers and streams and how they work.
Madelyn Lewis: So it was your love for the outdoors and your love for fishing that gave you this sense of environmental protection mission m in your life that drew you to this organization and this project. Do you hope that maybe the restoration of this system and people being able to utilize this resource will inspire that type of activism for the future?
Peter Schilling: It's, I think the best, give me a moment, because I'm getting emotional. I think about all the people in my life that have been instrumental to me. And the best thing that we could be is a power of example. And that's what motivates other people. People see people doing things that are right. And that's what's motivated me and people who have helped me in my life. And hopefully people will see what TU is doing, what the park service is doing and the dedication of people to doing the right thing for a resource and seeing what the results are that are so, that can be like the potential, I'm living into the potential of what Fresh Brook could be. I have visions of five-pound Sea Red Brook trout that I could catch and release, but that are a resource added to the existing resources that are here when we're in an age of resources declining or people just not understanding how precious these things are. And one of the possibilities is to bring back river herring into into Fresh Brook. And if there's river herring in Fresh Brook, that means the young of the year river herring are gonna be flooded into Wellfleet Bay, which is gonna provide a food source and grow big, very big brook trout very fast, but also feed stripers and fluke and flounder and bluefish. And it just restores the food chain. You know, it's like just this little step can have repercussions that are way bigger than what I could even like I can I could get it so far. If I had someone that had, you know, a bigger brain or a bigger perspective could take it even further.
Madelyn Lewis: The impact is immeasurable almost, not only in these habitats all connected in the ecosystem, but from one person's activism to the next. What have you learned or what do you hope to learn through working on this project?
Peter Schilling: You know, one of the things that's part of this work, you know, I get so excited about the resource that that's where I go. And that's what my focus is. And that's what I'm kind of locked onto that. But I think that the archaeological work that shows the that existed around Fresh Brook is very important because it shows that how highly this resource was valued. And I think that one of the things that's gonna come out of the archeological work is that the connection to Native Americans that were here and that the use by Native peoples of this resource. And I think developing that is something that is very important and shows continuity over time of how different cultures value Fresh Brook and the resources that were here. But I think it's also important in terms of our culture giving recognition to the people that preceded us, the way that they saw these places as precious to them and kept them precious for thousands of years while they lived in concert with them. And for us to show that we are paying attention to the civilizations that preceded us and that we value their contribution is very important and uh... what's going on in the world today.
