Record rains hurt Great Bay flora and fauna; community responds
“When it rains, it pours” seems an apt adage for the summer of ’23. While there were a few stretches of sunny weather, for many it was a season of rained-out outings, postponed picnics, and soggy spirits.
The weather data bears out just how damp it was this summer. The period from June through August was the wettest in New Hampshire’s history, with more than 21 inches of rain - nearly double the mean over the past 100 years - taking a toll on the rivers, bays, beaches, and economy in the Seacoast region.
One industry that was hard hit is the region’s commercial oyster farmers who, last year, harvested nearly one million oysters from Little Bay. Laura Brown of Fox Point Oysters explains that “when there’s more than 11⁄2 inches of rain in a 24-hour period, the NH Shellfish Warden closes the oyster beds to harvesting to avoid any risk of exposing people to bacteria and pollutants that wash into the bay from untreated stormwater runoff.” These closures can last several days until water quality testing shows the water is clean.
Another local grower, Brian Gennaco, owner of Virgin Oyster Company, agrees that the prolonged closures impacted his bottom line: “Summer months are big harvest months and if you lose a week or two like we did in July, you don’t get those sales back. A restaurant isn’t going to order twice as many oysters the following week.”
It was a very tough season for eelgrass, another critical species in the Great Bay estuary. These underwater meadows of grasses - which normally provide habitat for fish, fill water with life-giving oxygen, and hold sediment in place with thick roots – really struggled. For much of the summer, the waters of the Great Bay estuary were stirred up from all the stormwater loaded with organic matter and sediment.
Kalle Matso, director of the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership, says “The eelgrass beds down at the Portsmouth Harbor end of the estuary did fine, but up in Great Bay, it’s a sad story. For much of the summer the water was almost chocolatey brown - without clear water and sunlight, much of the eelgrass just couldn’t survive.”
The heavy rains were also devastating for some wildlife species. Take the pair of osprey that nest every year at the Great Bay Reserve in Greenland. While the parents hatched three chicks, in full view of the livecam and a dedicated fan base, not one survived. Kelle Loughlin, education director at the Great Bay Reserve, explained that “because the water was so turbid, the adult osprey likely could not spot fish nearby to feed their chicks. What should have been a time of tending to the chicks and nest turned into a desperate hunt for food. It was tough to watch them struggle and see one chick after another lose the battle.”
But even as the heavy rains of the summer took a toll on plants and critters, it seemed to mobilize many humans to speak out for clean water.
In Portsmouth, there was a groundswell of concern about the frequency with which the City’s combined sewers discharged into the Piscataqua River and South Mill Pond. While the City has been working hard at the costly job of separating the stormwater pipes from the sewer system, there’s still more work to do to prevent combined sewer overflows when it rains heavily over a short time.
Across the Piscataqua River in Kittery, concerned residents formed a group called Save Kittery Waters to spread the word about how people can reduce fertilizer and pesticide use, protect plants along the edge of wetlands and creeks, and maintain septic systems. They launched the Creek Smart Campaign at a well-attended public event in July and will hold another community event at Rice Library on October 25. A large banner hangs across the main road through Kittery and in a bold move for public awareness, the town’s street sweeper will soon have a Creek Smart sign on its sides.
Throughout the season, I collaborated with conservation organizations on a series of Wednesday Watershed Walks that have brought dozens of people together to explore beautiful and important protected lands along the rivers and coast of the Great Bay region. The series began in the headwaters of the Salmon Falls River with the Acton-Wakefield Watersheds Alliance and has continued at properties owned by SELT, The Nature Conservancy, and the Forest Society. The final two events are on October 4, when Philips Exeter Academy and the town of Exeter host a walk along the Exeter River; then Kittery Land Trust closes out the series on October 11 with a ramble at Nooney Farm.
An exciting program getting underway this fall is the Great Bay Changemaker’s Bootcamp. In partnership with The Forward Foundation, a collaborative of organizations around the Great Bay region is launching a series of four workshops focused on the Cocheco River to help people in Dover, Rochester and Farmington become more effective advocates for clean water. With new skills and a better understanding of how land use decisions are made in our communities, residents can push for policies and investments that protect, rather than pollute, our environment.
Indeed, the summer of ’23 has been a wet one. But it’s also seen an outpouring of concern and engagement. With more people stepping up, speaking out, connecting to our waterways and to each other, we’ll continue leaning into the work of protecting the beautiful places that make the Seacoast the Seacoast.
Melissa Paly is the Great Bay-Piscataqua Waterkeeper with Conservation Law Foundation. She advocates for programs, permits, and actions that will restore the health of the rivers and bays that make the Seacoast Region such a spectacular place to live, work, and play. Follow the Waterkeeper on Facebook @SavetheGreatBay-PiscataquaEstuary, on Instagram @GreatBayPiscataquaWaterkeeper, or reach her at mpaly@clf.org.