July 12, 1984 - Some Changes for the BetterPage 10A The Suffolk Times July 12, 1984
Some Changes for the Better
By PAUL STOUTENBURGII
It is sometimes fun to reflect and try to
imagine what it was like another time.
Recently I was helping my son put in a
dock. He spent a year it seems getting
the various permits and drawing up
plans that would satisfy this department
or that agency. The cost of hiring a
commercial contractor would be out of
the question.
Instead, he cut some locust posts,
found some old but still sound lumber at
his brother's place and, most
importantly, persuaded me to fix up the
old irrigation pump. This would be used
to provide a high - pressure stream of
water, enabling us to jet the locust posts
through the marsh and into the material
below. The dock would be over the
marsh, doing little damage to the area.
Luck was with us as far as the weather
went. Our hot rainy period had decided to
give us a break and in its place, cool
delightful windy weather from the south
took over. This was important, for down
in the marsh the gnats, green flies, and
mosquitoes can sometimes make it a
pretty miserable place to work.
As we commenced work I was amazed
to see how difficult it was to jet the water
through the thick heavy mat of the
marsh. Our stream of water was under 60
pounds pressure through a one -inch pipe
and when running free looked like a fire
hose.
Back and forth we'd work the pipe until
finally we broke through the live top
layer of marsh. To my amazement we
found the bog below the marsh extended
Fix feet or more before we hit hard
gravel.
In the Beginning
When Long Island was formed, as we
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all know, it was created by glacial de-
posits that moved out of the north during
the great Ice Age. During these times,
huge quantities of sea water in the form
of ice were stored in these glaciers that
stretched halfway around the northern
part of our world. Then the sea level was
much lower because of the stored water
but as the glaciers melted, the sea
through eons of time slowly began to rise.
Here was the beginning of our creeks
and bays. Gullies that ran with torrents
of water from the high elevation of our
north shore cut through the gravel and
debris brought by the glacier. Then,
slowly, marshes formed along these
gullies but as the sea rose the marsh with
its collected debris and mass of root
systems became buried and a new marsh
grew over it.
Of course, much of this is speculation
but working in that almost impenetrable
mass of roots the marsh had created and
then feeling the change in texture below
surely gave me evidence to speculate on.
Time moved on and as each successive
year passed, new growth grew upon the
old until the marshes, as we know them
now, appeared. Six feet of bog had grown
from those early years in this particular
creek area. All our creeks on the north
shore had the same beginning. They are
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Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
BOG OF OUR CREEKS - -The tight, tangled mass of roots of a bog is
nature's way of preventing erosion. In many of our creeks this mass of
bog has built up through thousands of years to depths of over20 feet.
a product of time and a growing marsh.
When you think of this process
continually going on for hundreds and
thousands of years and how these
marshes have produced the nutrients for
the fish and shellfish, one starts to realize
their importance in the bountiful life that
goes on in our creeks, bays and oceans.
You can see how important our creek
fringe is with respect to its holding power
against storm and erosion. Often I've
seen this in actuality along our creeks
where one person left his green fringe of
marsh and another removed it. In the
first place, the boggy green edge held
fast and resisted erosion while the other
area is slowly eroding away.
Thank goodness the philosophy of our
planners has changed from years ago
when people dug up this most valuable
resource to get their boats in front of
their homes. Today docks built over the
marsh save this most important area and
in doing so still accomplish the same
objective.
Slowly we're learning to live with the
natural world. In some places, like the
West End, they have lost much of their
wetlands forever through dredging,
filling and development. Hopefully, here
we'll never see the reverse of today's
happy compromise.
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Main Road, Southold
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VENITA LORRAS ATHENA SELLIS
(516) 477 -0523 (516) 477 -2534
ou're Invited
JULY 21, 1984
SAIL AROUND SHELTER ISLAND
GREENPORT - SOUTHOLD CHAMBER
OF COMMERCE Presents a "Fun- Raiser"
An Evening Cruise around Shelter
Island, Aboard the North Ferry on
Saturday, July 21. The boat will
leave Greenport Dock at 6:15 p.m.
and return at approximately 9:30
p.m. Beer, mixers, ice music, etc.
will be provided. You will be
asked to bring a covered dish and
a lawn chair. B.Y.O.B. (if you
don't care for beer) r
ADVANCE RESERVATIONS
CONTACT Bobra or George Wetmore
at 267 -8810, 477 -0798 or 477 -0792
evenings.
Box 627 Greenport, N. Y. 11944
$9.50 PER PERSON PAID BY JULY 16
DON'T MISS OUT ON ALL THE FUNI
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