March 27, 1980 - Unseen Miracles At Work in the MarshSECOND SECTION The *Uffolh Timo March 27, 1980
Unseen Miracles At Work in the Marsh
I once was in a very bad car accident
and during the turmoil someone told me
that even with the problems and anxiety
some good would come from it. I've used
that philosophy many times and it's helped
me to understand difficult situations.
So it was when the storm hit us this
weekend. Strong winds and heavy rains
could only spell a miserable weekend, but
thinking back to what was once said to me
I could see that even here there was some
hidden good behind it all. We were getting
especially high tides that were being built
up by the strong east wind, rains, a new
moon and the rhythm of the earth coincid-
ing with it all.
These extra high tides are called spring
tides and flood our marshes so that the
whole area becomes one great lake of
restless water. Normally the high tides
cover only the areas where the tall marsh
grass grows, but with spring tides it
bounds past these tall grasses, past its
normal reaches and laps at the very
upland banks and spreads its debris.
Like the leaves of trees that fall each
year, and produce rich humus on the forest
floor, the dead grasses of the marsh
produce the rich nutrients that feed our
creeks and bays. The miracle of decay
goes on year round, and that is why we can
say our marshes are one of the richest
areas on the face of the earth. They
actually outproduce any corn, wheat or
rice field in actual plant matter. This huge
production is then transferred into the
multitude of microscopic material releas-
ed throughout the year into our creeks and
bays. It feeds a vast array of tiny plants
and animals that in turn are then absorbed
by our clams, scallops, fish and so on.
Recycling A Constant Process
And so when such natural occurrences
as storms pass through our area, much
good comes as they release these built -up
nutrients. The cycle has been going on
since the beginning. Today in the modern
concept we think of it in our own systems
as recycling. Generations from now every-
thing will be recycled, for we are slowly
realizing that nothing is forever.
Remember the recycling of the old -time
farm. Here the farmer had raised his
crops out of what was once woodland or
prairie. Each of the areas had their own
recycling system, trees shed leaves, old
limbs and trees dropped to the ground and
made more nutrients. On the prairie the
grasses grew in the same areas, died in the
Without both saltwater
and freshwater uplands
our island as we know it
will be vastly changed.
same areas, decomposed in the same
areas; refurbishing themselves in the
ever - ending cycle.
The farmer used this rich land and the
first years were very productive, but as
time went on and he used up the nutrients,
the soil became weak and his crops
dronned off. There are two things that
could happen; he could rebuild the soil with
manures and other material or he could
leave the farm and move on to greener
pastures. This was done in the south in the
great tobacco areas of Virginia; as one
farm used up the nutrients of the soil, they
would pick up and move westward. They
too found there was an end to everything.
How Skunk Lane Got Its Name
Right here on the East End the material
that was used along with the manures
from the barnyard were fish from the
bays. I live on Skunk Lane in Cutchogue,
which gets its name, not from the fact that
there were skunks in the area, but because
there were groups of men who called
themselves The Skunks and The Crows.
WHERE TO DINE
ON TBE
NORTH FORK,
4011'`+
I)ROSSOS RESTAURANT
Main Road. Greenport
477 -215:,
ELBOW ROOM
Main Road, Jamesport
7--"2 -8975
FISHERMAN'S REST
Route 25, l'utchogue
7:34 -5155
GAIA,FY 110 RESTAURANT
New Suffolk
7:34- 5:3:311
JAMESPORT MANOR INN
Manor Lane between Rte. 25 &
Sound ,Ice., Jamesport 722- 3:382
MIL1. ('REEK INN
Main Road, Southold
765-1010
RAYMOND'S RESTAURANT
North Road, Southold
765- Ili 11
RFIL'NIB LINE RESTAURANT
:36 Front Street,
Greenport 477 -988:3
SEA SHELL RESTAURANT
Main Road, Southold
765 -5555
SOUNDVIE%' RESTAURANT
:North Road between Southold &
Greenport 477 -9840
LA GAZELLE
:Hain Road, Rte. 25,
Southold 765 -2656
SALTWATER MARSHES- -The beauty of such areas often hides the fact
that they are important nutrient factories for our shellfish and finfish
industries on the East End. Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
These hardy groups of men competed for
the huge schools of bunkers that milled
about in our bays. Watchers were set out
and when the schools of fish moved in, men
would come down with wagons, nets and
boats to the beaches and make ready for
the hauls. Strong backs would row out and
around the swirling masses of fish, letting
out a long net as they went. When
encircled, the boats would row back to the
shore entrapping the fish in a huge
U- shaped drag then hand - over -hand the
nets would be hauled in until the bulging,
thrashing mass of fish was hauled up on
the shore. It was a busy time on the
beaches and oftentimes ran into the night
and fires burned as the operation went on.
Gulls from all over would congregate
during the day to fill up on the free meals.
After the fish were loaded onto the
wagons they would then be carted out on
the farm fields to add that nutrient that
made the crop grow so well. Needless to
say these were pretty smelly days around
the farm about that time, but the import-
ant thing is that it worked and the soil was
replenished and therefore colonies settled
and thrived.
Importance Of Wetlands
With this background for need of replen-
ishment we can well see how an area could
soon to be depleted of its richness if its
wetlands were removed. Seventy -five per-
cent of the fish that you and I know and
enoy owe their allegiance in one way or
another to these productive wetlands.
Whether it is for their superb nutrient
value, which by the way comes cost -free,
or whether it's a value as a nursery area
for small spawning fish, or as a protective
area in which the small fish can hide from
the big fish, or whether it's an area that
softens the storm's blow on the upland and
thereby prevents excessive erosion, our
wetlands should be heralded as one of the
most important assets we have.
Less understood and appreciated are our
freshwater wetlands. Here a whole system
of plants and animals depends on these
areas, exactly in the same manner as in
the saltwater areas. Yet there are those
who see them only as potentially cheap
areas to be bought up and later filled and
sold at a profit. It's a slow process of
education and public awareness that in the
end is the only hope for saving some of
these areas, and we must save them. For
without both the saltwater and freshwater
wetlands our island as we know it today
will be vastly changed. You only have to go
down to the West End and see what 100
years ago was a superb natural paradise
and today has been converted into an ugly
megalopolis.
Let us hope that we have learned and are
now starting to appreciate these hidden
values. We have much to pass on to our
children. But like so many things, unless
we do something about it today there will
be no chance tomorrow.
PAUL STOUTENBURGH
HAMPTON EYE PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS, P.C.
DRS. BRONSON, LENNON & PIZZARELLO
ANNOUNCE THE OPENING OF AN OFFICE AT
1355 ROANOHR AVZNUZ
RIVF.RHZAD. N.Y. 11901
LOCATED IN THE ROANOKE GARDEN APT. COMPLEX
BY APPOINTMENT ONLY
616- 727.0880