RECONSTRUCTING HABITAT CHANGES AFTER RECURRING DUNE OVERWASH IN WELLFLEET, MA

Episodic overwashing at astronomically high tides has led to the formation of a two-acre washover fan at Duck Harbor Beach, Wellfleet, MA. A 120-acre area of trees and shrubs has been salt-killed in the low-lying basin behind the washover fan, and 80 acres were cleared in spring 2023. Duck Harbor is part of the Herring River floodplain, a system restricted in the early 1900s at the mouth of the Herring River. Duck Harbor has undergone many landscape changes in the past century, transitioning from an open harbor to a marsh to a forest. With the removal of salt-killed vegetation and regular inundation of salt water, salt marsh vegetation has begun to repopulate the basin. Using a series of more than 200 cores, we present stratigraphic maps spanning approximately 40 acres of the low-lying basin, reconstructing how it has transitioned over time. The Herring River Restoration Project, the largest tidal restoration project in New England, broke ground in spring 2023. The breach at Duck Harbor is a natural analogue to the restoration of the larger Herring River. As such, our understanding of the present and past dynamics of the system will aid in better management of the entire floodplain.