Long Island has lost most of its seasonal wetlands to historic draining and filling — habitats that once supported enormous biodiversity have simply disappeared from the landscape. The Brown project in Sayville was an effort to bring some of that back.
On a half-acre property, Spadefoot imported clay and artificially constructed a seasonal wetland designed to flood and recede with the rhythms of the year. The goal was to restore the ephemeral wetland function that the surrounding landscape had lost. Atlantic White Cedar was planted alongside native bioswale plantings, and the system was designed to run without chemical inputs or intensive maintenance.
The ecological response was faster than anyone expected. Volunteer wetland natives – cattails and others – established on their own within the first season. Amphibians found the habitat and began using it for breeding. Dragonflies returned. Ongoing mowing was eliminated from the restored area. A half-acre of suburban lawn became something the region hadn’t seen in decades.
Spadefoot completely transformed our backyard. They removed all the invasive plants and replaced them with beautiful native species.
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They were interested in biodiversity, but also concerned that, you know, it would, it wouldn’t look good. Basically, they wanted to make sure that, you know, although they wanted to help the environment, they also wanted to make sure that their, you know, their summer, you know, hideaway, pool, hide, it didn’t look like it was like in the mess of them, you know, in the midst of a messy jungle.
Paid careful attention to layering, so we didn’t use some taller native plants, but those are all towards the back, and as you got closer to the to the to the build structures you had, you know, successfully shorter plant species that we used, a combination of plants to ensure that there’s something almost always in bloom. And, you know, we created a subtle bioswale area to take on extra stormwater from from like, the nearby built structures that would otherwise flood the area.
