A three-year project to control the invasive reed Phragmites australis in the Scarborough Marsh has achieved its goal of a 95% eradication rate in the areas treated under the program. The project was a collaboration among the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, the Friends of Scarborough Marsh, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Gulf of Maine Program, USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, Ducks Unlimited, and Maine Audubon.  Launched in August 2010, it involved a variety of actions utilizing highly specialized mowing equipment, licensed and trained contractors and application of a specially formulated herbicide that affects only plants.

Phragmites is a perennial and aggressive wetland grass that grows over 10 feet tall and is easily recognized by its height and fluffy seed heads. Their thick growth and rapid spread choke out valuable plants and reduce the biodiversity of the marsh's delicate ecosystem.  This type of Phragmites is not native to this area, and it has significantly compromised wetlands up and down the east coast. The weeds aggressively spread and colonize new areas every year.   

Despite advancements in phragmites abatement methods, we will never fully eliminate the plant. FOSM will continue to work with Maine IF&W and other partners to monitor remaining stands and coordinate further control efforts as available resources allow.  

After several years of assessment, planning and coordination by local volunteers, and multiple state and federal natural resource managers, Mill Brook, a 381-acre section of Scarborough Marsh Wildlife Management Area was restored in 2005. Mill Brook salt marsh had been degraded by man-made ditches and upland land uses. Ditches were first constructed in the 1600s to facilitate the growth of salt hay by farmers, and additional ditches were dug in the 1960s, in a misguided attempt to reduce mosquito populations. Drainage ditches reduced the biological vitality of the salt marsh by limiting the frequency and duration of salt water wettings by the tides. Land-use activities on nearby uplands, including housing developments and golf courses, also negatively impacted Mill Brook by concentrating polluted freshwater run-off on the marsh surface. In recent years, Phragmites, a highly invasive plant, also appeared in Mill Brook.

The 3,100-acre Scarborough Marsh Wildlife Management Area, owned and managed by the State of Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, includes approximately 2,700 acres of salt marsh, five tidal rivers, several smaller streams, some coastal freshwater marsh, tidal flats, and less than 200 acres of upland habitat. 

The long-range management objective for the Scarborough Marsh is to provide suitable habitat for optimum levels of all wildlife species and to provide maximum utilization of the area by sportsmen and other individuals seeking outdoor recreation.  The marsh is Maine ’s largest and most renowned salt marsh and is recognized for high biological productivity and diversity.  The marsh provides habitat for estuarine and catadromous fish species, and supports state and federally-listed threatened or endangered species.

Restriction of the natural tidal flow by railroads, and public and private roads, historical salt hay production drainage ditches and farm roads had created tidal restrictions and excessive drainage.  This had caused loss of natural tidal pools, ecosystem functions and values and had allowed invasive vegetation to alter the marshes, reducing their value as a habitat and as a resource for the marine environment.

The project was divided into five phases, and the Friends of Scarborough Marsh are the  group that pulls together the community support, facilitates the leverage of financial resources, and leads the monitoring program. 

The Seavey Landing project, located on a 25-acre tidal site at the end of Seavey Landing Road, was one phase of the Scarborough Marsh tidal restoration. This section of the marsh had been negatively impacted by man-made ditches which had drained the marsh and reduced the number of permanent pools on the high marsh. Restoration work at this site involved the installation of 7 ditch plugs and the excavation of 15 constructed pools and was completed in 2002. A three year monitoring project followed.