The Herring Run
News and Information about the
HERRING RIVER RESTORATION PROJECT
January 2022
First Day Hike Explores Local History
Above: Baker-Biddle Property on Bound Brook Island
On January 1 as part of First Day Hikes Cape Cod, Friends of Herring River offered a talk at the Baker-Biddle property on Bound Brook Island  Twenty participants ignored the drizzle as they toured the property, learning about the use of the land by Native Americans, early Europeans settlers, and 20th century inhabitants. The property was the site of a permanent Native American settlement 3,000 years ago. In the 1700 and 1800 it was home to the Baker family who made their livelihood fishing and whaling. In 1840 Lorenzo Dow Baker, who introduced bananas to the east coast of the USA and a founder of the United Fruit Company was born in a house on the property. In the 20th century it was the summer home of the Biddle family. Francis Biddle was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Attorney General during World War II and chief American justice in the Nuremburg trials after the war. His wife was a poet and civil rights activist. Here in this remote place they entertained several prominent people including Archibald MacLeish and Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

It gave the participants of this talk pause for thought to realize that Native Americans were stewards of this land for thousands of years and only two European families lived on the land –the Baker family for about 100 years and the Biddles for about 60 years in the summer. Cape Cod National Seashore acquired this special property in 2011 protecting it from development and preserving its remote, natural beauty.

This walk was led by Friends Board member Alice Iacuessa, an international educator for 30 years. Since retirement Alice has also been a volunteer at Cape Cod National Seashore. In 2011 when the National Seashore acquired the Baker-Biddle property she became very involved in researching its history including a trip to Washington DC and Georgetown where the Biddle papers are housed. Over the years she has given many talks on various sites on Bound Brook Island including the Baker-Biddle site, on behalf of the Friends and Wellfleet Historical Society.
Recent Herring Studies Document Perils of Restricted Tides
Above, low tide on the seaward side of the Chequessett Neck Dike. This is the end of the road for about half of the river herring that try to reach their north Wellfleet spawning ponds. Fierce tidal currents, caused by the restriction of the dike, force herring to languish in this scoured pool, wasting precious spawning time and energy avoiding predation, especially by striped bass. The gradual opening of the new bridge here will not only allow the restoration of hundreds of salt-marsh acres upstream, but also will reduce tidal currents and make herring passage much easier and less risky.
 It took over 100 years of blocking the tides for all of us to learn how the Chequessett Neck dike has damaged the Herring River’s migratory herring run, once the second most productive in the state. Even back in 1906, when the town was first debating whether to dike the river, fishermen cautioned that the annual herring run, already overfished by a poorly regulated harvest, would suffer permanent harm.
 
Derrick Alcott's UMass PhD research recently confirmed those long-held local suspicions that the tidal restriction at the Chequessett Neck dike was harming the herring run. He quantified those findings by electronically tagging and following the fate of hundreds of individual spawners as they tried to swim from the harbor through the diked estuary to the headwater spawning ponds. On average, only about half ever made it to spawn.  
 
Most recently, acoustic imaging by Chris Rillihan, another UMass PhD student, of herring and predatory striped bass just below the dike structure showed that herring weren’t only physically blocked by the unnaturally high flow velocities through the dike. Rillihan documented how the impedance of the dike also delays herring migration, holding them in a pit filled with predators just below the tide gates. The herring that aren’t eaten waste precious time and energy avoiding hungry predators. 
 
Both Derrick's and Chris's findings have been groundbreaking and put a new dimension on our understanding of how these artificial tide restrictions, wherever they occur, damage migratory animal populations. For this and many other reasons, we look forward to the re-connection of the river with the marine environment.
Friends Board News
Longtime Board member John Riehl will step down as Treasurer, having served in that position for more than 10 years. The Friends are indebted to John for his many years of service in support of our mission and wish him health and happiness in his retirement.

The Friends are delighted to welcome Board member Jackie Fouse in her new role as Treasurer. Jackie brings a wealth of experience in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors, along with her passion for protecting the environment.
Friends In The News
Friends of Herring River Executive Director Martha Craig was among 22 prominent Cape Codders asked about their goals, expectations and predictions, and how they intend to tackle important issues in 2022. Read about it here.
P.O. Box 565
South Wellfleet, MA 02663
508-214-0656