Windswept Cranberry Bog Restoration: A Perspective

To the editor: My grandfather once told me, much of life is perspective, through which prism do we view things? Once again, it is Fall on Nantucket. A time when things begin to quiet down, and the island starts to become more peaceful. However, in my neighborhood, it signals the start of the second phase of a three-phase plan to "restore" the cranberry bogs to wetlands. This apparently requires many pieces of heavy equipment, which, on a quiet day, I can hear the rumble and continuous beeping inside my house.

It's not the noise that I object to, it's what that noise signifies, which is the erasure of one of my favorite places on-island, the cranberry bogs. I would argue an iconic Nantucket landscape.

On the occasion when I've asked those involved to reconsider their plan, I am regaled with the virtues and benefits of the restoration project. They are extremely surprised when I'm not swayed by their glib presentation.

Here is where the perspective comes in: I don't see the bogs as the equivalent of a strip-mining operation or any other toxic site. I see it as a place that I have enjoyed and spent many wonderful hours walking through since the 1960's. The loss of which I feel whenever I see the results of "restoration."

Imagine Thoreau on a walk-through Walden wood, coming upon numerous people cutting down the trees. When he asks them to stop, they cheerily explain that they are going to replace the trees with much, much better trees. How well do you think that would be received?

I don't doubt the sincerity of those involved with the project. I'm sure they believe they're doing a good deed for the environment, but from my perspective, they are ruining one of my favorite places on the island. No matter how picturesque a wetland they may achieve, it will always remind me of what I've lost.

There are examples of cranberry bogs on the island that have returned to nature quite successfully without the need for heavy machinery and millions of dollars spent. One of which is 10 feet behind a large boulder marking the driveway at 199 Polpis Road, should anyone like to see a good example. While it took 45 to 50 years, I would prefer this slow return to nature rather than entirely rearranging the landscape and destroying what's there.

I don't imagine that the objections of one old Nantucket native will stop the wheels of "progress" and that, eventually, all of the cranberry bogs will be "restored" to wetlands. However, I can't believe I will be the only one that will mourn their tragic loss.

Jody Corkish