Improvements to Walker Farm continued earlier this month when teams of volunteers worked on restoring the natural habitat at the waterfront park. 

Save The Bay is partnering with the Town of Barrington to complete some of the work at Walker Farm — the area is undergoing a significant renovation that will include new docks, a coastline restoration and other upgrades. 

Save The Bay Director of Restoration Wenley Ferguson said the habitat restoration portion of the project is a two-part process. She said some of the work is taking place along the northern edge of Walker Farm, while a second piece is focused on the southern section of the property. 

Ferguson said volunteers have been planting native shrubs in the northern section of the property. The shrubs are salt tolerant, she said. 

“They can tolerate salt spray, and they can tolerate irregular inundation,” she said, referring to the periodic flooding of the coastal area at Walker Farm.

Ferguson said volunteers have discovered a mix of oyster shells, pottery shards and cutlery as they have conducted the plantings. 

“As we were digging I found a spoon,” she said. “We found two forks, a knife and a spoon. We found a full place setting.”

Ferguson said Walker Farm had been used as a pig farm many years ago. She and other volunteers believe the pottery and other items may have been discarded while people fed the pigs. 

Ferguson said crews have cleared the shoreline of concrete slabs and other material. She said a few trees that had grown along the edge of the water have also been removed. 

“The trees were growing through the concrete. The Box Elder trees,” she said. “That’s where we had to take those down.”

Workers replaced the Box Elder with some red cedar trees — a species that is native to the area. 

A more gentle slope between the water and the coastline has been created. 

Farther south on the property, near the boat ramp, crews altered a depression in the ground. 

“There’s a low-point there and it’s already converting to salt marsh. There’s salt marsh grasses already growing in that area,” she said. “As part of this project, we actually brought in some sand to elevate the lowest area that’s converted to marsh, and created a slope so that the water doesn’t sit in that area.”

Workers also built a trench that allows the area to drain following a flood event. 

“We were planting that area with some salt tolerant marsh plants, a bush called the high tide bush. And then we planted seaside goldenrod which also grows in that zone,” she said. “In a couple of weeks, we’re going to plant marsh grasses.”

In addition to the coastline restoration, crews have also narrowed the access road that runs through Walker Farm, and elevated it a bit. Bollards are being installed separating the road from the rest of the park. Ferguson said there will be a walking path along the water-side of the bollards.