A New Boardwalk for Stony Brook

It’s been sixteen long months, but the boardwalk at Stony Brook Wildlife Sanctuary in Norfolk is reopening this month. The exact date of its reopening was not available by press time, but information will be posted on the Stony Brook website (www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/wildlife-sanctuaries/stony-brook) or on the sanctuary’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/MassAudubonStonyBrook/.
Director of the sanctuary, Doug Williams, agreed that the closing of the boardwalk affected everyone involved with this special place just outside Norfolk center. “We get calls, I kid you not, every day asking if the boardwalk has reopened,” Williams said. He explained that Mass Audubon was given the property, but the wetlands, where the boardwalk is located, was deeded to the state, thus the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) has control over what happens in the wetlands.
Williams explained, “We (DCR employee Ron Clough, with help from Student Conservation Association employees) repaired the boardwalk about ten years ago, but since the work only affected what was above the waterline, we didn’t have to go through the permitting process then. When Bristol-Blake Reservation got a new supervisor, I spoke with him and he came over to assess the boardwalk. He looked it over and condemned it immediately, shutting the boardwalk down right then.” This was March, 2016.
And thus began what has become a sixteen month odyssey of permitting, both through the town conservation department as well as permitting on the state level. Once the wetlands permitting was approved, a new design was needed before the project could go out for public bid. Coastal Marine Contractors won the bid and has been hard at work getting the boardwalk built to specifications.
Stony Brook hosted a gathering of state officials June 22. This was not the official opening—the board walk was not yet ready for use. At the gathering were Mass Audubon’s President Gary Clayton and many others from Mass Audubon. DCR officials were invited as well as Norfolk town and state level government officials, including State Representative Shawn Dooley. This was a chance to celebrate the steps it had taken to get the project near completion.
“I’ve learned a lot about a lot of things,” Williams said. “Coastal Marine has been great. They have been working their tails off.” He continued, “The walkway is a little higher, with the same footprint, a different design, now with two pedestrian bridges as well as a boardwalk. They used anodized aluminum for the underpinnings, with wood treads, so it will stand up much better to the elements. The cement abutments were a problem—they weren’t able to pipe in the concrete, so they had to carry in eighty-pound sacks of concrete and mix it onsite.”
Despite all the challenges, summer camp has continued at Stony Brook regardless of the lack of access to all the resources the boardwalk normally offered. Williams noted, “We’ve had camp both last summer and this summer. The campers who are here in August will be able to get back onto the boardwalk, which will be great. But we’ve made it work, and held camp, regardless.”
Williams noted that State Representative Shawn Dooley was instrumental in making sure this project was a priority for DCR to take care of. “Shawn weighed in and invigorated DCR about the importance of this project,” Williams said.
Soon, very soon, life at Stony Brook will return to normal. That is, after stopping by the visitor’s center, most visitors will head down the handicapped accessible walkway, then out to the boardwalk, binoculars at the ready, to enjoy whatever the marshlands have to offer that day. But regardless of whether you remember your binoculars, or simply open your eyes, your ears, and your heart, there will always be something to enjoy as you walk along the new boardwalk.