Creamery Bridge Native Plant Restoration Project

Creamery Bridge Native Plant Restoration Project. . , At 140 years old, Creamery Bridge is a local treasure both for its history and aesthetics. Brattleboro Recreation and Parks Department is tasked with stewarding the structure and the site (a ask greatly supported by volunteers as well!). Since Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, the adjacent banks of Whetstone Brook have become inundated with knotweed (Fallopia japonica), an exotic invasive plant. Knotweed disrupts ecological systems by spreading rapidly, displacing native vegetation, destabilizing soil and depleting nutrients of sedimentary leaf litter. Tropical Storm Irene helped this plant spread by scouring river banks that were already infested with Knotweed, breaking the plant into fragments that were then able to root into freshly scoured banks downstream., In 2018, Brattleboro Recreation and Parks, with cooperation from an abutting landowner, began restoring the banks of the Whetstone at the Creamery Bridge site. The first phase was to gain control of the knotweed infestation by judiciously applying a wetlands-approved herbicide. In 2019, after spot treating the remaining knotweed plants, the banks of the brook will be replanted with native plants that are better able to provide shade for the brook, stability for the soil, and food for insects and animals. Planning and advisory support is being given by Connecticut River Conservancy and Brattleboro Floral Arts and Garden Club.