Salt Marshes - Past and Present
People have been using and benefiting from salt marshes for hundreds of years. Before the arrival of Europeans, the First Nations, especially the Mi'kmaq, gathered shellfish from the marshes. In areas where they camped thousands of years ago, this is evidenced by the piles of shellfish remains, such as periwinkles, which have been found there.
Today people visit salt marshes and adjacent mudflats for recreational purposes such as nature study, clam digging, hunting, and fishing.
Many plants of the salt marshes are still used today. The Acadians collect the Seaside-Plantain.
Formation
A salt marsh is the result of the interaction between living organisms and the natural forces of wind, currents, storms, tides, and salt.
Physical Characteristics
Ice
In winter, ice covers much of the salt marsh. It protects the marsh from changing conditions. During ice break-up in spring, chunks of salt marshes may be carried away to other coastal ecosystems. Marsh grasses are often trimmed to the ground by the action of 'ice trimming.'
Salt
With the daily movement of the tides, salinity constantly changes. Saltwater mixes with freshwater from rivers, streams, rain-water and melting snow. When the saltwater is diluted with freshwater, it is called brackish.
Tides
Tides can cause erosion. They bring in and carry off organic material and nutrients. Gales and storm tides also cause erosion and remove sediments and plants. Shorebirds feed during low tide and roost during high tide.
Animals and plants that live in the salt marsh reap the benefits of an ecosystem that has plenty of food to offer. They have adapted to the changing salinity, the warm water, and the tides.
Plants
Plants are the producers of organic material, which in turn becomes food for other species, or decomposes into nutrients. Once the Salt-water Cord-grass establishes itself in a salt marsh, other salt-loving plants follow. These plants are termed halophytic and have the unique ability to excrete excess salt and/or retain water.
Birds
Shorebirds are often seen in salt marshes feeding on the mudflats. They are most numerous during migration in summer and fall. They can be seen by the thousands at low tide, feeding on invertebrate organisms in the mud.
It is also very common to see Great Blue Herons and other birds searching for food in the creeks, channels, and pannes in salt marshes. Some birds such as Black Ducks nest in salt marshes and can be seen dipping into the water for their food. Other waterfowl feed here in the fall and winter.
From mid June to early August, the common tern is frequently seen here diving into the water for food to feed their young. On occasion, one may see the arctic tern and even the “endangered” roseate tern dipping into the water for feed from this particular viewing location.
Salt Hay Stacks
One of the greatest advantages of these marshes to the original settlers was the fact that they provided ready fodder for their cattle. The clearing of the land and the cultivation of upland hay was engaged in almost immediately, but the marsh hay meant that the cattle would not starve waiting for the harvest of the first crops. Although large natural marshes were available to these settlers in Yarmouth County, often they expanded these same marshes by the construction of dikes. Methods were developed for harvesting this hay and preserving it for the winter months. This involved storing the hay on the open marshes on structures which kept it elevated above the marsh and protected it from the water when the marshes flooded. These harvesting methods may have been ancient, and were probably practiced in Europe long before they were introduced to the New World.
There were a number of reasons that local farmers continued to employ these ancient methods for such a long time. While it was possible for men to work on the marsh, the soft ground made it impossible for wagons and carts to be employed for much of the year, due to the fact that their wheels cut into the earth and became bogged down. With the hay stacked on the elevated platforms, the farmers could await cold weather when the marsh was frozen in order to bring the hay to their farms. Storing hay in this manner also meant that more space in their barns could be devoted to upland hay, which was more nutritious. The salt hay was often mixed with upland hay in order to make it last longer, often at the noon feeding of the cattle. It was also possible to feed cattle for periods of time exclusively on the salt hay.
Making the Staddle
The Acadian term for haystack was ‘’une barge.’’ The wooden framework on which the hay was stored was called a ‘’staddle’’ by the English. The Acadians referred to this same structure as a ‘’chafaud’’ (échafaud’’ being the proper word) or carré. The Acadians referred to the staddle as a ‘’carré’’ probably to differentiate between this type of stack and those which were constructed in a round or circular manner. ‘’Carré’’ simply means square.
The completed haystacks had a distinctive shape and were designed to allow rain water to run off the haystack. These haystacks were left in the open weather on the marshes. The harvesting had to take place between flood tides and the staddle would keep the hay up off the marsh and out of the water during high courses of the tide.
Making the Haystack
On the salt marshes in locations like Pubnico the hay harvester also had to work with the tides. The hay had to be cut and the haystacks made between flood tides. The best time for cutting hay was early in the morning. The dew lubricated the hay and made it easier to cut with the scythe. The hay on the marshes was always cut by hand with scythes. A man who was good with the scythe could cut about four tons of hay in a day. This would have been enough hay to construct about four haystacks.
After the hay was cut down, it would be teddered with a pitchfork, and then left for a day or two to dry before it would be raked. The hay was then raked into long rows called windrows by the English or ‘’les grands rouleaux’’ by the Acadian farmers. This raking was done in a very methodical way, with people usually working in three`s. These windrows were then rolled into a larger bundle of hay referred to as a haycock by the English, or a” mulronds” by the Acadians. It took 30-40 of these haycocks or mulronds to make a haystack. Some farmers were meticulous in their efforts to make sure that each haycock was exactly the same size and contained the same amount of hay. Ideally the haycocks were formed the day before one was going to make the haystack itself, because that allowed the hay to settle a bit and make it easier to carry and handle.
The building of a stack took about one and a half hours. As the stack neared completion another job done by the person on the ground pitching up the hay was the constant raking or combing or dressing of the stack from the ground. This would remove any loose hay, which would then be raked up and pitched yet again onto the haystack. Although this was a slow and tedious process, it meant very little waste occurred. When the haystack was finally completed, two weights were placed over it. These consisted of two pieces of wood tied at each end of a piece of rope and hung down each side of the haystack.
Tidal action: Rise and Fall
The initial cause of tidal action is the pull or attraction on the world's oceans by the moon, sun, planets and stars. They exert their gravitational influence most in relatively narrow bands around the earth at about 45 degrees north and south latitude. This is so because those are the areas tipped closest and farthest away from these celestial bodies. Although the gravitational pull on the earth by these bodies and particularly by the moon is strong, it is not enough to actually lift water but it can greatly influence its direction of flow, thus creating ocean tides. Along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia ocean tides account for a general rise and fall of from one to two meters. Sometimes this figure can be higher if there is a celestial alignment which would combine the gravitational influence of these bodies on the earth.
However, for this region, there are two other principal factors (geographical shape and tidal resonance) which change these two meter tides to the 5 meter range. This is why a 40 ft. lobster fishing boat is able to sail through this narrow channel at high tide and one can walk across it to the islands at low tide.
Wharf
This is a crib style wharf, similar to the small wharves that once dotted the shores in the region. It measures 60 feet in length and 8 feet in width and is supported by 3 cribs measuring 10’ x 10’. The materials consist of natural white spruce and the cribs are filled with rocks.
Back in those days, fishermen had to plan their departure and return from fishing to coincide with the high tide in order to dock and unload their fish.
Winch
This winch, called a “vireveau” in Acadian French, is a mechanical device that works by winding and unwinding a rope or chain around a spool or drum that is large enough to reduce the physical effort. This device was used to lower supplies onto the boats or to raise heavy containers of fish onto the wharf
