Tackling the wrack
hello…i live on tybee island in georgia…the low country….the land of wonderful incredible life-sustaining salt marsh….which is one of the truly breath-taking sights on this planet. when the tide is full the view over the marsh is one of green grasses setting atop the blue of the tide-water creeks snaking through the marsh…when the tide is low, the view over the marsh is one of lush green grasses waving in the winds as the blue of the tide-water creeks fall and become more delineated. since the sixteenth of may this year 2007, i have been helping my dear friend who has been so fortunate to live right next to the marsh with an historic creek running past her house, bringing dolphin and great blue heron and white egret seeking food and adventure, clear this vast area of the wrack (wrack is the dead sea grass) that has blanketed the green marsh grasses and is threatening to kill it all. the wrack is a naturally occurring phenomenen which usually finds itself floating back out to sea where it nourishes the vital ocean life….but this year it is different. due to a sorely out-of-date law regarding the building of “long docks,” a neighbor built a 1000′ dock out to “deep water.” this long dock stops the natural flowing of the waters, and causes the wrack build-up on top of the healthy sea grasses. my friend and her husband fought a gallant fight in the courts to stop the building of this long dock, which they knew would bring the destruction that has followed. they lost their court battle. but we are fighting the “freeing of the marsh grass” battle. the process is long…and heart-breaking. since it has been so long, and the area covered so vast, some of the marsh grass has died. we are only so many hands and can only do our work during the high tide time….clearing the creek of the wrack, by helping it move out to deeper water, and then eventually out to sea…so that we can pull more of it off the marsh grass and send it into the creek….we have a 2-2.5 hr window in which to tackle the wrack…when the tide is low, the creek bed is drained and it is impossible to move about in it…there have been many times in which we have been caught further out in the creek and have had to crawl back with just barely enough water to cover our bodies. on sunday while i was out in one of the tide-water creeks, i heard a splashing sound…betsy said, is that you? i said, no. she said it must be a dolphin… i looked up and between me and the pile of wrack that i was moving was a dolphin. splashing and diving and snorting. a most thrilling moment. i know why i am moving this wrack…i am moving it for my friend….i am moving it for the dolphin…i am moving it for the next person who will be able to enjoy the beauty of this eco-system that is the salt marsh….
-Marilyn Fishel
