Knob Closed To Public For Final Stage Of Restoration
The Knob in Quissett is closed to the public as of Monday, January 10, for further reconstructive work on the outer rock armor of the promontory. This work will mark the completion of restoration efforts that started in late 2020.
The contractor company, C.F. Briggs Marine Construction, has completed two reconstruction phases on the area. The final piece of the puzzle involves the beach side of the causeway heading toward the outer promontory.
Katharine M. Taylor, executive director of the Salt Pond Areas Bird Sanctuary, said that the work being done now is practically the same rock armor reinforcement work that’s been done in the rest of the area. The process involves the installation of a geotextile underlayment which secures soil, prevents erosion of underlying material, and helps reinforce the rock armor.
“We did some soft solutions this time last year and you can kind of see that on the harbor side,” Ms. Taylor said. “They use almost like a fiber roll, with a burlap look, and it secures the soil. Then we did vegetative plantings [which] will hopefully grow up and secure the banks with their roots.”
Handling the rocks requires a large clear path and large equipment, so an access road was widened to accommodate that for previous work. Ms. Taylor said it makes the most sense to finish this last stage of restoration now before filling in the cleared area with new vegetation.
“We’ve [already] cleared all the vegetation so we didn’t want to spend the money to replant, put it all back together again, and then down the road in the near future, have to open it back up again, destroy the vegetation, and redo this work,” she said. “There was one more piece that needed to be done and we didn’t have the funding, so Quissett Harbor Preservation Trust, an organization that we collaborate with, was able to raise the last bit of money.”
The Salt Pond Areas Bird Sanctuary is asking that people stay away from the area for safety and to minimalize interruptions with work. Weather permitting, the restoration should be completed in about five to six weeks, Ms. Taylor said. All trails on the outer Knob are closed. The harborside trail will remain open.