Tintamarre Earthcache

The Tantramar Marshes also known as the Tintamarre National Wildlife Area is a tidal saltmarsh around the Bay of Fundy on the Isthmus of Chignecto. Communities on or bordering the marshes include, in New Brunswick: Aulac and Sackville, and on the Nova Scotia side: Amherst, and Fort Lawrence. Tantramar marsh land is barely above sea level and is essentially flat.

At 20,230 hectares, the marsh is one of the largest on the Atlantic coast of North America. Tantramar Marsh is one of 4 saltwater tidal marshes covering  the 20 230 ha on the narrow Chignecto Isthmus that connects New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Its complex system of bogs, rivers, lakes and marshes once provided a habitat for thousands of waterfowl. However, the building of dikes to reclaim the land for farming, which the Acadians began in the 1670s, drained more than 90% of the marshes by the early 1900s. At that time the nutrient-rich silt deposited by Bay of Fundy tides supported a lucrative haying industry and the region came to be called "the world's largest hayfield." The hay market declined with the subsequent growth of the automobile industry and the dykeland gradually fell into disrepair. In recent years, hundreds of hectares of marshland are being reclaimed for waterfowl by federal, provincial and private concerns.

The largest project, conducted by the Canadian Wildlife service, involves restoration of a suitable wildlife habitat on 1990 ha in the Tintamarre National Wildlife Area on the upper reaches of the Tantramar River. The present-day marshes are among the densest breeding grounds in the world for some species, such as the marsh Hawk (or northern harrier), and support small industries in muskrat and wild rice. The name derives from the French tintamarre ("din"), referring to the noise of the rushing tide in the river or of flocks of wild geese in the marshes.

Natural environment

The marshes are a broad expanses of flat land just above mean sea level. The soil consists of silts deposited by centuries of tidal flooding. Drainage is poor and there are slow moving meandering rivers, shallow lakes and bogs, which favours the growth of sedges and tamarack. The marsh's intertidal zones provide a habitat for many species of freshwater and estuarine life. It is drained by the Aulac, LaPlanche, Missaguash, and Tantramar Rivers.

Acadia soils develop in areas where there are recent, heavy tidal deposits. The largest continuous acreage of Acadia soil is found in the Tantramar marshes. The soils are of recent origin, and are different from other sediment based soils in that they are formed from saltwater deposits. Areas of the marsh that have been drained have a layer of reddish brown, granular topsoil overlying a thin layer of black organic matter. In the upper part of the Tantramar marsh there are large swampy tracts that support the growth of moss, sedges, vines, and stunted trees.

Better drained areas produce grasses that are often used for hay. Acadia soils do not naturally support trees. Within the study area these soils have been used extensively for agriculture for centuries, and are now mainly used to produce hay for dairy and beef cattle. Nearly the entire marsh and dykeland area sits on Acadia soils, and the combination of coastal proximity, low relief, and poor drainage make it particularly vulnerable to flooding.

The marshes are made up of silts and clays that were carried in from the Bay of Fundy by spring tides. This build up occurred during a period in which land subsidence coincided with rising sea levels, which increased tidal ranges from the Bay of Fundy and allowed the marshes to extend inland. This sedimentation process is still occurring, providing a foundation for the formation of future salt marshes on the outside of the existing dykes. Erosion along the Bay of Fundy has provided additional sediments in the littoral zone (near shore area).

Vegetation and Wildlife

Three grass species belonging to the genus Spartina dominate the vegetation of the Tantramar salt marshes. Salt water cord grass (Spartina alterniflora) grow closest to water, can be found up to one meter under the mean high water level and are flooded daily by salt water, approximately 13-15% of the time. Salt meadow cord grass (Spartina patens) grows higher than lterniflora, in areas that are only flooded about 2% of the time. Freshwater cord grass (Spartina pectinate) grow highest on the marsh where they receive freshwater runoff from uplands and are only flooded by salt water during the highest spring tides.In addition to Spartina, several other halophyte plants exist in the region including rushes, sedges, reeds, arrowgrass, and glasswort. The lakes and bogs in the area support a wide variety of aquatic plants including cattails, pond lilies, and bulrushes. In the former marsh areas, where saltwater no longer has an influence on vegetation, the region is dominated by extensive grasslands. Further inland lie poorly drained forests consisting mainly of spruce and fir cover

The Bay of Fundy is also home to a number of small invertebrates that inhabit the mud in the marsh edges, mudflats, and creek banks, including mud shrimp (Corophium volutator), worms (Nereisspp.), bivalves (blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, Macoma balatica) and marine snails (Hydrobia minuta and Littorina saxatilis). Some species of small fish such as the mummichog and the stickleback also reside in the marsh, and several breeds of fish visit the marsh during high tide to forage including the tomcod, rainbow smelt, and the winter flounder, as well as smaller American eels. The marshlands are an extremely important habitat for the semi-palmated sandpiper (Calidris pusilla); 75-95% of the world’s sandpiper population forages on the mud shrimp during their migration. Other birds residing in the marsh include the American black duck, Mallard, Great blue heron, Canada Goose, and Common snipe (Marlin et al 2007). Predatory hawks and owls can be found year round on the marshes hunting mice and other small mammals. The marshes also provide habitat for a few small mammals such as raccoons, muskrats, mink, foxes, beavers, and occasionally otters. Large mammals are rare on the marshlands, although deer do frequent the marsh in summer and fall but move westward during winter. Dykeland ecosystems are robust and support a variety of birds including eagles, osprey, gulls, ravens, crows, waterfowl, and songbirds.

Example of one of post and beam hay storage barns that dotted the marsh. In the 1930's there were more than 400 0f these and now there are less than 30.

To log this caches please email the answers to the following questions.

Question 1 - What geological feature of the marsh caused no trees to grow?

Question 2 - What role do you think the geological feature west of the road plays in the marsh?

Question 3 - Does the marsh have fresh or salt water today?

Question 4 - Are there rocks in the soil, why or why not?

Question 5 - Post a picture from the site.

[REQUIRED] In accordance with the updated guidelines from Geocaching Headquarters published in June 2019, photos are now an acceptable logging requirement and WILL BE REQUIRED TO LOG THIS CACHE. Please provide a photo of yourself or a personal item in the picture to prove you visited the site.