The owners couldn't imagine what it was like to be in the middle of the 50-acre marsh next to their home. It was completely inaccessible—until Reed Hilderbrand created a 2,700-foot-long boardwalk mat offers intimate close-ups of nature as it winds through woody thickets, emergent grasslands, and expanses of running water.
The boardwalk was part of a program to manage the property's ecosystem, including a woodlot and meadow along with the marsh. The design team worked with conservation biologists, permit specialists, and conservation commissioners to ensure that the natural resource would not be disturbed. No machines were used. The builders hauled in materials by hand and on floats, and drove support piles into the subsoil with crowbars. The decking surface is locally milled hemlock planking, chosen for its rustic grain and ease of cutting in the field Invasive species—formerly 20 percent of the area's cover—were removed, and native species, including speckled alder and silky dogwood, have responded favorably.
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