A conservation management plan aimed at safeguarding the Paget Marsh Nature Reserve has been approved by the Department of Planning.

The CMP, produced by CK Landscape Architecture and Consultancy for the Bermuda National Trust and the Bermuda Audubon Society, proposes measures to remove invasive species and bolster native and endemic plants in the reserve.

“This plan will be reviewed and updated every five years as necessary to reflect changing conditions and challenges,” the CMP states.

“It should be noted that Paget Marsh Nature Reserve represents an area of immense environmental importance to Bermuda.

“It is an intrinsic window into the natural heritage of the island and how the island’s vegetation would have evolved prior to the arrival of mankind.”

The plan stated that the site consisted of four major habitats — a tidal pond, mangroves, sawgrass and a palmetto-cedar forest — along with areas of agricultural land, guava and dry secondary forest.

The plan called for the removal of invasive species throughout the environment, particularly those impacting endemic trees.

“Examples of invasives commonly found rooting in these trees are the Queensland umbrella tree and Indian laurel,” the CMP said. “These will be cut at the base and treated.

“Once dieback has occurred, it will make it easier to remove these from the canopies of their host trees, causing minimal damage to the hosts.”

The plan also proposed fresh plantings, although new ones in some areas will be limited to native and endemic plants that are capable of surviving periodic exposure to salt water, given the potential impact of climate change.

The documents noted that a high sea-level event in 2001 or 2002 caused the saltwater level in the marsh to rise above normal for several weeks.

“As a result, it allowed saltwater intrusion under Paget Marsh which reached the roots of the larger Bermuda cedar trees,” the plan said.

“These relic cedars were then common in groups and groves in many areas of the peat ‘hammock’ cedar-palmetto forest habitat, especially in the northern and western areas of Paget Marsh.

“Roughly four fifths of the cedars died as a result of the saltwater inundation — the skeletal trees remain in the landscape. This event was the first indication of the likely impact of climate change on the nature reserve.”

The plans called for all invasive species in the mangroves to be removed, regardless of size, as they are growing and choking out the red mangroves.

The CMP said that Paget Marsh’s boggy nature has helped to protect it from construction and deforestation, with populations of cedar, palmetto and wax myrtle left “virtually untouched”.

However, like many other marshes, the area became a community dumping site.

The CMP said: “Henry Wilkinson, recognising the value of Paget Marsh, stopped the dumping and arranged for the Historical Monuments Trust, the predecessor of the National Trust, to acquire much of the marsh from the Anglican Church and private landowners in the 1950s.

“In more recent times, cattle grazing would frequently occur next to marshes and did so at the western end up until about 1990 while, today, agricultural plots often border a marsh.”

Between 1998 and 1999, a 375ft boardwalk was built into the marsh to give visitors a glimpse of the rich natural life at the marsh, and a freshwater pond was excavated near its entrance.