Before the Industrial Revolution and the
exploitation of New England’s rivers for waterpower, the
Neponset River supported a bountiful population of anadromous
fish -- e.g., fish that spawn
in freshwater (Neponset River), refuel in salt marshes (Neponset River
Estuary), and spend most of their
lives in the ocean (Dorchester Bay/Boston Harbor/Atlantic).
Common examples of anadromous fish are herring and
shad.
The industrial
revolution yielded rampant construction of dams throughout
our waterways which blocked migration routes of these local
fish populations and degraded local water quality, and
produced vast amounts of river-borne pollution. The dams -
or their reincarnations - remain to this day for the most
part, and their effects continue. However, now that we are
learning that dams create a whole array of significant negative
effects on rivers and streams, are expensive and
time-consuming to maintain, and have finite lives, we are
beginning to see the intelligence in removing them.
People
spent decades cleaning up the waterways after the Industrial
Revolution, and we continue the cleanup.
After years of vast improvements to the
water quality of the Neponset River, we are now setting our sights
on restoring the aquatic habitat that once supported
well-known fish like Blueback herring and American
shad. Specifically, we are focusing on modifying or removing the Baker Dam and the Tileston and Hollingsworth
Dam (T&H) on the Neponset River in order to restore
water flow and fish passage. Success would mean access for
these fish populations to up to 17
miles of historical migration route along the Neponset!
Under the leadership of the MA Department of Fish & Game
(MA Department of Fisheries,
Wildlife and Environmental Law Enforcement), with the
assistance of the US Army Corps of Engineers, the US
Geological Survey and the MA DCR, and with the support of the Executive Office of
Energy & Environmental Affairs, a process has been underway to examine
Neponset River fish habitat restoration options from a
technical, economic, environmental and community
perspective.
The project has included several components,
starting with the 1996 stocking of Blueback herring and American
shad in the river after it was
determined suitable as anadromous fish habitat.
That same year, the Army Corps of Engineers initiated
a study of options for fish passage and
habitat restoration, focusing on the
T&H and Baker Dams. A draft of their report was released in February of
2002 and indicated modest levels
of contaminated sediments behind the two dams, which led to
the next phase of the project - an expanded
sediment survey. The
survey would characterize the
quantity, quality and transport properties of sediments
behind both dams. Another
component of the project was collecting historic photos of the
river between the T&H and Baker Dams, in order to gain
an understanding of how the river has changed over the last
century.
The last component, and perhaps the most critical, is involvement
of the public in the consideration of fish passage options.
One result of the project has been a series
of conceptual renderings of the fish passage
alternatives outlined in the Army Corps' feasibility study. These renderings include artistic drawings
and photo-simulations and are being discussed at a
series of public meetings.
Read
the latest about the Neponset
River Restoration Project.
