We restore habitats so native fish and wildlife can thrive.
Healthy habitats protect nature for future generations, keep drinking water pure, reduce floods, and more.
Inhabited by people for thousands of years, and industrialized for 375 years, it’s not a surprise that the Neponset River Watershed has its share of environmental issues.
Many areas of our Watershed have been filled, drained, channelized, dammed, clear-cut, or altered by humans over the years. Nature is resilient, but sometimes needs a helping hand to put things right.
For more information about our Habitat Restoration Programs, please contact NepRWA River Restoration Director, Sean McCanty, at mccanty@neponset.org
In addition to cleaning up water pollution and reducing water withdrawals, we work to:
- Remove obsolete dams and poorly-designed road culverts that aggravate flooding and leave fish unable to reach their historic spawning grounds or survive periods of drought.
- Protect our remaining coldwater trout streams that are very sensitive to loss of streamside vegetation, water withdrawals, and polluted runoff.
- Restore our amazing salt marshes, which attract more than 200 species of birds, sequester CO2, and protect us from coastal floods.
- Manage exotic invasive species that take over local habitats and make them unusable for native wildlife and recreation.
- Preserve ecologically significant land in its natural state, especially along floodplains and wetlands, so it can absorb floodwaters, purify our drinking water and support wildlife and recreation.
Lower Neponset Superfund Designation
The March 2022 listing of a 3.7-mile stretch of the Lower Neponset River as a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site will bring federal resources to bear on cleaning up PCB-contaminated sediments at the bottom of this section of the Neponset River.
Learn more about our programs
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