By Ian Cooke,
Executive Director of the Neponset River Watershed Association
Originally posted on
the NepRWA
blog on March 3, 2014
After some initial setbacks, our small dams
program has regrouped and is now targeting three dams on Pine Tree Brook in
Milton. We've also been working on a list of "micro" dams that can be
remediated using volunteer crews.
Last spring, the Neponset Watershed Association launched a new
“Small Dams Program” with the help of more than 100 local donors, a challenge
grant and support from Patagonia and the NLT Foundation. The goal is to begin
addressing more than 100 obsolete dams on the Neponset and its tributaries,
which collectively take a heavy toll on the health of the river and the fish
and wildlife that depend on it.
Harland
Street flood control dam.
However, just a few months after launching the effort, we were
sent back to the drawing board when the two pilot
sites we had selected ran
into trouble with landowners who were initially supportive but were not ready
to move forward in the end.
 |
| Harland Street flood control dam. |
We have spent the last several months regrouping, and I’m
pleased to report that we seem to be back on track with several new
possibilities in the pipeline. During the fall we revisited the comprehensive
survey of dams across the watershed that we had completed with the help of
volunteers a number of years ago, filled in some of the missing pieces, and
went through an exercise to prioritize potential restoration sites.
The result is a new focus on three small dams along Pine Tree
Brook in Milton. The three dams lie on land owned by the Mass. Department of
Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and/or the Town of Milton between Canton Avenue
and Unquity Road, near the Ulin Rink. Two are small dams with no modern
purpose, and no aesthetic or other public use. The third is the Harland Street
flood control dam, which is one of only two flood control dams in the
Watershed, but it appears that a minor modification could restore fish passage
without impacting flood control operations.
The upper reaches of Pine Tree Brook are believed to support a
wild trout population, and restoration at these three sites could potentially
be a benefit to this iconic and relatively rare species. Over the longer term,
modifications at the Pope’s Pond Dam further downstream could potentially open
all of Pine Tree Brook to migratory herring and shad spawning, once fish
passage is restored at the Baker Dam. However, work at Pope’s Pond would be
considerably more complex and is not part of the immediate project. dams along Pine Tree Brook. Click image to
enlarge
 |
| Map of dams along Pine Tree Brook. |
Following
site visits with staff from DCR and the Milton DPW, a decision was made to
submit these three sites to be considered as “priority projects” with the
Division of Ecological Restoration (DER) within the Mass. Department of Fish
and Game. Priority project status would officially put these dams on DER’s
workplan, opening the way for technical assistance and potentially for
additional funding down the road. In the meantime, we are getting ready for a
site visit with a panel of volunteer experts representing various technical
disciplines from engineering to biology, drawn from the ranks of academia and
other interested professionals who live in the Watershed.
We are also working on pulling together a short list of
“micro-dams.” These are mostly little more than a few rocks piled in a stream
that could easily be disassembled by a small group of volunteers in an
afternoon. Even though there isn’t much to these mini structures, they still
have a significant impact on stream habitat and aquatic wildlife by fragmenting
stream habitats, and trapping fish in small, isolated stream reaches. After
doing some permitting work on these mini structures (yes, even things this
small still need permits!) we hope to organize some volunteer dam removal
parties.
Special thanks to Margaret Kearns of Instar Ecology who has been
helping to lead our small dam program over the last few months.
