A Day in the Life: Save the Bay--Narragansett Bay!

Today’s blogger is Shalen!

One of Save the Bay's education vessels, the Alletta Morris!

Last week I had the great pleasure of exploring the Narragansett Bay watershed with Dorie, thanks to Topher Hamblett, Director of Advocacy and Policy at Save the Bay, and Rachel Calabro, Community Organizer and Advocate. I also had the honor of meeting Tom Kutcher, Narragansett Bay Keeper, and Bridget Prescott, Director of Education while down in Rhode Island at the Save the Bay Center.

Founded in 1970, one of the first issues on which Save the Bay worked was opposing a proposed nuclear energy facility on the bay in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. In its early years, this grassroots organization fought off other proposed energy facilities and worked to limit the industrialization of the Bay. Today, the Bay is used for fishing, boating, education, walking, and picnicking, thanks in large part to the efforts over the years of Save the Bay.

The programs of Save the Bay evolve to fit the issues of the times. For example, in the 1980s, Save the Bay (STB) focused on water pollution, and was very policy-oriented. Then in the 90s, they established the Baykeeper program, an on-the-water advocacy and watchdog program, and developed water quality monitoring protocols. The organization has a strong emphasis on restoring habitat, including saltmarsh, eelgrass beds, shellfish beds, and riverine sites. Right now, STB is concentrating on climate change, and sea level rise adaptation, focusing on issues such as shoreline erosion, stormwater pollution, water warming, and saltmarsh restoration (especially in the wake of Hurricane Sandy). One way STB is working to prevent shoreline erosion is to soften the shoreline by planting. A soft shoreline absorbs much of the force of the waves diminishing their destructive power. In contrast, waves rebound off a hard shoreline, such as seawall, scouring away soil, sand and plants. Some of the grasses planted are grown by the children in STB’s programs, allowing these local kids to be plugged into current issues and watershed preservation.

A mural in one of the Save the Bay Center classrooms

Save the Bay offers opportunities for children and adults to explore and learn about the Bay so in turn they will feel an attachment to and responsibility for the Bay and its watershed. The Save the Bay Center, completed in 2005, allowed the education program to expand and features multiple classrooms for labs and learning. It is built on a remediated landfill and incorporates many environmentally smart features such as recycled flooring, ambient light, a green roof and solar panels.  Kids also get to travel on the education vessels Elizabeth Morris and Alletta Morris (which we got to board down at the docks!), as “floating classrooms.” Right now, more than 15,000 children participate in the programs the Center offers. STB intends to expand their education programs into Massachusetts, as well, and are working on a pilot program to test in Fall River. STB works with public, private, and charter schools. 

Years ago clogged with sewage and poisoned by toxins, Narragansett Bay has come a long way thanks to Save the Bay. Covering a 147-square mile area, the Bay’s watershed is home to about 1.8 million people (in Massachusetts and Rhode Island), and over 12 million people visit the Bay every year. The watershed includes sections of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The Blackstone and Taunton Rivers are the largest sources of freshwater to the Bay. The Pawtuxet River is the largest sub-watershed fully within Rhode Island. The Wood-Pawcatuck River watershed drains much of western Rhode Island and parts of Connecticut, feeding into Little Narragansett Bay in Westerly, Rhode Island. Save The Bay also has a South County Coastkeeper who focuses on the southern Rhode Island shoreline and the salt ponds. Numerous small watersheds drain into Narragansett Bay as well.

After exploring one of the education vessels, we began our tour of various spots in the Narragansett Bay watershed. We first traveled up Interstate Highway 95 and I noticed immediately how similar this and the Neponset River watershed are, as they are both urban watersheds. Despite the developed location, one of STB’s priorities is public access to the Bay and its nearby waterways for enjoyment and recreation.

Slater Mill, Pawtucket RI

We visited the Blackstone River Visitor’s Center in Pawtucket, RI, and learned about the urbanization along the river due to the Industrial Revolution, evidenced by the historic Slater Mill across the street. This river used to be a boundary marker for the territory of the Wampanoag and Narragansett Native American tribes, and was once resource-rich and teeming with life.

Departing from Slater Mill, we journeyed south back into Providence to visit WaterPlace Park, near the Providence Place Mall. In the 1990s, this tidal lagoon, part of the Woonasquatucket River, was reclaimed by opening up the river, which was buried under the city. Concerts and various events are held in the park, a great attraction for revitalizing the community. In my opinion, this park might motivate people to think more about the effects of climate change. It has dramatically flooded on occasion due to the combination of heavier rainfall and sea level rise – both results of climate change. When people see this beloved landmark affected by the elements it might spur them to fight climate change by reducing carbon emissions.

As we drove through Providence, I noticed how visible, open, and inviting the Moshassuck River was as it winds through the city. The Moshassuck eventually combines with the Woonasquatucket River to form the Providence River. The rivers in Providence are truly centerpieces now, and are very much visible, which increases the public’s desire for access.

We passed by the huge hurricane barriers built after the 1954 hurricane, designed to prevent all but minimal flooding to the city during big storm events. Unfortunately salt piles and scrap metal yards adorn the flood zone, and pose a risk of polluting the bay during times of significant flooding.

Continuing down the road from the scrap metal yards, we passed by Johnson and Wales University, coming to the sewage treatment plant, just shy of the Save the Bay Center. The plant services more than 300,000 people, and to offset its energy consumption by about two-thirds, the plant constructed wind turbines. Before resuming our tour, we stopped at the STB Center for lunch outside on picnic tables facing the Bay.

Rachel Calabro was kind enough to take Dorie and me from there to a dam removal site along the Pawtuxet River, on the town line of Warwick and Cranston. The cement dam was built on the residing bedrock and was used to prevent the tide from rising too far up the river and to keep the water fresh. Inevitably, the impounded water became polluted and the dam was removed so the river can flow down the natural waterfall there and allow passage for the fish to travel upstream.

Our final destination was Stillhouse Cove, where Wenley Ferguson, Director of Habitat Restoration, was working with volunteers on a marsh restoration project. She is recreating a natural vegetated barrier for the shoreline, which inches dangerously close to the nearby road and neighborhood due to runoff from high-density development and damage from continual storms. When Hurricane Sandy hit, the shoreline here was heavily eroded. Right now, Wenley and her team are seeding the edge of the marsh with warm season grasses.

Stillhouse Cove

My day at Save the Bay was inspiring to say the least. To see the vigor and excitement with which these dedicated people work to protect and restore Narragansett Bay left me with hope: with perseverance, we can combat environmental degradation and make this world a healthier place for not just humans but all beings.

To learn more about Save The Bay, become a member and/or volunteer, please visit their site here: https://www.savebay.org/. Don’t forget to like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Want to learn more about your local watershed? Visit WAA’s site here to learn more: http://watershedaction.org/. 

Welcome to WAA, Herring Ponds Watershed Association!

Today’s blogger is Shalen!

Little Herring Pond public access point

Lee Pulis, of the Herring Ponds Watershed Association which was founded in 2007 as a volunteer neighborhood organization, was kind enough to take us on a tour of the Herring Ponds watershed last Thursday! The HPWA is WAA's newest member! This watershed is not a hydrologic watershed but a state-d
esignated area of critical environmental concern (ACEC), with politically designated boundaries (one of which is Rt. 3). The ACEC is an important area for recreation as well as for water supply, as most of its residents draw from the Plymouth-Carver Aquifer. In addition to sampling pond water and storm water runoff, the HPWA commits to educating residents about their watershed and promoting boating and recreational safety.

The highlights of this watershed are the Little and Great Herring Ponds. Little Herring Pond (I will use the abbreviation LHP for brevity) is at maximum 5 feet deep. Its northern waters never freeze, so aquatic plants abound and it is a great fish pond. Motor boats are not allowed on LHP, and because of this there are no invasive species which often spread by boats and their trailers.

Great Herring Pond (GHP), however is much larger: its waters span 376 acres and are at least 20 feet deep. It receives 80% of its water from the LHP. The state requires a 100-foot buffer zone for any construction around its shores, because of its designation as one of the great Massachusetts ponds. Of course there are many grandfathered homes all around the shoreline, so buffer zone stewardship education is a prime mission of HPWA. Carter’s River flows downstream from LHP to GHP.

At the Carter Beal Conservation Area

Our first stop in this watershed was the Ponds of Plymouth housing development on the western edge of LHP. We saw lots of large expanses of irrigated lawn with non-native decorative plants. Just off one of the development’s roads is Pickerel Pond, part of The Wildlands Trust.

Water recreation is an important attraction in the Herring Ponds watershed. This watershed not only boasts residential properties along the shores of both ponds, but also many parks and day camp areas for adults and kids alike. Two such properties are Camp Clark and Hedges Pond Recreational Area. The former is a YMCA day camp for kids, has horses, nature trails, and offers swimming in Hyles Pond. The latter is a recreation area open to the public on afternoons and weekends, and which used to be an church nature camp.

After a quick interlude, in which we allowed a portion of the pouring rain to pass, we headed south along LHP’s western shores and encountered considerable runoff from the rain heading into Carter’s River, the water body connecting the two main ponds.

We drove past Parcel 15, an area of inactive cranberry bogs, between LHP and GHP. The town missed the deadline of exercising first right of refusal to buy it, and there’s a battle as to whether this land will be reactivated and two more houses with septic systems will be built on the land nearby.The Plymouth Community Preservation Community has since met and indicated it has the funds and will encourage Selectmen to correct the mistake and preserve this area to protect area water quality and recreation. Keep an eye out for further updates.

From thereon we ventured to the LHP public access point, which leads to the northeast part of GHP, and at which was a flow gauge. The wooded path leading to this outlet was rife with horrid construction materials and used electronics dumping. A short distance away, I saw a rain garden for the first time (see right), near the shores of GHP, constructed as the surface part of an underground stormwater filtration system.

Further down GHP’s southwestern shores sits a Massachusetts Maritime Academy sailing facility, offering rowing and sailing lessons, among other recreational activities. This facility is also one of the few places in the world you can learn to drive an oil tanker by training on a 1/12^th working scale model. Pretty cool!

We next observed a few passing locations including a Native American burial ground, another flow gauge towards the end of the Herring River, a boat launch in Bourne, and the Carter Beal Conservation Area, which included a fish ladder.

We reached the Herring River’s outlet by late afternoon: it flows into Cape Cod Canal, and it is at this location that herring swim up the river near the Herring Run Recreation Center. This center provides people with a view of the river (and sometimes herring!), information regarding the contribution of herring to the watershed, the Sagamore Bridge, and a recreation road dedicated purely to biking and pedestrian activities, much like the Neponset River Trail that I visited several weeks ago. This trip was a refreshing and amazing one, one during which I learned how watershed recreation creates an active community among an area’s residents!

Want to learn more about the Herring Ponds Watershed Association or volunteer in any of their activities? Visit their website http://www.theherringpondswatershed.org/Home_Page.php and check out their landmark stewardship guide at http://www.theherringpondswatershed.org/uploads/HPWA_Stewardship_Guide.pdf.

See the following link to learn more about the Lower Neponset River Trail: http://bostonharborwalk.com/placestogo/location.php?nid=2&sid=63