Building a future from the past

COURTESY WOOD-PAWCATUCK WATERSHED ASSOCIATIONHOLDING WATER: An artist's rendering of the completed Horseshoe Falls fish ladder construction. The project is aimed at restoring some of the region's rivers to their pre-Colonial condition.
COURTESY WOOD-PAWCATUCK WATERSHED ASSOCIATION HOLDING WATER: An artist's rendering of the completed Horseshoe Falls fish ladder construction. The project is aimed at restoring some of the region's rivers to their pre-Colonial condition.

For the past several years Christopher J. Fox has been turning the hands of time backward. His mission has been to restore some of South County’s rivers to their pre-Colonial condition in order to improve several fish stocks, as well as the general health of the river.
The executive director of the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association in Hopkinton has been supervising a seemingly never-ending process of permit applications, hearings and approvals, but never has he regretted taking on the project. “It’s been worth the effort, no doubt about it,” he said.
The work will soon give fish entering Little Narragansett Bay at Westerly the potential to swim as far inland as Wordens Pond and the Great Swamp in South Kingstown, a headwater of part of the watershed, adding access to 10 miles of the river and 1,300 acres of spawning habitat.
Fox’s focus has been on the Pawcatuck River in a stretch bordered by Richmond and Charlestown, in the villages of Shannock and Kenyon, where he has worked to remove the impacts of the dams from Lower Shannock Falls, Upper Shannock Falls – also called the Horseshoe Falls – and at Kenyon Dam. Once all three obstacles are removed, fish migration is expected to increase.
Environmental organizations such as the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program in Narragansett applaud the effort:
“As an anadromous fish run – fish that spend some of their life cycle in fresh water to spawn, such as river herring or shad – when you extend their habitat you extend their ability to reproduce,” said Richard Ribb, NBEP program director. And as those smaller fish increase in population, there is potential to attract larger and commercially desirable fish as well.
The Lower Shannock Falls Dam removal is complete. Three rock weirs for upstream fish passage in the river are also complete, but require minor adjusting this summer. At the same time, Richmond and the East Greenwich-based Community Development Consortium will be completing a park on the site, a 0.6 acre riverfront kayaking and canoeing destination.
Ribb explained that there about 600 dams in the state and the trend of restoring rivers to their pre-manmade state is growing. A plan to remove a dam or construct fish ladders has been drafted for the Ten Mile River in East Providence. The project will provide fish passage over the three most downstream dams on the river: Omega Pond Dam, Hunt’s Mill Dam and Turner Reservoir Dam. The city joined a partnership to restore herring and American shad to the river, which the state Dept. of Fish and Wildlife will stock. It is estimated that the restored river will support a run of nearly a quarter-million fish per year. Last fall, the removal of the Pawtuxet River dam opened about 7 miles of river to its natural state. The project cost $600,000 and was paid from federal, state, local, private and nonprofit sources. According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, each river mile restored to fish passage has an economic value to the community of more than $500,000.
On April 12, R.I. Dept. of Environmental Management transplanted more than 1,000 river herring from the Connecticut River basin into the Pawtuxet. “We anticipate it will lead to a more productive bay,” he said.
On the Blackstone River, fish-passage restoration at the first four dams is expected to produce returns of more than 1 million river herring and more than 20,000 American shad each year. According to the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, it will benefit the region’s economy, since recreational fisheries generate an estimated $75 million in economic activity annually in Rhode Island.
Adding to the Pawcatuck’s new-found importance, the U.S. House of Representatives is considering the Wood-Pawcatuck Protection Act, adding the watershed to the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in the hopes of guaranteeing its protection. The lower-dam removal project already has been honored with a John H. Chafee Conservation Leadership Award on May 12.
The historic marker commemorating a 1636 Native American battle over fishing rights at the site has been moved closer to the road thanks to the approval of the Narragansett Indian Tribe, while a freestanding, brick chimney remains from the Carmichael Mill. The site boasts remains of the original Knowles Mill, 1834, and the later Carmichael Mill from 1885.
“Because the town has added a portage path as part of that park, we’ve identified that the take out of that portage is insufficient for paddlers. So we are in talks with the DEM on how we might make that situation better,” said Fox.
“DEM’s Division of Fish and Wildlife has supported the fish-restoration projects,” said Ronald N. Gagnon, chief of the Office of Customer and Technical Assistance in the DEM, because they will give the fish the opportunity to swim upstream to their natural habitat, while at the same time increasing the biodiversity of the rivers. Upstream, the construction of a $1.16 million fish ladder at the Shannock Horseshoe Falls Dam is complete, with only a few minor finishing touches to be made this summer. The ladder is a chute-like structure with wooden baffles that reduce water velocity, allowing fish to migrate. “We certainly hope that if nothing else, the resident species of fish – the nonmigratory species – will now have conductivity and move up that ladder,” he said. The ladder also has an eelway component not visible to the public. Problems caused the eelway exit to be re-engineered and uniquely designed, rising and falling with the water level, a technology that might be the first of its kind in the nation. “It will be a highly studied mechanism that we hope will be replicated at other sites around the country and the world,” Fox said.
The final piece of the puzzle, the Kenyon Dam, is currently on hold, since the design of the dam completely changed from last year due to concerns of fire safety at the mill. Thus, rather than a full dam removal, a rock ramp will be built, creating a channel for fish to get by the dam and continue upstream. In addition, conversations with the state-historic preservation office and the tribe are not complete. The ramp requires Federal Emergency Management Agency approval and additional funding than initially planned will be needed.
“My expectation is that the project will not break ground this summer. We will probably bid that project out in the middle of the winter and sign a construction contract in early 2013, with the expectation that it begins in June and ends in November 2013,” he said.
As for footing the bill, the Pawcatuck River improvements have been paid largely by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. The remaining projects use a combination of federal, state and local funds and grants. Ribb believes Rhode Island is ahead of the curve when compared to most states.
“Our recreational fishing is a huge economic driver in this state, and the more we can improve and support that fishery, the economic benefits ripple through the economy,” he said. •

No posts to display