2016 Annual Impact Report Restoring Natural Infrastructure GREY TO GREEN Before and After, site of Plymco Dam Removal, Plymouth, MA (Photo courtesy of the Town of Plymouth) Commonwealth of Department of Fish and Game Massachusetts George N. Peterson, Jr., Charles D. Baker, Governor Commissioner Karyn E. Polito, Lieutenant Mary-Lee King, Deputy Governor Commissioner COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS Executive Office of Energy and Division of Ecological Environmental Affairs Restoration DEPARTMENT OF FISH & GAME Matthew A. Beaton, Secretary Tim Purinton, Director DIVISION OF ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION Hunt Durey, Deputy Director Dear Partners, Ecological restoration provides the opportunity to revive damaged natural assets that protect communities and support economic prosperity. Strengthening natural infrastructure is a centerpiece of the Commonwealth’s approach to climate change preparedness and is being utilized more frequently as communities work to meet ambitious water quality targets and sustain vital industries such as fishing and shellfishing. We face some formidable obstacles in protecting communities from sea level rise, flood damage, and threats to adequate and clean water supplies. “Soft solutions” like salt marsh restoration and floodplain re-connection are important tools in the toolbox. DER promotes the use of these tools wherever possible and in the process helps local communities become better prepared for extraordinary weather events such as the 2016 drought and Tropical Storm Irene. While no amount of soft engineering can stave off dramatic sea level rise or extreme weather events, smart engineering solutions integrated with healthy natural infrastructure will help protect and enhance the climate change resilience of Massachusetts’ communities and economy. Sincerely, Tim Purinton, Director George N. Peterson, Jr., Commissioner Hunt Durey, Deputy Director Mary-Lee King, Deputy Commissioner DER receives the Audubon A Award “The Division serves as a facilitator of restoration – working to identify new projects, organize project teams, provide technical assistance, secure project funding, and help manage and coordinate restoration activities from start to finish.” Gary Clayton, President, Mass Audubon Division of Ecological Restoration * Annual Impact Report * 2016 Page 2 BY THE NUMBERS 2016 ACCOMPLISHMENTS In 2016 DER continued to advance restoration across the state. Highlights include: the 225 acre restoration of Tidmarsh Farms in Plymouth; leveraging over $10 million in newly awarded external funds; providing technical support to more than 170 communities on issues such as water quality assessments and culvert replacements; and continuing to help communities restore more natural streamflow. $10M 157K Leveraged TWITTER IMPRESSIONS Using Commonwealth funds to the fullest, DER leveraged $10 million in newly awarded external funds. 76 13 Miles Miles We removed 2 dams and completed 2 wetland restoration projects, restoring 285 acres and opening up 13 river miles. 280 We advanced work on multiple river and wetland 285 restoration projects that have recently initiated acres construction or will begin construction next year. Planned Once complete, these projects will remove 8 dams, 2017 Construction acres reconnect more than 76 river miles, and restore Completed nearly 280 acres of degraded wetlands. 2016 DER provided technical support and guidance in more than 170 $100,000 communities across all 27 major watersheds. Volunteers worked in 72 communities, devoting more than $100,000 worth of labor towards protecting and restoring our rivers and wetlands. 170 Division of Ecological Restoration * Annual Impact Report * 2016 Page 3 Restoring Natural Infrastructure Our ecological work benefits citizens, businesses, and communities that rely on the flood protection and clean water provided by healthy aquatic ecosystems. From Left to right: Muddy Creek Bridge Restoration in Chatham/Harwich after completion. DER’s Kris Houle talks to students about restoration in a DER led practicum on dam removal (Photo by Patricia J. Murphy). Tidmarsh Farms in Plymouth after restoration. In 2016, DER advanced 30 ecological restoration National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant projects through design and permitting towards Program. Future conditions at this former construction. Each project contributes to the restoration commercial cranberry farm will include a mosaic of and protection of the Commonwealth’s natural wetland habitat types, free movement of fish from infrastructure: our rivers, floodplains, freshwater ocean to headwaters, and restored connectivity wetlands and coastal salt marshes. Project-specific with the surrounding forests. The restoration work highlights from 2016 include: will allow the site to evolve with climate change and sea level rise. Collaborations between the • The Muddy Creek restoration project, which landowner, MIT Media Lab, MIT Sea Grant, began construction in 2015, wrapped up in May of University of Massachusetts, and Environmental 2016. Muddy Creek is a 55-acre tidal wetland that Protection Agency have developed into the Living borders Harwich and Chatham. The tidal wetland Observatory, a unique ecological research and had long been disconnected from full tidal flow monitoring partnership. by two undersized, deteriorated culverts. DER, Harwich, Chatham, and other partners worked • DER, the City of Fall River, The Nature together, funded by a Sandy Coastal Resiliency Conservancy, and other partners removed grant from the US Department of the Interior (DOI) Rattlesnake Brook Dam in Freetown. Removal of and the DOI/USFWS National Coastal Wetlands the dam reconnects seven miles of Rattlesnake Conservation Grant Program, to replace the Brook to the Taunton River and eliminates a flood culverts with a 94-foot bridge. damage threat to Narrows Road, located just downstream from the dam. The project was funded • After a year of earth-moving, construction finished in part by the Massachusetts Dam and Seawall at the 225-acre Tidmarsh Farms/Beaver Dam Repair or Removal Program and the DOI/National Brook wetland and river restoration project in Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s (NFWF) Hurricane Plymouth, funded in part by the DOI/USFWS Sandy Coastal Resiliency Program. Division of Ecological Restoration * Annual Impact Report * 2016 Page 4 • Excavators broke ground in late December on three “We see [Tidmarsh] as a landscape of hope – land more dam removals; these will wrap up in early 2017. conservation in a climate changing world that revives Balmoral and Marland Place Dams are located on the degraded landscapes into beautiful, regenerative ecosystems.” Shawsheen River in Andover; together, their removal ~ Gary Clayton, President, Mass Audubon will open 5.5 miles of habitat for migratory and resident fish and reduce flood hazards. These two removals were also partially funded by the DOI/NFWF’s Hurricane Sandy Coastal Resiliency Program. • And, after many years of planning and fundraising, the Cardinal Cushing School of Hanover began DER, together with our removal of the Tack Factory Dam, partially funded partners, has restored in total by the DOI/USFWS National Fish Passage Program. over 1,800 acres of coastal This project removes the first dam from the ocean on Third Herring Brook and removes a liability that wetlands and reconnected diverted much-needed resources from the non-profit over 250 river miles. school. All of these projects stem from strong partnerships between DER, property owners, municipalities, watershed organizations, and other local, state, and federal agencies. Division of Ecological Restoration * Annual Impact Report * 2016 Page 5 Where We Work Out West Culvert Replacement Housatonic Watershed Streamflow Restoration Deerfield River Watershed Pittsfield DER was awarded a $179,620 grant from the National DER’s Streamflow Restoration program continues to Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The grant will build work with multiple partners in Pittsfield to improve municipal capacity to upgrade culverts and increase streamflow below recreational dams. This past the pace of culvert replacement in the Deerfield River winter DER installed a telemetry station at the Onota Watershed. The Deerfield River has an abundance of Lake dam that measures water level and assists coldwater streams, which provide essential habitat for with lake management and downstream releases fish species, and in 2011 many towns were hard-hit to Pecks Brook. This fall DER also funded a survey in this region after Tropical Storm Irene. The grant, in of macroinvertebrates in Pecks Brook, along with conjunction with other DER funds, will immediately several other streams in the area, to better quantify advance the design and/or construction of up to 6 changes in the aquatic community after modifications culverts in the Deerfield River Watershed and, in time, were made to upstream dam management. will lead to many more replacements. Culvert Replacement Deerfield River Watershed Housatonic Watershed Streamflow Restoration, Pittsfield Division of Ecological Restoration * Annual Impact Report * 2016 Page 6 Across the state more than 500 road-stream crossings were surveyed in 2016. Around 55% of crossings surveyed to date have been found to create moderate to severe barriers. Up North Lower Ipswich River Restoration, Ipswich Road Stream Crossing Survey Trainings Groton Lower Ipswich River Restoration Road-Stream Crossings Survey Trainings Ipswich Groton DER is working with the Town of Ipswich, the DER offered a Road-Stream Crossing Survey Ipswich River