While we are busy with our efforts to remove the dam at Wapping Road we are also working on restoring other portions of the watershed. Our most active site right now is the lower portion of Pine Brook. Pine Brook and the Jones River are both coldwater, groundwater fed streams. Pine Brook contains some of the best potential for aquatic species habitat in the system that could serve as a source of ecological recovery of the Jones. Today, Pine Brook suffers from a number of impairments including reduced flows, a series of small barriers and restrictions, limited stream bank vegetation and cover, and poor water quality. At least eight small barriers exist on Pine Brook (debris dams, culverts, and flow diversions for historic cranberry bogs). The impoundments and channelized brook present poor fish habitat as temperatures are unnaturally high and dissolved oxygen is often quite low. Now that these bogs are no longer active and the land is owned by the town, these structures may be removed to restore natural flow throughout the brook. We are currently working to determine the flows necessary to enhance and maintain the habitat conditions necessary to support native fish fauna. The goal is also to increase the amount of habitat available to the fish and mussels in Pine Brook and Jones River within the range of available flows to enhance the resilience and survival of the species.

'Approximate' location of the Preserve.

One of the best things we have going for us here is that the town owns a huge portion of land that Pine Brook runs through…the Cranberry Watershed Preserve. Because of the public landownership there is a high potential for successful and rapid implementation of restoration plans.

An exciting part of the project is the opportunity to partner with the teachers and students at Silver Lake High School. The Preserve is literally in the backyard of the school and makes for a great outdoor classroom. The school’s horticulture program students are conducting species inventories and water quality testing, while the video program is documenting all of the activities and starting to create short films that will be available on line. We’ll get them posted as soon as they are available. Yesterday we went out and did recon of the site with some of the students and discussed the baseline monitoring needs.

Well that must have done it. One more warm rainy night. Of course.....I missed it. But reports from Pine and Dan Wells are that the slamanders are out. Pine saw several yellow-spots in here secret Vernal Pool (I'm sure she'll divulge if you ask her). And Dan said he caught many in his study traps near the river. No blue-spots though.

They will be in the pools for a couple of weeks. So if you have favorite vernal pool head out to see them for yourself.

No this isn't a Monday morning post about some wild weekend party. At least not for me. The "Big Night" is that first warm (>40F) rainy night in the spring when all of the amphibians come out of their woodland hiding places to converge on their favorite vernal pool. Here they all meet up for a once-a-year breeding event. This is one of the great facts we learned at Jessica Tenzar's talk at the Landing last Thursday. For the second year in a row Jess came to teach us about vernal pools, the animals that live in them, and what we can do to protect them. This year Jess added a discussion about her own research. Although her field methods had some folks squirming in their seats, it was very cool to learn how stable isotopes of Carbon and Nitrogen within the bodies of salamanders can actually show us exactly what they are feeding on throughout their lives.

The timing of the talk was just right. Not only is it the season for vernal pools throughout the Northeast, but we happen to be in the middle of a survey for the endangered Blue-spotted salamander near the Wapping Road Dam (see post from last week). So we are wating for that Big Night and waiting to see what we find. But the Big Night can be elusive. We had rain on the Thursday night of Jessica's talk. But it wasn't as much as predicted and no salamanders or wood frogs showed up in our survey area. So then we had our fingers crossed for the rains this weekend. Saturday night and Sunday were POURING and it was warm(ish). But still nothing. Our salmander survey expert Dan Wells tells me that it may have started raining too late on Saturday night. It usually needs to start before dusk.

So we'll keep waiting and watching.

Friday was the first day of spring! With a busy of weekend of spring chores I couldn't post until now, but I certainly couldn't let it pass unnoticed either.

Obviously the onset of spring is an exciting time for us at the Watershed Association. (Although, I have to admit I'm a little sad to see the slopes up north turning brown and green. Still a few more weeks left though). Although winter's grip has been slow to release this year I've still started to see the signs slowly emerging. Out in the bay I've started seeing spider crabs and horseshoe crabs moving around a lot more. I've also picked up a few flounder while working the oyster beds in the past 2 weeks. On the river, almost all of the snow is finally gone. Flows are high as the ground and surfaces releases all of the ice they've been holding. In my yard, the crocus and even a few forsythia are blooming. In the woods the vernal pools are full and ready for the 'big night'. Speaking of which, don't forget to stop by for Jess Tenzar's vernal pool talk this Thursday night at 7:00 (more info here).

Skunk cabbage budding by the river
Beaver practicing?

Of course, this is all just the slow start of things to come. Spring has an accelerating trajectory and in no time everything will be in full swing. Of course one of the highlights for us will be the herring run. The river herring, smelt, and other fish are already on their way and will start showing up in the river in the next few weeks. We will see them congregating at the bottom of the Elm St Dam. Then, when the water temperature is just right, they will all start racing up the ladder. You can help us capture the details of this critical ecological event by getting involved in our herring count (info here). It's a great way to get personally in tune with the natural cycles of the river while generating important data on the health of this species.

This post backtracks a little bit. But since I didn't post much over the winter I thought it would be worthwhile to give a brief summary of some activities. I'll try to get a few more of these out over the next few weeks....

Throughout 2008 JRWA worked closely with a team of partners to conduct a feasibility study for restoration options at the Wapping Road. The project involved a big group of private, local, state, and federal partners. This included Jones River Realty Trust (the property owner), the Town of Kingston (Cons. Comm.), Division of Marine Fisheries, the Riverways Program, and NOAA Marine Fisheries. The bulk of the technical work was conducted by Milone & MacBroom Inc, a well known river restoration firm. Our study was guided by a specific set of goals for the river:

1. Restore the river habitat back to a more natural environment.
2. Reduce operation and maintenance requirements of the Wapping Road Dam.
3. Promote long-term sustainability at the dam and of the river system.
4. Avoid or mitigate impacts to the Wapping Road Bridge relative to scour and stability.
5. Create a condition that is compatible with the adjacent mill buildings, considering
structural stability as well as ongoing and future operations.
6. Pass target fish species, including alewife, blueback herring, American eel, and sea lamprey.
7. Improve the upstream water quality in the Jones River.
8. Maintain or enhance habitat for rare species that may occur in the project area.
9. Promote recreational use of the river (i.e., canoeing and kayaking).

The study assessed the engineering, biological, ecological, economic, and logistical issues surrounding a variety of alternatives for the site. The alternatives considered included doing nothing, installing a fish ladder, installing a bypass channel, installing a roughened ramp, removing portions of the dam, and removing the entire dam. After weighing the pros and cons of each alternative, it was determined that full removal of the dam would best meet the project goals.

If you want some more detail, please take a look at the Final Feasibility Study Report.