As we move forward with the Wapping Road Dam project we have a lot of permitting to take care of and a lot of regulatory compliance to be clear on. One of the really import ones is with the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (NHESP). This program is part of the State's Division of Fish and Wildlife. They watch out for all of the species listed as Endangered, Threatened, or of Special Concern. On the "Special Concern" list is the blue-spotted salamander (Ambystoma laterale). NHESP keeps maps of where potential habitat for these species exists. These maps show that the areas around the Jones River near the Wapping Road Dam might have habitat for these little guys. These salamanders use vernal pools and floodplain pools near rivers for breeding. There is concern that when the dam is removed and the water levels drop it might impact these important pools.

NHSEP has come out to see the site and they are excited about the overall ecological benefits that the project presents. But we do need to assess the potential impact to the blue-spots. The Riverways Program has stepped up to help us with this issue. They are funding a survey to identify specific habitat for the salamanders and determine if they are in the area and using the pools for breeding. An expert on these species (Dan Wells of Hyla Ecological Services) has been hired to come out and conduct the surveys. The first day of the survey was today and consisted of a site reconnaissance of the entire area. Pine and I did the walk with Dan today, here's where we went....

 

We had an interesting walk and identified several areas that have the potential to support blue-spot breeding. The next steps will be to set some traps to count catch and count salamanders, identify actual breeding pools through egg mass surveys, and figure out how the draw dawn will impact the pools. This will be happen over the next few weeks as the weather warms and the salamanders start moving. We'll keep you posted.

In the meantime...we'll be hosting a talk at the Landing by Jessica Tenzar. Jessica is an expert in salamanders and vernal pools. She will be discussing how to identify and certify vernal pools. She will also be presenting some of her new data that reveals the distances that salamanders travel to feed. This data suggests that existing regulations on vernal pool buffers may not be protective enough. Join us at 7:00pm on Thursday, March 26th to hear more.

It's been a while. Lots and lots of activities and progress since the last entry. But a good deal of it has been of the desk work variety which doesn't lend itself to good pictures and exciting posts. Not that hasn't been interesting and important. The feasibility study for Wap[ing Rd Dam has been completed and the final report has been delivered. The 'preferred alternative' is full dam removal and we are now working to make that happen.

Winter is holding on. But spring will break through soon and there will be a lot of activity around the river. Stay tuned as a bunch of projects get really rolling.

I just wanted to throw out another reminder that Brad Chase of MA Division of Marine Fisheries will be speaking at the Landing on Thursday 7/10/08. Brad has done years of study throughout the state, and has focused quite a bit on the Jones. He'll be giving an update on how anadromous fish are doing throughout the region and how we compare to those trends.

Along those lines...the Kingston Reporter was nice enough to interview me a for a piece they ran last week covering the issue of river herring declines http://www.wickedlocal.com/kingston/news/x1470896934/Where-are-they

Hope to see you all tomorrow night.

I love these long hot summer days. The water temps have really soared in the past week or so. Along with the warm temperatures comes a lot of activity – animals, plants, and people.

The bay is packed with pogies (menhaden) and the stripers and other bigger fish are actively hunting them down. The last few years we’ve had big menhaden runs and I suspect that has contributed to the Sand Tiger Sharks that have turned up in the bay and the river. On the other hand, it appears that the total count for our Elm St herring count was pretty low. We haven’t quite finalized the numbers, but it doesn’t look good. There has been a lot of concern about river herring stocks in the past few years, as a result of both degraded spawning habitat and offshore takes (http://www.herringalliance.org/). Brad Chase will be doing a talk about the status of Jones River fish on July 10th. I’m sure he’ll have some valuable insights.

Like the animals, the JRWA groups have been revved up by the summer weather. We’ve kicked into gear with our water quality monitoring. In mid May Bill G. and I paddled from the Elm St dam to the Wapping Rd dam to have a look at this somewhat hidden stretch of river. With the Wapping Rd dam feasibility study getting under way this summer we wanted to look for any obstructions or other issues that might impact the flow assessments. Things seemed to be in good shape, although we probably caught the last window of opportunity before things became too overgrown to make it up the river. Later in May we initiated our nutrient sampling program for the river and Silver Lake. We’ve been able to piggyback this sampling onto to the Division of Marine Fisheries rapid assessment program for the lake. By conducting these programs in concert we gain much more information for each assessment. These sampling programs will continue through the summer and I expect that we’ll add a few more elements as we go along.

WOW we've had a lot going on in the past year or so! Things having been moving extremely fast (mostly in a forward direction). I know people are interested in keeping pace with all of this, and we certainly want to spread the word. The website has been fantastic and Petra, Iris, and others have done a great job keeping it current. We constantly get positive feedback and it is always exciting to hear people say that they check it out on a regular basis. Heck, my mom would rather get the details about upcoming events from the website than straight from me. (hi mom!)

Activities at Jones River Landing are pretty diverse: Boatbuilding, recreation, ecology, restoration, the River Store, lectures, fundraisers, potlucks, and a whole bunch of other stuff that's just good fun. I love the diversity at the Landing and as a board member it’s very exciting to see movement on all fronts. However, in the role of Ecology Program Director I have a specific focus…the health, ecology, and restoration of the river.

So that’s what this blog is all about – my own focused attention on river ecology issues. My hope is to keep this updated regularly with notes from the river. I expect to have quite a wide range of posts, from casual observations to detailed program notes. I hope it will be a place where people can find some interesting details that encourage them to seek me out at the Landing. I hope to get feedback that helps broaden my understanding and awareness of the watershed. There are so many well trained and thoughtful eyes in this community that continually enlighten me. I hope to spark even more of that through this little journal.

This is literally my first ever blog post. I can’t promise anything about the frequency or quality of my posts. But I will definitely try to keep it up. Although the plan is to focus on the ecology component, everything at the Landing is so interconnected (isn’t that ecology?) that I’m sure I’ll often touch on other pieces. So here we go….