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               Section 319
               NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM  SOGGESS STORY
 Restoring Historical Cranberry Bogs Improves Aquatic Life in the Eel River
Waterbody  Improved   "ist °rical cra"beHrry farming activities in Massachusetts'
                                Eel River resulted in aquatic life impairments caused by fish
 barriers and non-native aquatic plants. As a result, in 2001 the state of Massachusetts
 listed  Eel River as Category 4c in the state's Integrated Report, for non-attainment of
 the state's water quality standard for aquatic life. Project partners performed a series of
 restoration activities that simplified channel and floodplain structure and addressed barriers
 to fish and wildlife passage as well as Eel River's altered hydrology and degraded wetland
 soils. Aquatic life improved after completion of the restoration project.
 Problem
 The Eel River (Figure 1) is a small spring-fed system
 that flows east of Long Pond Road in the town of
 Plymouth, flows through  Russell Mill Pond, and
 discharges into Plymouth Harbor in southeastern
 Massachusetts. Current land use estimates for the
 South Shore Coastal watershed (an approximately
 15-square-mile subwatershed within the Cape
 Cod watershed) are forest (70 percent), open land
 (11 percent), and residential (8 percent). Historically,
 this area was a wetland known as Finney's
 Meadow.

 The river's flow was uninterrupted and supported
 a wide variety of wildlife until a series of mills and
 dams were constructed in the early 1800s. In the
 late 1800s, cranberry farming began and continued
 until 2002. Cranberry farmers removed trees, modi-
 fied the stream channel, and built upland berms and
 water control structures.  In addition, the Sawmill
 Pond dam was a barrier to fish migration, and the
 impoundment affected habitat, water quality, and
 natural riverine processes.

 The Massachusetts Department of  Fish and Wildlife
 surveyed the fish population on the Eel River in
 2001. With the exception of American eel, the
 overall number of fish was low. This was attributed
 to the lack of quality fish  habitat, including available
 fish cover which was noted as poor. It was also
 noted that two small impoundments of this seg-
 ment of the Eel River were both heavily infested
 with the non-native aquatic plant Cambomba caro-
 liniana (fanwort). In order for the Eel River to meet
 the aquatic life designated use, the  fish population
                                             Figure 1. The Eel River meanders through a restored
                                             wetland area that was once a commercial cranberry bog.

                                             should contain multiple age classes (indicative of
                                             reproducing populations) of any cold water fish and
                                             there should be no non-native aquatic species. As
                                             a result, in 2001 the Massachusetts Department
                                             of Environmental  Protection listed the 3.9-mile Eel
                                             River (Segment MA94-23) as impaired (Category 4c)
                                             in the state's Integrated Report because it was not
                                             meeting its designated use for fish, other aquatic
                                             life, and wildlife.
                                             Project Highlights
                                             Beginning in 2004, project partners worked to
                                             improve water quality and reduce the impacts of
                                             hydromodification on fish and wildlife in the Eel
                                             River. Project partners naturalized over 40 acres
                                             of retired cranberry bogs (Figure 2) to mitigate the
                                             effects of historical hydromodification and removed

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                                 Figure 2.
                                 Land around
                                 the Eel River
                                 was converted
                                 for cranberry
                                 farming as
                                 early as the
                                 late 1800s.
                                 Figure 3. The
                                 Sawmill Pond
                                 Dam, built
                                 downstream
                                 of one of the
                                 bogs,  altered
                                 the river's
                                 hydrology and
                                 blocked fish
                                 passage.
Figure 4. Wetlands have been restored in a
portion of the river that was once a commercial
cranberry bog.

Sawmill Pond Dam, a large stone dam located
downstream of the bogs (Figure 3). Restoration
techniques included stream channel and floodplain
reconstruction, fill removal, extensive wetland
plantings, rare-species habitat creation and
enhancement, dam removals, and culvert replace-
ments (Figures 4 and 5). The project took approxi-
mately 5 years to complete from feasibility through
construction.
Results
In 2006 the town of Plymouth's Community
Preservation Committee purchased the cranberry
bogs and upland areas. Through the Eel River
Headwaters Restoration Project, the town and proj-
ect partners transformed over 40 acres of former
commercial cranberry farm into self-sustaining
freshwater wetlands. In addition to improving over
40 acres of habitat, the project addressed the flow
of 1.7 miles of headwater stream that had been
extensively altered and degraded by human use.
This project has made dramatic improvements to
wetland and riverine habitat that resulted  in new and
more abundant fish and wildlife, helped the local
ecology become more resilient to climate change,
and enhanced public use of the conservation land.
 Figure 5. Removing an impoundment has restored
 the hydrology of the Eel River and improved fish
 passage.

Rare wetland plant communities have also been
reestablished. Over 24,000 plants, including more
than 17,000 Atlantic white cedar trees, have been
planted, representing the first large-scale restoration
of this rare wetland type in Massachusetts. Now
known as the  Eel River Preserve, the area is man-
aged by the town of Plymouth for public use and
benefit. The Eel  River project won the 2011 Coastal
America Partnership Award, and provides valuable
guidance for other wetland restoration projects.
                                                   Partners and Funding
Partners included the town of Plymouth, the
Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration,
the Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Protection, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the
U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource
Conservation Service (NRCS), American Rivers, The
Nature Conservancy, the Massachusetts Corporate
Wetlands Restoration Partnership, and the Horsley
Witten Group. The project was funded through
several sources with major contributions provided
by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ($1 million),
the Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Protection ($400,000 in Clean Water Act section
319 funds), and NRCS ($350,000).
UJ
O
     U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
     Office of Water
     Washington, DC

     EPA841-F-14-001X
     May 2014
For additional information contact:
Jane Peirce
Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Protection
508-767-2792 • Jane.Peirce@state.ma.us

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