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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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