Boat Meadow Creek Salt Marsh Restoration , Cape Cod
Project Description: The Boat Meadow Creek borders the Cape Cod Bike Trail. The salt marsh restoration will involve replacing the existing 36-inch culvert with 6-foot wide by 6-foot high box culvert. This will allow full tidal flow into the up-gradient marsh and create a saline environment that will kill off the common reed and allow for the natural re-colonization of native salt marsh vegetation.

Funding Provided by: State bond funds, National Fish and Wildlife Federation; the towns of Orleans and Eastham (in-kind) and CWRP Partners (Polaroid, Massachusetts.Electric Co., and Capaccio Environmental Engineering).

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Broad Meadow Salt Marsh Restoration , Ma

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Charles River Watershed Wetlands Restoration Plan
Project Summary: The Massachusetts Wetlands Restoration Program (WRP) will prepare a watershed wetlands restoration plan, with the assistance of the Army Corps of Engineers, for the 35 towns that are partially or wholly in the watershed. The plan will identify and prioritize potential wetland restoration sites. The planning process fully engages the watershed team and other stakeholders and includes extensive associated public outreach and education programs.

Funding provided by: WRP FY2000 Bond Funds, US Army Corps of Engineers Section 22 Program Grant, and CWRP partners (NSTAR, Polaroid, Genzyme).

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Gulliver's Creek/Neponset River Tidal Restriction Study
Project Summary: The site of the study is an approximately 900 linear foot section of the Neponset River. Approximately 75 acres of salt marsh associated with Gulliver's Creek are immediately upstream. The majority of this salt marsh is heavily ditched and is dominated by common reed. The objective of the study is to determine if certain highway bridges act to restrict tidal flow to the upstream marshes.

Funding Provide by: CWRP Partner (Clean Harbors).

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Namskaket Marsh (Cape Cod)
Project Summary: Two undersized culverts under the Cape Cod rail trail restrict full tidal flows from reaching the upgradient marshes. This project will improve tidal flows to 12-15 acres of the upgradient salt marshes and improve the ability of fish to access the marshes by replacing the existing culverts with larger culverts.

Funding Provided by: Wetlands Restoration Program, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Marine Fisheries Service (pending) and CWRP Partner (Battelle).

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Narragansett Bay/Mt. Hope Bay Shores Watershed Wetlands Restoration Plan
Project Summary: WRBP will prepare a watershed wetlands restoration plan, with the assistance of the Army Corps of Engineers, for this watershed. The plan will identify and prioritize potential wetland restoration sites. The planning process fully engages the watershed team and other stakeholders and includes extensive associated public outreach and education programs.

Funding provided by: US Army Corps of Engineers Section 22 Program Grant and CWRP Partner (PG&E National Energy Group)

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Neponset Salt Marsh Restoration Project — Phases I and I-A
Project Summary: The project involves the removal of dredged spoils from former salt marshes to restore approximately 20 acres of salt marsh. Phase 1A, to be constructed at the same time as Phase 1, consists of enlarging a culvert beneath a road that crosses the marsh. Enlarging the culvert will allow normal tides to access the salt marsh, and will result in the restoration of tidal flows to approximately 10 to 12 acres of salt marsh. This project will improve tidal flows to the upgradient salt marsh and improve the ability of fish to access the marsh by replacing the existing culvert with a larger culvert.

Press Release (PDF)

Funding provided by: US Fish and Wildlife Service and CWRP partner (The Gillette Company).

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North Pool Salt Marsh Restoration at the Parker Refuge
Project Summary: The long-term goal of the restoration is to reestablish a self-sustaining, low/no maintenance area with high habitat value. The general approach to the restoration will be to reintroduce tidal flow to the North Pool, allowing for the natural re-colonization of native salt marsh vegetation. Potential restoration options may include removing portions of the berm, filling or plugging ditches within the pool, excavating filled portions, and/or removing other obstructions to tidal flow.

Funding Provide by: US Fish & Wildlife Service and CWRP Partner (Normandeau Associates)

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Purple Loosestrife Biocontrol Project
Project Summary: The Association of Massachusetts Wetlands Scientists (AMWS) will help establish a beetle propagation program that involves extensive use of volunteers. The goal of this program will be to develop a self-sustaining beetle rearing program that will not require the purchase of beetles from outside suppliers in the future. AMWS purchased the equipment necessary for 15 volunteers to raise beetles this year, and held a training session this spring. AMWS will also educate municipalities with potential beetle release sites on the use of beetles to control purple loosestrife. Several schools will participate in educational activities at the designated sites.

Funding Provided by: CWRP Partner (the Association of Massachusetts Wetlands Scientists).

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Quivett Creek (Cape Cod)
Project Summary: This project will improve tidal flows to 8 acres of upgradient salt marsh and improve the ability of anadramous fish to access upstream spawning areas. Donated services include: obtaining data on existing conditions to develop construction plans and preparing permit applications, developing a monitoring plan that will include monitoring the presence of fish on the marsh, and conducting pre-construction monitoring and at least one year of post-construction monitoring of the project site.

Funding Provided by: CWPR Partner (The Louis Berger Group).

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Salt Marsh Restoration Research Symposium
Project Summary: A two-day Salt Marsh Restoration Research Symposium was held in November, 2000. The Symposium brought together research institutions, pre-eminent wetland scientists, wetland restoration project managers, and funders (corporate, government, foundation). Attendees discussed topics for a unified research agenda that is of interest to the research community and supportive of the Massachusetts salt marsh restoration program.

Funding Provided By: CWRP Partners (Duke Energy, the ERM-Group Foundation, ERM-New England, ECAP, and Battelle).

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Feasibility Studies of Priority Wetlands Restoration Sites Within the Shawsheen River
Project Summary: Detailed feasibility studies usually must be performed to determine whether potential projects can practically be restored and to prepare them for sponsorship. Such studies usually include critical services such as field surveys, hydrologic studies, restoration designs, costs estimates, and evaluations of permit requirements. These services are needed to advance high priority projects to the point where they can be "handed off" to sponsors for implementation.

Funding Provided by: CWPR Partner (Raytheon Corporation).

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Soil Sulfide Research at Sagamore Marsh
Project Summary: The University of Massachusetts School for Marine Science and Technology will monitor changes in soil sulfides for the first post-construction year at this site and correlate these changes to post-construction changes in tidal hydrology at the site. This research will help WRP improve future restoration techniques.

Funding provided by: CWRP Partner (The Gillette Company).

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Project Summary: WRP will prepare a watershed wetlands restoration plan, with the assistance of the Army Corps of Engineers, for the 33 towns that are partially or wholly in the watershed. The plan will identify and prioritize potential wetland restoration sites. The planning process fully engages the watershed team and other stakeholders and includes extensive associated public outreach and education programs.

Funding provided by: WRP FY2000 Bond, US Army Corps of Engineers Section 22 Program Grant and CWRP Partner (Raytheon).

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Project Summary: An undersized culvert in Wings Neck Road prevents full tidal flows from reaching 12 acres of upgradient marsh, and prevents the upgradient marsh from quickly draining following large storm events. This restriction of tidal flow is likely playing a role in the encroachment of woody vegetation onto the marsh, and decreases the area of marsh available to fish and other aquatic organisms. This project will improve tidal flows to the upgradient salt marsh by replacing the existing culvert with a larger culvert.

Funding Provided by: Wetlands Restoration Program, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (through their Wildlife Habitat Improvement Project (WHIP)), the Wings Neck Neighborhood Association, the Town of Bourne Department of Public Works, and CWRP partners (Warwick and Associates, and Doyle Engineering).

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Project Summary: Since being abandoned for agricultural uses the larger wetland evolved into a pond (open water) with a fringing Phragmites dominated shallow fresh marsh and minor areas of shrub swamp. Since a drainpipe broke in the smaller wetland, seawater has flooded the wetland and has allowed much of that wetland to become salt marsh with fringing Phragmites. The project will restore both areas of tidally-restricted wetlands to salt marsh. The existing culverts will be replaced with larger box culverts sized by NRCS to provide the required tidal flows to restore salt marsh to the upgradient marshes. This project may also include the construction of tidal creeks to convey tidal flows throughout the marshes.

Funding Provided by: Natural Resources Conservation Service, The Trustees of Reservations, and CWRP Partner (ENSR).

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Project Summary: This plan identifies, characterizes and prioritizes potential wetland restoration sites that, if restored, will likely help improve regional watershed functions by reducing flooding, improving water quality, and restoring wildlife habitat. High priority sites that receive conceptual site designs and cost estimates can be quickly matched up with project sponsors for implementation. This project will also help WRP create its own methodology for developing potential restoration site conceptual designs.

Funding Provided by: CWRP partner (Epsilon Associates).

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A restored Southcentral Alaska streambank

For more information contact Michael Roy, USFWS, at (907) 786-3925, Ted Rockwell, USEPA, at (907) 271-3689, or Guy McConnell, USACE, at (907) 753-2614.

Endorsed Project

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Three failing culverts block fish passage

Project Summary: This Anchorage project will replace a set of degraded culverts near the mouth of Anchorage's Ship Creek with a bridge, improving passage for 4 salmon species on one of Alaska's most popular angling streams. A variety of opportunities for corporate financial and in-kind support exist in this $3+ million restoration effort. A large National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant has been made available for this project. An Alaska CWRP member company has offered to provide substantial in-kind support for this project.

For more information contact Michael Roy, USFWS, at (907) 786-3925, Ted Rockwell, USEPA, at (907) 271-3689, or Guy McConnell, USACE, at (907) 753-2614.

Endorsed Project

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The Chugach dam in downtown Anchorage

Ship Creek Watershed Restoration, Alaska
Project Description: Anchorage Waterways Council, a locally based community group, is taking the lead in public-private efforts to address restoration efforts throughout the Ship Creek Watershed. With work on the Lower Ship Creek Fish Passage project underway (see above), agency and community interest is now focusing on remaining barriers to salmon runs, including the unused Chugach power plant dam and associated inadequate fish ladder, and the two dams and associated fish ladders located at the Elmendorf and Fort Richardson hatcheries.

A comprehensive analysis of the hydrological, contaminants, and sediment status of the Chugach dam is an essential precursor to restoration of the site, whether it be through construction of improved fishways, "notching" of the dam to improve fish passage, or removal of much of the structure. Some agency and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation funds will likely be made available for this project in 2002; in-kind support from CWRP environmental consulting member companies could set this important project in motion.

For more information contact Michael Roy, USFWS, at (907) 786-3925, Ted Rockwell, USEPA, at (907) 271-3689, or Guy McConnell, USACE, at (907) 753-2614.

Endorsed Project

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