One Fish, Two Fish...

Spring has arrived, even if it doesn't feel like it. Increased stream flow and warmer water are triggers for migrating fish that it is time to mate. When they feel the urge, they come back to their home rivers to lay and fertilize their eggs. Right on cue, a river herring was seen on Buckeye Brook in Warwick near the first day of spring. The numbers of river herring returning to Narragansett Bay are extremely low when compared with recent history, as I discussed in my last blog post. While we try to reverse the trend, volunteer fish counts are an important way to keep an accurate estimate of the population size of local fish runs.

Groups of volunteers will be out again this spring to count herring at several locations around Rhode Island. Volunteers spend 10 minutes at a site counting the number of fish that pass upstream. The three largest runs that are monitored by RI DEM are Gilbert Stuart Mill in North Kingstown, Nonquit Pond in Tiverton, and Buckeye Brook in Warwick. At Gilbert Stuart and Nonquit, electronic counters at fish ladders assist DEM in addition to visual counts. Buckeye Brook is one of the few places in the Narragansett Bay watershed where migrating fish are unimpeded by a dam and can swim freely to their spawning area in Warwick Pond. At Buckeye Brook, fish are counted by volunteers at a culvert utilizing a white board that is placed on the stream bed to help see the swimming fish. Last year's count revealed that an estimated 45,244 fish returned to the river, while in 2012, the count was closer to 90,000.

The last several years have brought newly opened fish runs in to focus as well. New fish ladders and a dam removal on the Woonasquatucket River have opened up an historic fish run that will hopefully grow through the years. Counts will begin April 1st at both Rising Sun Mill and Riverside Park in Providence. The Ten Mile River Watershed Alliance will be conducting fish counts at Hunts Mill on the Ten Mile River.

A newly completed fishway project at Kenyon Mill will allow fish access to the entire reach of the Pawcatuck River up to Worden's Pond, and the removal of the Pawtuxet Falls Dam in 2010 has opened up the first seven miles of the Pawcatuck River in Warwick and Cranston. While the volunteers are out mostly counting river herring, several other species migrate to our rivers in the spring including American shad, sea lamprey, white perch, and American eel, which arrive in their juvenile stage to live their adult lives in fresh water.

A video monitoring system will be in use again this year on the Mill River in Taunton to help the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries study recovery of that system. Many species of fish were seen last year including those that migrate within the river, like yellow perch and brook trout. With so many restoration success stories, this is a perfect time to learn more about the sometimes mysterious life cycles of these important fish species.

Remembering Not to Forget

How did we lose sight of the riches our streams and rivers once provided?  Accounts from early European settlers tell of unimaginable numbers of fish filling the rivers during spring spawning runs. There were so many fish that thousands could be caught in a day, and hundreds were placed in fields as fertilizer. Eels were in such large abundance that they were used for everything from horsewhips to hair oil. It’s been estimated that eels once made up one-fourth of all fish biomass in rivers on the Atlantic coast.

In his book, RunningSilver, John Waldman talks of the shifting baselines syndrome where we begin a pattern of forgetting that over the generations shifts our understanding of the true nature of these systems. You can say the same about global warming. As each generation becomes more and more used to a world without snow, we will forget that outdoor ice skating was oncecommonplace in Rhode Island and will believe that ice on Narragansett Bay is an“extraordinary” occurrence.

In the beginning, fish runs were preserved with bypass channels as mills were built, and farmers would come and take dams down by force if necessary. A 1735 Massachusetts law did not allow dams on rivers that would serve as a barrier to fish. This law was generally ignored and as rivers were taken over by human machinery, many mill owners just waited until the fish runs became smaller and smaller to the point where people forgot. They then claimed that fish had never run in the river, and it made no economic sense to restore them. A 1920 state inventory of river herring found that the Mill River in Taunton was so badly polluted by manufacturing waste that restoration of the fishery would be “impossible”.

We began to forget, but the fish did not. The fish persisted and even in the beginning of this century runs of river herring on the Taunton River remained above two million fish. Today, we have removed some obstacles and have restored water quality to a degree, but the fish are not returning. We all speculate on the reasons, and they are many.

Slowly, our public resources were taken over by private interests and now restoration must be done with public money. Many private dam owners are willing to take down their unwanted dams, but not without the help of federal and state agencies who pay most if not all of the cost. Because fish passage restoration is a goal of the government, we are willing to see this happen. State agencies have the duty to protect the public, so they inspect private dams, rather than require owners to do it themselves. How did we get here, and why do we allow these attitudes to persist? It certainly is the tragedy of the commons, but we should not leave it at that. We should reevaluate what a shared resource means for all people and all species, and not forget what we once had, even if we can’t go back in time.

Going Solar

Recently, my husband and I decided to install a solar thermal hot water system at our house in Providence. Despite the loss of a state tax credit, we went ahead with a grant from the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation’s Renewable Energy Fund for a similar 25% off the cost of the system. We will also receive a federal tax rebate of 30% off the rest. In order to qualify for the grant program, we needed to have done an energy audit through National Grid. We had done the audit last year, and had already installed additional attic insulation through that program. For anyone who has not gone through an energy audit, it is well worth the effort. We were able to cover the cost of insulating our attic and sealing our entry doors.

This year’s Renewable Energy Fund grant program was for small scale solar projects, and was given to solar installers and community development groups that bundled individual projects. Eight separate groups were awarded funding for 89 residential projects. Our project was done by Island Solar and was bundled with 16 others. Residential solar is gaining in popularity across the country, and incentives are helping increase that growth. With solar panel prices falling and financing available through leases and other agreements, the economics are favoring these small scale projects. Solar in general is proving to be easier to permit and install than wind, and in Massachusetts, for example, solar projects outnumber wind projects by 3 to 1. In total, over 4,000 residential solar projects have been installed in Massachusetts, and installed solar capacity is already over 200 megawatts.

While Massachusetts has strong incentives through tax rebates and rate based programs, Rhode Island ranks last in the Northeast in renewable energy projects.  Efforts to pass bills in the legislature this past session to reinstate the RI renewable energy tax credit were unsuccessful. Representative Deb Ruggerio said that the state spent about $155,000 a year while we had a tax credit which generated over $1 million a year in economic activity for solar installers. Rhode Island has increased larger solar projects with its new distributed generation program.

Rhode Island has some work to do, but I believe that a solar panel on the roof will soon become commonplace. Several communities in California are already requiring all new houses to be built with roof top solar as a standard practice. For me the decision to go solar was about cutting down on my natural gas use and all the baggage that comes with it. Saving money and increasing the value of my house are also good things, as is supporting the effort to change perceptions about renewable energy. We as homeowners have it within our power to change the economics of the energy industry. I am looking forward to seeing the shut down of coal fired power plants like Brayton Point, and hopefully someday soon, the Pilgrim nuclear plant. Let the sun shine!

Stillhouse Cove in Cranston gets an Adaptive Makeover

In case you missed it, last week was National Estuaries Week. We kicked off the week with our annual Beach Slam at Goddard Memorial State Park, and continued with the christening of our new education vessel the Elizabeth Morris. The habitat restoration staff was also in full swing with a project at Stillhouse Cove in Cranston. This small park north of Pawtuxet Village is the site of one of our recent salt marsh restoration projects were we cleared tidal creeks to allow fresh water to drain from the upper marsh.

This most recent project helps to address erosion issues at the upland edge of the marsh where it meets the bluff. Wave action and storm damage had caused the bluff to become eroded and undercut, threatening the loss of portions of the park. The steep bluff was graded to a more dissipated slope, and soil lifts or "burritos" as they are sometimes called, were installed to support the bank and new vegetation.

This project was part of our work to identify opportunities to protect shorelines naturally and help create a more resilient coastline. As sea level rises, it will be important to create places where wave energy can be dissipated and where shorelines can adapt to changes. The newly graded area will be planted and will support habitat values while protecting the shoreline.

Whittenton Dam Removal on the Mill River

Another dam has gone from the Mill River in Taunton, leaving the Reed & Barton dam as the only impediment to fish passage on the river. A new fish ladder has been constructed at Lake Sabbatia which will allow fish access to over 30 miles of habitat in the upper watershed. This dam is special because it was the catalyst for much of the recent discussion of dam safety, dam removal and floodplain restoration in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Our efforts in Rhode Island to have better disclosure of dam safety and increased dam inspections have come from our experience in Taunton. You can see much more about the project on the Mill River Restoration blog.

This recent coverage of the project from ABC6 news also shows the history of this dam and the importance of the restoration. The dam came out relatively quickly this week, and the entire project should be completed by September. Next year's removal of the Reed & Barton dam will see the project come full circle and will allow fish full access to the entire river corridor.

Removal of the Hopewell Mill dam last August was very successful and the river is beginning to take shape.

Kenyon Mill Fish Passage

The Kenyon Mill fish passage project on the Pawcatuck River is getting underway this month, and will be complete by the end of the year. This project is the last in a series of three projects on the upper Pawcatuck River that will ultimately restore passage for fish up to Worden's Pond. The Shannock Falls dam was removed in 2010, and the Horseshoe Falls dam in Shannock Village had a fish ladder constructed in 2011.

This fish ladder also has an eelway that will assist young American eels with their ascent over this dam.

Together, these projects will open up access to 10 miles of river and 1,300 acres of additional habitat. The Kenyon Mill project involves the removal of an old dam and the creation of rock weirs that will allow fish to swim over the obstruction but will maintain water levels for fire suppression. Kenyon Industries is an active manufacturer on the river, and relies on the water supply.

The project will start with removal of the original structure and then creation of the rock weirs. These projects are an important part of habitat restoration in the Wood-Pawcatuck River watershed, which provides rare and pristine habitats and supports many different species of wildlife. Project partners include the NOAA Restoration Center, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Trout Unlimited, American Rivers, Town of Richmond, RI CRMC and RI DEM. Partial funding came from the ARRA federal stimulus package. Save The Bay supported this project through our partnership with Restore America's Estuaries and NOAA. 

Celebrating the Roger Williams Park Restoration Project

Community members and project partners gathered for a ribbon cutting ceremony today near Roosevelt Lake in Roger Williams Park. The gathering celebrated the completion of the first stormwater projects in the park, and the establishment of a walking trail behind the carousel. Volunteers who helped plant the rain gardens were given citations from the Mayor, and Governor was on hand to help cut the ribbon.

We all know of Roger Williams Park in Providence as that urban gem that hosts the zoo, the carousel and botanical garden, as well as the seven man-made ponds that meander through the watershed. The ponds in the park were constructed in the 1880’s and 1890’s, at the southern end of the growing city. At that time, the population of the city was smaller and development less dense. As development grew in the neighborhoods surrounding the park, stormwater was directed to the park ponds. Park roads and parking lots also drained directly to the ponds.

If you ever visited the park on a nice weekend, you know that a favorite activity has been feeding the geese. These geese grew in number and became very unhealthy as they relied more and more on human “junk food”. Despite efforts to curb their numbers and to instruct visitors not to feed the geese, their waste has been very bad for water quality. This source of nutrients is added to the additional impacts from road and other surface runoff, resulting in algae blooms that close the ponds to recreation.

The Roger Williams Park Restoration project has begun to change this situation. Engineers examined the park for areas where stormwater could be intercepted before reaching the ponds. About 30 spots were investigated, and five sites were chosen for retrofit projects. Other suggested actions include removal of curbing along park roads and disconnecting building downspouts.  Save The Bay has helped to organize volunteers for planting in the new raingardens located at three sites along the ponds. A group from Amgen helped out during the City’s Earth Day event, and planting has continued through the spring. A master plan for the park restoration will provide a list of other ideas to continue work, and a new group, the Roger Williams Park Conservancy, is being formed to take on the restoration effort.