FALMOUTH – The Town of Falmouth recently held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Coonamessett River Restoration Project and the Coonamessett Greenway Heritage Trail.
The Coonamessett River Restoration is an ecological restoration project that seeks to return the river to it’s pre-industrial state by removing dams and culverts, with the goal of bringing back river herring, trout, and American eel populations and aiding in coastal flood mitigation.
The ceremony took place on-site at the river, with project members, environmentalists, educators and state and local officials in attendance, including Plymouth/Barnstable State Senator Susan Moran.
“Thanks to the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program and other outreach, this project now serves as an example throughout the state of a nature-based solution to increase resiliency to climate change,” said Dr. Elizabeth “Betsy” H. Gladfelter, Project Coordinator for the Coonamessett River Restoration Project.
Populations of blueback herring, alewives, trout and eel have declined in recent years in the Coonamessett, which is one of the Capes largest rivers. The removal of dams and culverts allows the fish to swim upriver to their instinctive primordial spawning areas.
“One of our goals is not only to create a thriving river ecosystem, but also for the river to be an important landmark for the community of East Falmouth while nurturing student and citizen engagement and environmental stewardship of this precious jewel,” said Wendi B. Buesseler, President of the Coonamessett River Trust.
“Now that the dams and berms and those horrible culverts have been removed from the slower section of the river we can see that the herring, where once they were obstructed moving up the river because of these things, now they just kind of whiz right by, and it’s really an amazing thing to see,” she said.
Although the project was completed recently, early reports on its success are promising.
According to The Department of Ecological Restoration the project has improved wildlife passage through the culvert and dam removals, repaired over 50 acres of habitat and 4,600 lineal feet of riverway, and increased climate resilience on Falmouth’s coast.
The Coonamessett River Restoration is one of many projects restoring waterways on Cape Cod and throughout Coastal Massachusetts by means of removing outdated dams and returning retired cranberry bogs to the ecosystem.
Other restoration projects include the Childs River Restoration Project in Falmouth and the Tidmarsh Farms Wetland Restoration in Plymouth.
Moving forward the Town plans to continue education and data collecting efforts such as the CRT’s Adopt-a-Herring Program to monitor the waterway.
By, Matthew Tomlinson, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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