Eel River Report

Oct, 2008

Read Nov 2007 Report >> here

Eel River Update October ‘08 by Peter Motyka It has been a busy summer at the Eel River headwaters. The town of Plymouth and Interfluve, along with other involved parties, are moving the agenda forward. The plan at this time is to begin planting the Atlantic White Cedar saplings in bogs 7 and 6 beginning in the summer of 2009. These two bogs are up in the headwaters where the main spring is. It is very encouraging to see this project moving ahead after 2+ years of planning and that the vision has not dimmed at all since TU first got involved in the summer of ’06.

We have now gathered more than a years worth of solid data and made some valuable visual observations as well. When I say “we”, I refer to Barry Guaraldi, Wayne Perry and Charlie Fortier (and yours truly) from the SE Mass Chapter. These gentlemen have been there from day one to lend a hand. We have also had others drop by to help as well in any given month. A sincere Thank You goes out to all who have lent a hand.

As more is learned, the importance of this type of restoration becomes more apparent. Make no mistake, there is a lot of work to be done here and we haven’t even begun the physical construction, but it is clear that things will come together in the near future.

On June 6th, Steve Hurley from Fish and Wildlife came down with his crew, Aaron and Jeff, to electroshock . Their goal was to document all species in the headwaters. We shocked a stretch adjacent to bog 1, where our site 3 is, a 1000 meter stretch just above the road and another 1000 meter area adjacent to bog 3. We netted many brookies, eels and various other species in this lower area. The largest trout was about 10 ½’ long and all specimens looked healthy. There is no reason to believe, at this time, that these are not wild fish. The Saw Mill dam, which is a 20’ spillway downstream, currently prevents any upstream passage of any swimming creature. This dam will be removed and a headwaters-to-ocean corridor will result.

Many small brookies were netted which were from the fall ’06 spawn. These fish were about 3-4” long. We did not shock any fall ’07 trout. Steve’s theory here is that they are off in the side channels, getting what cover and food they can. He also explained that this is quite normal. For any of you who have been to these headwaters, you can appreciate that there is no tree cover in any of these bogs at the present time.

We also observed that bog 3 is of a different topsoil composition then the rest. Kim Michaelis, environmental technician from the town, was telling me of the difficulty they had drilling core samples in that bog. Also exclusively present there were Red Maple saplings which, in late September, are beginning to turn the vibrant colors of autumn. Interfluve plans to introduce these to the lower bogs, as part of the original plan.
Steve and his crew finished up the shocking job in the upper bogs in July. Although the stream showed signs of good health and there were other species, there were no brookies above bog 3 at that time. The reasons for this are that the majority of stream bottom is much more muddy the further up you go and the stream is wider with a slower flow, therefore less dissolved oxygen in the water when compared to downstream sites 2 and 3 . Undercut banks are also somewhat lacking here. Just not Troutville. An official report is due form Mr. Hurley later this fall. Stay tuned.

Eel River Work Party Details

Our elite team meets at the Nature Conservancy parking area at 204 Long Pond Road, Plymouth MA, 02360 around 8:30 AM on the 3rd Saturday of every month for our monthly data gathering. All are welcome to come by and observe what we do (which can get very humorous at times) and to observe the stream as it is now because it’s going to begin to change a lot within the next year.

For more information on the progressive goings-on at Eel river and what our chapter is doing, contact Peter Motyka, project liaison at peterbigbass@aol.com

You can get there from here……..

Directions from rt. 3 south: Get off at exit 5. Bear right at the bottom of the ramp onto Long Pond road. You will travel 1.8 miles, passing Boot Pond Road. You will then cross over the site. The Nature Conservancy office driveway is just past that on the left.

Directions from rt. 3 north: Get off at exit 3. Take a left at the end of the ramp and go over the highway. At the stop sign, turn right onto Long Pond road and you’ll travel 3.7 miles from that intersection. The entrance to the Nature Conservancy office driveway will be on your right just down from Gunner’s Exchange road.

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Read the official 2008 Press Release from the State of Massachusetts:

EEA’s Coastal Zone Management Office Receives $1 Million Grant to Restore Coastal Habitat in Plymouth Funding will help restore 40 acres of wetlands and over a mile of waterways in Eel River Headwaters

Summary (Jan 10, 2008)

BOSTON – Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Ian Bowles today announced that EEA’s Office of Coastal Zone Management has received a $1 million Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant to help the town of Plymouth repair degraded aquatic habitats within the town-owned Eel River headwaters conservation area. Combined with other partner funding, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) grant will restore approximately one mile of the Eel River Headwaters and nearly 40 acres of adjacent wetlands damaged by previous agricultural operations.

The grant includes $38,500 for the town to purchase the Hayden Pond property in Plymouth, a 13.6-acre proposed conservation parcel that abuts the Eel River, contains 800 feet of river frontage, and supports a spawning run of alewife and blueback herring. This purchase will link several open space parcels into a contiguous 1,000-acre tract of protected conservation land within the town.

Link to town reports

There are two reports on the town website, A Conceptual design report and a Conceptual design plan. To access the page that these are on, click on the link below.

http://www.plymouth-ma.gov/public_documents/PlymouthMA_EnvironManage/Projects#headwaters

View a Mass GIS map of the project made from an aerial photo

Link to a October 2006 blog report:

http://blog01.kintera.com/troutunlimited/archives/2006/10/bogs_and_brooki.html#more (link needs fixing...)