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Stream Continuity and Why It Matters for Massachusetts Rivers
Animals that live in or along rivers and streams need to be able to move within and along these streams in order to survive (and often, reproduce). Dams and roads serve as often insurmountable barriers to wildlife movement, with severe impacts on the health and viability of our wildlife populations. For more detail on the ecological importance of stream continuity, visit this excellent site:
https://www.streamcontinuity.org/aquatic_connectivity/index.htm
The Massachusetts Rivers Alliance organized a series of six workshops for municipalities across the state, together with members of the River Continuity Partnership in 2013; the presentations are available in our online document library:
http://massriversalliance.org/resources/document-library/
Massachusetts is part of a larger North Atlantic Aquatic Continuity Collaborative working together on these issues. More information is available at:
https://streamcontinuity.org/MA/index.htm
Dams
Massachusetts has over 3,000 small dams on it waterways. Many of these are old, built to support mills or to generate hydropower, and are not actively used today. Some of them pose a threat to public safety and are a burden for owners to maintain. The dams have created a lot of ponded habitat, at the expense of free flowing river habitat. Massachusetts is working with many local entities and nonprofit partners to remove some of these dams and restore the natural river ecosystem. A coalition of local partners, for example, has worked with the state to restore the Miller River, a tributary to the Taunton. Two dams have been removed and fish passage was added to another dam. Learn more here:
Bridges & Culverts
http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/der/aquatic-habitat-restoration/river-restoration/river-continuity-program.html