Pawtuxet River Restoration Commemoration

Friday, September 30, 2011, 10 a.m. to Noon, Broad Street Bridge, Pawtuxet Village

The Pawtuxet River during and after the dam removal.  Click on the images above for larger size images.

Please join us on Friday, September 30, 2011 from 10 a.m. to noon to celebrate the restoration of the Pawtuxet River!  Hosted by the Pawtuxet River Authority and Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, the event will be held at the Broad Street Bridge in Pawtuxet Village, overlooking the restored falls.  In August, the Pawtuxet River Authority and its partners including the Natural Resources Conservation Service demolished the obsolete Pawtuxet Falls Dam, restoring natural flows to the river and opening passage for native migratory fish which have been absent from the river for 300 years!

The Narragansett Indian Tribe will offer an invocation to the river and blessing for the return of the fish runs.  A speaking program features State, Federal, and local environmental leaders and restoration partners including Governor Lincoln Chaffee, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, NRCS Rhode Island State Conservationist R. Phou Vongkhamdy, EPA regional administrator Curt Spalding, RIDEM Director Janet Coit, and Jonathan Stone, executive director of Save The Bay.  Finally, a group of canoeists and kayakers will paddle down the Pawtuxet River and into Narragansett Bay—a new “Blueways” water trail made possible by the dam removal.

Following the events on the bridge, we’ll host a reception at the Aspray Boat House in Pawtuxet Park—just south of the bridge—beginning at noon, with a light lunch provided.

About the Restoration:

In August 2011, the waters of the Pawtuxet River rushed over the natural bedrock falls at the river’s mouth, flowing freely into the salt water of Narragansett Bay for the first time in 300 years.  The river restoration was the result of the largest ecological dam removal project yet undertaken in Rhode Island, led by the Pawtuxet River Authority and Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, with funding and technical assistance from more than a dozen Federal, State and private organizations (See list below.).  The Natural Resources Conservation Service provided $300,000 or approximately half of the funding required for construction to remove the dam and plant native vegetation along the stream banks.

The purpose of the project is to improve the ecosystems of the Pawtuxet River watershed and Narragansett Bay by restoring populations of native migratory fish, such as river herring and American shad, which have been blocked from fully accessing their natural spawning habitat for hundreds of years.  Herring and shad are important components of marine and freshwater ecosystems, providing abundant food for bluefish, striped bass, largemouth bass, herons, ospreys and many other predators—even harbor seals, which winter in the Bay.  The dam removal will directly benefit Rhode Island’s $200 million fishing industry, provide modest flood reduction for homes and businesses, improve water quality in the lower Pawtuxet River, and restore boating access between the river and the Bay.

Throughout the month of August, contractors used excavators fitted with hydraulic hammers to break up the 150 foot concrete spillway of Pawtuxet Falls Dam, removing it from the river as rubble.  The concrete dam was built in 1924, replacing an earlier timber dam.  The project restores seven miles of free-flowing river habitat to one of the state’s largest and most historic rivers, increasing its velocity and reducing its depth along its downstream reach by two to three feet.  Biologists estimate that more than 100,000 herring and shad will return annually to spawn in the Pawtuxet now that the dam has been removed.  To speed the river’s recovery, RIDEM biologists will stock herring and shad into the river, while PRA’s construction contractors will install native wetland plants and trees along newly exposed riverbanks.

The Pawtuxet River restoration project was made possible through a collaboration of more than a dozen federal, state, local and private organizations which provided funding, technical assistance, and volunteer work.  The construction and planting phases cost approximately $600,000, funded primarily by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service under its Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program and R.I. Dept. of Environmental Management under the Narragansett Bay and Watershed Restoration Bond Fund. 

 Project Partners:

*     Pawtuxet River Authority & Watershed Council

*     Narragansett Bay Estuary Program

*     USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

*     R.I. Dept. of Environmental Management

*     R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council

*     The Rhode Island Foundation

*     US Environmental Protection Agency

*     National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

*     US Fish and Wildlife Service

*     American Rivers

*     Save The Bay

*     R.I. Saltwater Anglers Assn.

*     Friends of the Pawtuxet

*     Pawtuxet Village Association

*     City of Cranston

*     City of Warwick

*     Restore America’s Estuaries

*     R.I. Rivers Council

*     R.I. Corporate Wetlands Partnership

*     Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet

*     Hunter’s Garage

Engineering:  EA Engineering, Science & Technology, Inc., Warwick, R.I.

Construction:  SumCo Eco-Contracting, Salem, MA

For more on the restoration project, including photos, videos and technical documents, see www.nbep.org

*For more information, contact:*

 Rita L. Holahan, Pawtuxet River Authority, 401-935-0723

 Thomas Ardito, Narragansett Bay Estuary Program 401-575-6109

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