Eels

When we talk about the fish in the Jones we often focus on river herring. Those of you who have participated in the fish counts at Elm St are familiar with these flashy fish that shoot up the ladder (in far fewer number than we hope for). But while we watch for these swift swimmers there is another species of fish more subtly moving up the river.

American eels (Anguilla rostrata)are another essential part of the Jones River ecology. Like river herring, american eel populations have recently declined. The same types of threats have impacted both of these species - migration obstacles (dams), over harvesting, water quality, and reduced habitat to name a few. However, so little is known about eels that it has been difficult for scientist to pinpoint population numbers, trends, and impacts.

Both river herring and eels fall into the category of 'diadromous' fish, meaning that they spend part of their life in salt water and part in fresh water. Most of us are familiar with how this relates to river herring, salmon, and other fish that afe born in freshwater, migrate out to sea, then return years later to spawn in the same waters where they were born. These are a subset of the diadromous known as 'anadromous'. Eels fall into the other subset - 'catadromous' fish. Eels are born somewhere out in the Sargasso Sea, a region out in the middle of the North Atlantic. The tiny newborn eels then find their way all the way back to the eastern coast of the Americas. For reasons unknown, they branch off and swim up thousands of different rivers along the coast. They continue to migrate upstream as far as possible until finding good safe habitat to grow. Female eels may spend as much as 40 years in our local streams and lakes growing to up to 5 feet. Then on a dark rainy fall night (when you are least likely to notice) masses of eels slither back down the rivers and head out to the Sargasso to spawn and start it all over again.

This year, JRWA and DMF have begun tracking eels in our watershed. We had some fun wrangling eels over 2 1/2 feet long. We unexpectedly found thousands of eels trying to climb the Wapping Road Dam when the water levels dropped. In 2010 we'll be increasing our efforts to understand local Eel populations. And of course we are working hard to revive the conditions needed for their survival.

River Safari Part 2

....and that was just the beginning (see Part 1 below). After reemerging at my truck on Grove St we were able to drop the trash we had picked up and shed a few layers. Although, with poison ivy threatening from all angles I decided to stay fairly bundled up. We did a short assessment of the road and railroad culverts then headed to Three Rivers Basin to carry on down the river.

Here we opted for the canoe again. After paddling a short ways up Jones River Brook, we headed back into the main channel and pushed downstream. There are some very nice, secluded stretches of river here with diverging channels and low marsh all around. Eventually though, we came to an impassable wall of thorns. Now it was time to ditch the canoe and head out on foot again. Pine assured that it was "only about 600-ft" to the final culvert we were seeking to inspect. Hmmmm, may need to remeasure that Pine! The terrain in the old cranberry bog is soft, wet, hummocky grass that ranges from knee to head high. In between each small tuft of unstable high grass is mud that threatened to steal the hip waders at each step.

It seemed like many miles and many hours, but mostly it was just the tough terrain. Eventually we reached the final culvert. In the end, we were all pleased to see that although the going is pretty rough for people, there does not appear to be any major impediments to fish passage. As Brad put it "There is a lot of work to be done in here but there is no 'project'". Essentially this means that with some chainsaws, brush cutters, and a few gallons of DEET a team of volunteers could clear this stretch of river without needing heavy equipment, funding, or high paid specialists. Boy scout project anyone?!?

I could keep going with this story, but these pictures should be worth a few thousand words....

River Safari Part 1

I think of the South Shore as being a fairly crowded place. Nice...but crowded. But every now and then you find yourself in some pretty wild places. Monday was one of those days. With all of our plans to remove the Wapping Road Dam, the next big question is: so what will fish encounter once they can get up there? It's been along time (at least 85 years) since any anadromous fish swam past Wapping Road. Division of Marine Fisheries (and the rest of us) were very interested in having a first hand look at the condition of the river above the dam. Obstructions, rapid changes in elevation, loss of channel definition, and other factors could have serious impacts on the ability of fish to make it upstream....and the success of our restoration efforts.

So, only one way to find out. The day started out much colder and much rainier than the forecasters predicted. So after suiting up in scavenged raincoats and trash bags we jumped in the canoe to conduct our first headwater spawning habitat assessment of 2009. (Maybe more about these assessments in another post some day).

The lake work was uneventful...and then we headed into the wilds of the Jones River. It was only a matter of minutes before Brad (Brad Chase DMF) and I lost Pine in the jungle. We headed back to the truck thinking she had too. No luck. So we dove back into the woods. After about 15 minutes we started to hear more splashing and breaking branches than what we were doing ourselves. So in knee deep mud we reconnected with Pine. At this point it was clear that we had no intentions of stopping. So they carried on while I went back to leave a truck at our next intersection about 3/4 of a mile downstream. Once parked I decided to head upstream. The choices were:
1) In the river. Fairly clear sailing except that the soft bottom threatened to turn thigh deep water into neck deep at water at any step.
2) Along the bank. somewhat dryer than the first option but much muddier, much thornier, and way more poison ivy.
3) Along a trail about 60yrds away from the river.
Although option #3 was by far the easiest it kind of missed the point. So I opted for a combination of 1 and 2.

With phone, watch, and GPS buried deep in pockets under my coat and waders I had no idea how much time had passed when I finally heard Brad and Pine Picking their way downstream. I stopped and hid quietly behind a tree hoping to scare them as they got closer. Instead, I starting looking around at all the water and woods and spooked myself. I kept thinking "I'm glad I'm not doing this in Alaska". That was right about the time I heard Brad say to Pine "I'm glad I'm not doing this in Florida."



More to come in Part 2

Silver Lake High School in the Cranberry Watershed Preserve

While we are busy with our efforts to remove the dam at Wapping Road we are also working on restoring other portions of the watershed. Our most active site right now is the lower portion of Pine Brook. Pine Brook and the Jones River are both coldwater, groundwater fed streams. Pine Brook contains some of the best potential for aquatic species habitat in the system that could serve as a source of ecological recovery of the Jones. Today, Pine Brook suffers from a number of impairments including reduced flows, a series of small barriers and restrictions, limited stream bank vegetation and cover, and poor water quality. At least eight small barriers exist on Pine Brook (debris dams, culverts, and flow diversions for historic cranberry bogs). The impoundments and channelized brook present poor fish habitat as temperatures are unnaturally high and dissolved oxygen is often quite low. Now that these bogs are no longer active and the land is owned by the town, these structures may be removed to restore natural flow throughout the brook. We are currently working to determine the flows necessary to enhance and maintain the habitat conditions necessary to support native fish fauna. The goal is also to increase the amount of habitat available to the fish and mussels in Pine Brook and Jones River within the range of available flows to enhance the resilience and survival of the species.

'Approximate' location of the Preserve.

One of the best things we have going for us here is that the town owns a huge portion of land that Pine Brook runs through…the Cranberry Watershed Preserve. Because of the public landownership there is a high potential for successful and rapid implementation of restoration plans.

An exciting part of the project is the opportunity to partner with the teachers and students at Silver Lake High School. The Preserve is literally in the backyard of the school and makes for a great outdoor classroom. The school’s horticulture program students are conducting species inventories and water quality testing, while the video program is documenting all of the activities and starting to create short films that will be available on line. We’ll get them posted as soon as they are available. Yesterday we went out and did recon of the site with some of the students and discussed the baseline monitoring needs.

Big Night!

Well that must have done it. One more warm rainy night. Of course.....I missed it. But reports from Pine and Dan Wells are that the slamanders are out. Pine saw several yellow-spots in here secret Vernal Pool (I'm sure she'll divulge if you ask her). And Dan said he caught many in his study traps near the river. No blue-spots though.

They will be in the pools for a couple of weeks. So if you have favorite vernal pool head out to see them for yourself.

Big night?

No this isn't a Monday morning post about some wild weekend party. At least not for me. The "Big Night" is that first warm (>40F) rainy night in the spring when all of the amphibians come out of their woodland hiding places to converge on their favorite vernal pool. Here they all meet up for a once-a-year breeding event. This is one of the great facts we learned at Jessica Tenzar's talk at the Landing last Thursday. For the second year in a row Jess came to teach us about vernal pools, the animals that live in them, and what we can do to protect them. This year Jess added a discussion about her own research. Although her field methods had some folks squirming in their seats, it was very cool to learn how stable isotopes of Carbon and Nitrogen within the bodies of salamanders can actually show us exactly what they are feeding on throughout their lives.

The timing of the talk was just right. Not only is it the season for vernal pools throughout the Northeast, but we happen to be in the middle of a survey for the endangered Blue-spotted salamander near the Wapping Road Dam (see post from last week). So we are wating for that Big Night and waiting to see what we find. But the Big Night can be elusive. We had rain on the Thursday night of Jessica's talk. But it wasn't as much as predicted and no salamanders or wood frogs showed up in our survey area. So then we had our fingers crossed for the rains this weekend. Saturday night and Sunday were POURING and it was warm(ish). But still nothing. Our salmander survey expert Dan Wells tells me that it may have started raining too late on Saturday night. It usually needs to start before dusk.

So we'll keep waiting and watching.

First day of Spring!

Friday was the first day of spring! With a busy of weekend of spring chores I couldn't post until now, but I certainly couldn't let it pass unnoticed either.

Obviously the onset of spring is an exciting time for us at the Watershed Association. (Although, I have to admit I'm a little sad to see the slopes up north turning brown and green. Still a few more weeks left though). Although winter's grip has been slow to release this year I've still started to see the signs slowly emerging. Out in the bay I've started seeing spider crabs and horseshoe crabs moving around a lot more. I've also picked up a few flounder while working the oyster beds in the past 2 weeks. On the river, almost all of the snow is finally gone. Flows are high as the ground and surfaces releases all of the ice they've been holding. In my yard, the crocus and even a few forsythia are blooming. In the woods the vernal pools are full and ready for the 'big night'. Speaking of which, don't forget to stop by for Jess Tenzar's vernal pool talk this Thursday night at 7:00 (more info here).

Skunk cabbage budding by the river


Beaver practicing?

Of course, this is all just the slow start of things to come. Spring has an accelerating trajectory and in no time everything will be in full swing. Of course one of the highlights for us will be the herring run. The river herring, smelt, and other fish are already on their way and will start showing up in the river in the next few weeks. We will see them congregating at the bottom of the Elm St Dam. Then, when the water temperature is just right, they will all start racing up the ladder. You can help us capture the details of this critical ecological event by getting involved in our herring count (info here). It's a great way to get personally in tune with the natural cycles of the river while generating important data on the health of this species.

Final Feasibility Study

This post backtracks a little bit. But since I didn't post much over the winter I thought it would be worthwhile to give a brief summary of some activities. I'll try to get a few more of these out over the next few weeks....

Throughout 2008 JRWA worked closely with a team of partners to conduct a feasibility study for restoration options at the Wapping Road. The project involved a big group of private, local, state, and federal partners. This included Jones River Realty Trust (the property owner), the Town of Kingston (Cons. Comm.), Division of Marine Fisheries, the Riverways Program, and NOAA Marine Fisheries. The bulk of the technical work was conducted by Milone & MacBroom Inc, a well known river restoration firm. Our study was guided by a specific set of goals for the river:

1. Restore the river habitat back to a more natural environment.
2. Reduce operation and maintenance requirements of the Wapping Road Dam.
3. Promote long-term sustainability at the dam and of the river system.
4. Avoid or mitigate impacts to the Wapping Road Bridge relative to scour and stability.
5. Create a condition that is compatible with the adjacent mill buildings, considering
structural stability as well as ongoing and future operations.
6. Pass target fish species, including alewife, blueback herring, American eel, and sea lamprey.
7. Improve the upstream water quality in the Jones River.
8. Maintain or enhance habitat for rare species that may occur in the project area.
9. Promote recreational use of the river (i.e., canoeing and kayaking).

The study assessed the engineering, biological, ecological, economic, and logistical issues surrounding a variety of alternatives for the site. The alternatives considered included doing nothing, installing a fish ladder, installing a bypass channel, installing a roughened ramp, removing portions of the dam, and removing the entire dam. After weighing the pros and cons of each alternative, it was determined that full removal of the dam would best meet the project goals.

If you want some more detail, please take a look at the Final Feasibility Study Report.

Salamander surveys start

As we move forward with the Wapping Road Dam project we have a lot of permitting to take care of and a lot of regulatory compliance to be clear on. One of the really import ones is with the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (NHESP). This program is part of the State's Division of Fish and Wildlife. They watch out for all of the species listed as Endangered, Threatened, or of Special Concern. On the "Special Concern" list is the blue-spotted salamander (Ambystoma laterale). NHESP keeps maps of where potential habitat for these species exists. These maps show that the areas around the Jones River near the Wapping Road Dam might have habitat for these little guys. These salamanders use vernal pools and floodplain pools near rivers for breeding. There is concern that when the dam is removed and the water levels drop it might impact these important pools.

NHSEP has come out to see the site and they are excited about the overall ecological benefits that the project presents. But we do need to assess the potential impact to the blue-spots. The Riverways Program has stepped up to help us with this issue. They are funding a survey to identify specific habitat for the salamanders and determine if they are in the area and using the pools for breeding. An expert on these species (Dan Wells of Hyla Ecological Services) has been hired to come out and conduct the surveys. The first day of the survey was today and consisted of a site reconnaissance of the entire area. Pine and I did the walk with Dan today, here's where we went....

We had an interesting walk and identified several areas that have the potential to support blue-spot breeding. The next steps will be to set some traps to count catch and count salamanders, identify actual breeding pools through egg mass surveys, and figure out how the draw dawn will impact the pools. This will be happen over the next few weeks as the weather warms and the salamanders start moving. We'll keep you posted.

In the meantime...we'll be hosting a talk at the Landing by Jessica Tenzar. Jessica is an expert in salamanders and vernal pools. She will be discussing how to identify and certify vernal pools. She will also be presenting some of her new data that reveals the distances that salamanders travel to feed. This data suggests that existing regulations on vernal pool buffers may not be protective enough. Join us at 7:00pm on Thursday, March 26th to hear more.

Back again

It's been a while. Lots and lots of activities and progress since the last entry. But a good deal of it has been of the desk work variety which doesn't lend itself to good pictures and exciting posts. Not that hasn't been interesting and important. The feasibility study for Wap[ing Rd Dam has been completed and the final report has been delivered. The 'preferred alternative' is full dam removal and we are now working to make that happen.

Winter is holding on. But spring will break through soon and there will be a lot of activity around the river. Stay tuned as a bunch of projects get really rolling.