NAP- Neighborhood Alliance of Pawtucket

Ten Mile River Council with Fish Ladders too- Oct 5th

Please join the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, federal, state and local partnerships at a groundbreaking ceremony to restore migratory fish passage along the Ten Mile River in East Providence , Rhode Island .

When:   Tuesday, October 5, 2010, 10 a.m. ET

Where:  65 Hunt's Mills Road at Hunt's Mills Dam historic site in Rumford , RI  

Project Description: The project area includes the lower portion of the Ten Mile River watershed, with a specific focus toward providing anadromous fish passage at the first (lowest) three dams on the river: Omega Pond Dam, Hunts Mill Dam and Turner Reservoir Dam.  Denil fish passage facilities will be constructed to allow anadromous alewives access to about 340 acres of spawning habitat and provide approximately three miles of riverine spawning habitat for Blueback Herring and American shad.  

Please RSVP: Gail Mastrati at gail.mastrati@dem.ri.gov or at (401) 222-2771 x 2402.

(Directions to Hunt’s Mill Dam from Providence , RI )

• Take I-195 East over the Seekonk River
• Take Exit 4 to US-44 Taunton Ave. / Riverside        
• Bear left to US-44 Taunton Ave
• Follow Taunton Ave , bears right onto Waterman Ave.
• Get into left lane, go left on Hall St. , following signs for Rte. 44
• Bear right back onto Taunton Ave , still following signs for Rte. 44
• At third light from here, take a left onto Pawtucket Ave. (Rtes 1A and 114 North)
• At third light, take a right onto Pleasant Street (Rte 114A)
• Take third right into Hunt's Mills Road

(There will be a sign for Hunt House historic museum)

Site in City Park is along this short road in front of Hunt House museum

Call 474.3813 or e mail KtgGroup@aol.com

Ten Mile River Council

Ten Mile River Pickup of Fish a Success

Keith Gonsalves helped direct a successful fish transfer in the 10 mile river...were you there or want to be next event?
Dedicated nature folks protect the river and its inhabitants


Avid kayakers not only enjoy the sport but they love the rivers they paddle in. So, it was only a matter of time before a group of friends formed the Ten Mile River Watershed Council. The goal is to promote and protect the river and its watershed from East Providence all the way to the headwaters in Plainville, Mass.

"We want to educate the public on ways to improve the river's health while also increasing recreational opportunities on the river and along its banks," said Keith Gonsalves, Ten Mile River Watershed Council president and an East Providence resident.

Last Saturday the group gathered at the Omega Dam to count and transfer herring as part of restoring a balanced ecosystem to the river.

"We're here to support the need for fish ladders," said Mr. Gonsalves, a Providence firefighter. "The fish that will spawn here are important to the river and the Narragansett Bay. They recycle nutrients and are a food source for larger fish and mammals."

Since the formed last May, it has taken on clearing the river from Freedom Green Park on North Broadway up to Hunt's Mills waterfalls. That's a 2.75 mile round trip that can be paddled in less than two hours.

It has also cleaned the area from Central Avenue in Pawtucket down river to the Pawtucket Country Club.

On Saturday morning the sun shown brightly as Ten Mile River enthusiasts made their way along the railroad tracks to Omega Dam. Mr. Gonsalves' wife, Deb, and daughters, Layla and Jannelle, took turns manning the tent out front which was filled with refreshments and literature on everything you ever wanted to know about watersheds.

Some people, like Benjamin Cote, 25, of Pawtucket enjoyed hiking along the Ten Mile River as a kid so he and his fiancée, Alissa Horent, were thrilled to be helping out. Others like Michael Genet, 14, of East Providence, were there as an Earth Day/birthday project. Last year, he and his friend, Rachel Rollins, helped clean up along the Narragansett Bay.

"This is something I wanted to do because the fish can't get over the dam," Michael said.

A bit of history

According to information provided by Save the Bay, the Ten Mile River was once home to an historic fish run that supported the river herring and American shad which are fish that live as adults in salt water and spawn in fresh water.

The river originates in Plainville and flows through the Attleboros to Slater Park in Pawtucket to Rumford and eventually into the Seekonk River and upper Narragansett Bay.

Over the past two hundred years dam construction has prevented herring from swimming upstream to spawn. Each spring they return from the ocean to the mouth of the Ten Mile River and a few of the fish make it upstream because of the efforts of local fishermen who scoop the herring up and over the first dam to spawn in the waters of Omega Pond.

Save the Bay noted that river was dammed at its mouth in the early twentieth century to create an industrial water supply which today is known as Omega Pond.

Future plans

A project is now in place to restore self-sustaining runs of American shad and two species of river herring to the lower reaches of the Ten Mile River including Turner Reservoir. It's a joint effort between Save the Bay, the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, the department of Environmental Management's Division of Fish and Wildlife, the City of East Providence and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Get involved

If you'd like to become a member of the Ten Mile River Watershed Council, make a donation or get more information, call 474-3813 or log onto www.tenmileriver.net.


by Marilyn Bellemore

mbellemore@eastbaynewspapers.com

Scoop the Herring Day a Big Success

A little lift at Omega Pond dam


EAST PROVIDENCE -- The adventure starts in March when Long Island
waters and the ocean begin to warm. That temperature change triggers a need
to procreate.

Thousands of blueback herring race through Connecticut's waters, South
County's streams and the Providence and Seekonk rivers. All along the
tiring, month-long journey to freshwater, the weak fall off.


The strongest make it to the Omega Pond dam and face the impossible:
none can scale the 12-foot-high wall of water gushing at them.

It's another obstacle before reaching their native freshwater spawning
grounds along the Ten Mile River, which spans from East Providence to
Attleboro, and farther upstream.

"Think about an Olympic swimmer trying to get up Niagara Falls," said
Armando Medeiros of the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association. "It
ain't gonna happen, but they're great swimmers . the best even."

".And it's man's fault [the herring] can't. If we put this barrier
here, at least we can help them over it."

People from Attleboro, Pawtucket, Providence, Barrington, Coventry and
certainly East Providence came out to assist the herring on Saturday.
The Ten Mile River Watershed Council and its leader, Keith Gonsalves,
started the annual "scoop the herring" and river cleanup day but
residents claim to have been voluntarily helping the fish over the dam for
decades.

The council, with 50 members, holds monthly paddles on the river to
introduce people to the recreation opportunities. Its goals are to restore
a balanced ecosystem and keep the area protected and clean.

The restoration project is intended to reinstate 340 acres of spawning
habitat and more than three miles of habitat. The targeted species
include American eel and several in the herring family, such as the
blueback, alewives and American shad.

There were so many in the water in the 1900s that farmers would use
them as fertilizer. They are also the food source for bigger fish, such as
striped bass and bluefish.

The herring live most of their lives - a lifespan of about a decade -
in the ocean and return in the spring to the local freshwater rivers to
spawn. The eggs hatch and the young and adults, which can get as big as
two pounds and up to 14 inches long, travel back to the ocean in the
autumn.

For more than 200 years, however, dams on the Ten Mile River have
blocked upstream migration of these fish.

"The dams were built during the Industrial Revolution to produce water
power and other needs for the mills," said Tim Pindell, a resource
conservationist with the National Resources Conservation Service, which is
a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Those back then didn't
look at the negative effects the dams brought to fish."

Constructing fish ladders at the three lowest dams on the Ten Mile
River (Omega Pond dam, Hunts Mill dam and Turner Reservoir dam) will
provide for that upstream journey herring historically took. Slots would be
cut into the spillways at Omega Pond and Turner Reservoir to facilitate
downstream travel for the juveniles.

Grants from the Department of Agriculture have been secured for the
$2.2-million project. Gonsalves said work should begin in July.

The entrance channel would be flat and located as close as possible to
the base of the dam. Concrete floor beams are sloped and spaced along
the ladder so the fish can easily go over each step and have a spot to
rest in between, Pindell explained.

In the meantime, Gonsalves and crew scoop the fish over the dam with
big fishing nets that are attached to 10- and 12-foot poles. They start
catching the herring in late March. The most herring are caught in
mid-April and the entire process - which is called dip netting - is highly
regulated by the state Department of Environmental Management.

The Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association, which is based in
Coventry, received the permit to scoop herring at the Omega Pond dam this
year. Those listed to perform the work, including Gonsales and Medeiros,
have to count the amount caught each day and submit it to the state
agency when they are finished.

The watershed council and friends helped 1,400 herring in the three
days leading up to the scoop the herring event. Some say the tide is an
important factor in catching them, while others think it's the type and
color of the net used. Ed Erminelli, of Pawtucket, who built the nets
being used Saturday, said a full moon helps, too.

"On Wednesday night, I went down to wash my hands off and the fish were
all over me," he said, recalling the recent full moon. He's been
helping to clean the area for four years.

Said Pindell, "These people have been scooping them by hand and its
backbreaking."

Sweat dripped down Paul Shorts' forehead and neck as he pushed the net
against the current toward the base of the dam where the herring sit
trying to figure how they will get up and over. The Providence man has
been coming here to fish since he was a boy. When a break was needed, he
and the others guided the new helpers in learning the best ways to
scoop.

Standing on the sides of the dam, rather than in the water with waders
on, is best, most participants said.

"Most of the fish go where the pressure is," Medeiros explained while
pointing at the bubbles. "They get up to this point and don't know what
to do. They look for little pockets that are advantageous to them and
the sides are where they can rest and then charge at it."

Just as he said it, Shorts pulled the net out of the water. A
half-dozen bluebacks flipped and flapped helplessly in the net. People snapped
pictures of the catch as the pole was handed off to someone at the top
of the dam.

"That's it, we got some now," an excited Medeiros said.

Erminelli then walked the net to calmer waters and tossed the fish in
with one whipping motion. One remained stuck in the netting. The more
the fish are traumatized in the mesh, the less likely they'll survive and
swim upstream.

And some - still shocked by the temporary exit out of the water - let
themselves fall back down the dam.

"The other day, three went back down the waterfall," Kathie Ventura,
Gonsalves' sister, said. "I tell them, 'Now, stay up there,' but they
don't all listen. But we have to keep going because none of them will make
it up if we stopped."

apina@projo.com



Call 474-3813 for directions and details
or
e-mail - Info@Tenmileriver.net

Ten Mile River .net


Keith Gonsalves
Ten Mile River Watershed Council
East Providence R. I.

TMRWC
2 Ramsay Street
Riverside R. I. 02915

www.TenMileRiver.net
401.474.3813

Email us
Info@Tenmileriver.net

Check out other info

Ten Mile website
Podcast of the Roger Williams recreation