Above A preview performance at Ipswich Illuminates is part of the Ocean of Rivers event series. These events are part of the outreach effort for the Howlett Brook Restoration project.
Skiers, runners, bikers, hikers, fisherfolk, and outdoorsy types of every kind have felt the local impacts of a changing climate. Says Executive Director Wayne Castonguay, “We have to pick up the pace of our on the ground habitat restoration work to increase the resiliency of our natural systems to better withstand the impacts of a rapidly changing climate.”
One of our responses was the Howlett Brook Watershed Restoration project, a new approach on restoration. The focus on an entire subwatershed comes from something both conservationists, and anyone who loves to fish, know well: If you restore healthy native fish populations, everything else comes along with it. Happy fish need healthy rivers and streams.
“This project is the first time we ever took an entire subwatershed and tried to do all aspects of our restoration work, at once,” says Wayne, “We’re using two indicator species as the canaries in the coal mine for this project: coldwater fish (brook trout) and diadromous fish (the migratory species River Herring). If a river system supports both of these species they will automatically have everything else.”
The ultimate goal of the project is to achieve migratory fish access from the ocean all the way up to Spofford Pond in Boxford, and protect cold water conditions. Howlett Brook, and its largest tributary Pye Brook flow through three towns: Ipswich, Topsfield, and Boxford. “Though Boxford is an inland, forested community, historically the town’s streams and ponds were loaded with oceaning going fish,” says Wayne, “We’re hoping to make that former reality true again in the future.”
Funding for the project came from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (facilitated by the Town of Boxford), and Nor’East Trout Unlimited who donated both funds and their time. We hope to grow the list of funders, over the course of this three year project.
Ross Povenmire, the Town Planner for the Town of Boxford was the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) face for the grant and in charge of the grant administrative duties.The Town became eligible for MVP funding after having completed an MVP training workshop. From Ross’s perspective, “This was an opportunity to get a jump start on problematice culverts.” In addition to providing support on joint efforts between Ipswich River and the Town of Boxford, Ross also serves on the PIE Rivers Partnership Steering Committee. Says Ross, “I get a lot out of my participation. I’m very happy to be part of their efforts, and I believe the Town benefits from those efforts as well.” Ross joined Ipswich River Environmental Planner Patrick Lynch in presenting at a statewide MVP webinar recently as part of their winter series.
A highlight of the project is the Public Outreach and Engagement effort, including a recent presentation given to members of the Boxford Trail Association and Boxford Open Land Trust (BTA/BOLT). As Ross notes in his presentation, “we did not always have in hand the necessary property owner buy-in to do what we needed to.” To help address this need for more public awareness and support, Ipswich River has collaborated with member Anne Loyer. Anne is the Co-Artistic Director of Fort Point Theatre Channel, a multi-disciplinary arts company that focuses on performance of public art.
Anne says, “I came to Boxford from Somerville, and one of the things I wanted was access to greenspace for our kids right out the back door. I’m super grateful for all the work BTA/BOLT and the Ipswich River Watershed Association have done that we all benefit from.” The Ocean of Rivers event series Anne developed with Ipswich River will highlight migratory fish restoration efforts, and open spaces in the Towns of Ipswich, Topsfield and Boxford. The project is supported in part by grants from the Boxford, Ipswich, and Topsfield Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
At the BTA/BOLT presentation, Anne shared a short video with footage from Ocean of Rivers dance and puppetry rehearsals as well as a preview performance held at Ipswich Illuminates in Fall 2020. Several Ocean of Rivers events will be held this spring. Find them on our Events Calendar and register today!
Keep reading below for an update from Wayne Castonguay and Ross Povenmire on the insight gained from the first 18 months of this three year project. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel to catch a video update from the presentation, coming soon!
Produce 30% Designs for 18 Culverts
In the project update video, Wayne showed an example of a 30% culvert design plan. This stage of planning entails the design for what the culvert will look like, a cost estimate, and the Hydrology & Hydraulics report. “The H&H is a very complicated engineering assessment done to make sure these culverts can last over 100 years and won’t add to or exacerbate flooding,” says Wayne.
The Town of Boxford took the lead on this stage, which is an extremely important aspect of restoration work. By getting to a 30% design you answer all the necessary questions: what are the constraints of the site? Who are the property owners and abutters? How much will the upgrade cost?
New fishways at Howlett Brook and Willowdale Dams
At the Howlett Brook and Willowdale dams, removal is not an option. Fortunately Alewife, a type of River herring, which migrate up river from the ocean to spawn in ponds are the one species that tends to utilize fish ladders pretty readily. The planned addition of a fishway will reopen passage that is currently completely blocked to fish. This will allow fish to reach Boxford for the first time in nearly 400 years.
Replace Pond Street Culvert
The project will address six culverts in Boxford. The Pond Street Culvert on the Topsfield-Boxford line is the last barrier before Hood Pond. “The big kahuna,” adds Executive Director Wayne Castonguay. Residents will be able to find these crossings easily thanks to stream crossing signs along Howlett, Fish and Pye Brooks as part of another collaborative project between the Towns and Ipswich River.
Lowe, Four Mile, and Spofford Ponds
Assessments show that at Lowe Pond Dam, which can be seen from Depot Road, a small simple fish ladder will suffice while the Four Mile Pond Dam may not need a fish ladder at all. If the dam boards were removed during the spring migration, homeowners would hardly notice a change in the pond as water levels are high at that time of year. Fish would be able to do their thing, then the boards could be replaced for the remainder of the year. Even better, the Four Mile herring habitat assessment showed that it is one of the healthier herring ponds on the North Shore. Fantastic!
At Spofford Pond (pictured above with Ross in his famous yellow hat), a culvert functions more like a dam. That adds another layer of complexity, as pond culverts must be made larger to accommodate aquatic species passage while maintaining adequate pond level.
Fish Passage Challenges in Boxford
In order to assess up and downstream of the culverts, we were sometimes required to proceed onto private property with the permission of the landowners. Not all landowners are comfortable with granting this permission, which hampered the grant team’s ability to assess culverts in a couple of cases. We were able to collect enough data and complete engineering work to achieve the 30% designs for Pye Brook Lane and the Spofford Pond culvert. “There’s room for improvement,” adds Ross Povenmire, “ Perhaps as we move forward with this project we may be able to go back to those initial culverts.”
Trout Unlimited Undaunted
When discussing barriers, most people’s first thought is dams and culverts, but there are other barriers that need to be assessed. In Pye Brook, the channel had become completely clogged with vegetation with no channel remaining. Says Wayne, “I remember when I was a kid you could easily canoe this whole stretch. Now the fish can’t go through either!” Channel maintenance is an ongoing effort undertaken by another important partner. “I just want to give a shout out to Trout Unlimited who are really the energy behind this effort,” says Wayne. “We wouldn’t be able to do this without their leadership and participation.
Moving forward with the project, “we’re really planning on moving into Boxford in a big way!” says Wayne Castonguay. The two Boxford dams will be assessed, funding will be pursued, and we will knock off each of the target culverts one at a time. In Spring 2021, The State Division of Marine Fisheries will stock alewife into Hood Pond to reproduce and we hope their young will migrate to the ocean and back to the pond to reproduce themselves in the future.
Learn more on the Howlett Brook Watershed Restoration project page.